Blue White Illustrated

season, PSU had no experienced depth at this position. Its rushing attack was es- sentially a two-man show, with Sanders totaling 1,274 yards and nine touch- downs and McSorley adding 798 yards and 12 TDs. The only other running back to make a major contribution was then- freshman Ricky Slade, who rushed for 257 yards and six TDs in nine games. This coming fall, the Lions will enter the season with Slade as the only running back with more than 10 career carries. That might sound scary, but believe me when I tell you that, on paper, this is PSU's deepest back6eld in close to a decade. In their past 6ve classes, the Lions have signed Saquon Barkley, Sanders, Slade, Cain and Devyn Ford. Barkley ended up being the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Dra8, while Sanders was recently selected in the sec- ond round by Philadelphia. Slade, Cain and Ford were all rated by Rivals.com as top-6ve running backs in their respec- tive classes. This year, Slade will be backed up by Cain and Ford, plus Brown and Notre Dame transfer C.J. Holmes. Brown now stands 5-foot-11, 206 pounds and has sub-4.4-second 40- yard speed. He may have had the best spring of any of the running backs, and Cain, a January enrollee, had an out- standing second half of spring practice. "We knew Noah was going to be a good player for us," Rahne said. "We're excited about his spring. He is one of those guys who shows up in live periods. He's a hard guy to tackle, as you saw today. Arm tackles aren't going to bring him down." In the Blue-White Game, Cain might have been the most impressive running back on the 6eld. For three quarters, he played behind a backup o7ensive line for the White team, rushing for 41 yards on eight carries. Then, in the fourth quar- ter, he switched jerseys and rushed for 4 yards on four carries and caught an 8- yard touchdown pass for the Blue. Slade, Brown, Cain and Holmes will team with Ford, who is expected to ar- rive in May, to provide Penn State with its best depth at the running back posi- tion since Franklin took over the pro- gram in 2014. At wide receiver, the Nittany Lions will have to make some big strides this o7- season. Let's face reality: Collectively, Penn State's wideouts were very disap- pointing in 2018. The only consistent performer at this position group was K.J. Hamler, who 6nished as the Nittany Lions' leading receiver with 42 catches for 754 yards and 6ve touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. As for the upper- classmen, they mostly struggled. Thompkins has since graduated, signing a free agent contract in April with Philadelphia, while Johnson and Polk have transferred. LT Rasheed Walker Des Holmes Anthony Whigan LG Steven Gonzalez Mike Miranda Bryce E5ner C Michal Menet Hunter Kelly Juice Scruggs* Mike Miranda RG C.J. Thorpe Bryce E5ner Mike Miranda RT Will Fries Des Holmes Anthony Whigan QB Sean Cli5ord Will Levis Michael Johnson Jr. Ta'Quan Roberson RB Ricky Slade Journey Brown Noah Cain C.J. Holmes WR-slot K.J. Hamler Jahan Dotson Mac Hippenhammer Isaac Lutz WR-X Justin Shorter Daniel George Cam Sullivan-Brown WR-Z Jahan Dotson Daniel George Dan Chisena TE Pat Freiermuth Nick Bowers Zack Kuntz Brenton Strange Jonathan Holland DEFENSE DE Yetur Gross-Matos Daniel Joseph Nick Tarburton DT Robert Windsor Fred Hansard Antonio Shelton DT Antonio Shelton Damion Barber Aeneas Hawkins P.J. Mustipher Judge Culpepper DE Shaka Toney Jayson Oweh Shane Simmons* Adisa Isaac MLB Jan Johnson Ellis Brooks Jesse Luketa Sam OLB Cam Brown Lance Dixon Charlie Katshir Will OLB Micah Parsons Jesse Luketa Brandon Smith CB John Reid Trent Gordon D.J. Brown Keaton Ellis FS Lamont Wade Jonathan Sutherland Tyler Rudolph SS Garrett Taylor Jonathan Sutherland John Petrishen Tyler Rudolph CB Tariq Castro-Fields Donovan Johnson Marquis Wilson Keaton Ellis * Missed spring practice due to injury P H I L G R O S Z ' S P O S T - S P R I N G D E P T H C H A R T O F F E N S E D E F E N S E OR OR OR OR OR OR OR

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