Blue White Illustrated

P reseason practice is nearly complete, and Penn State's season opener against Idaho is only days away. During the past few weeks, there's been plenty of discussion about the Nittany Lions' outlook at each position group. What follows are a few position-by-po- sition observations concerning some of the more noteworthy developments that have taken place since camp opened ear- lier this month. QUARTERBACK One of the biggest top- ics of discussion regarding the QB posi- tion during 9rst few weeks of preseason practice had to do with whether Sean Cli;ord has legitimate 4.5-second 40- yard speed and whether he was faster than Trace McSorley when he was back- ing up the third-year starter last season. Some people on BWI's message board felt that such speculation was a slap in the face to McSorley and diminished what he accomplished at Penn State. It did not. Certain measurables are used by coaches to evaluate the overall posi- tional speed of a team on o;ense and defense. But as Penn State o;ensive co- ordinator Ricky Rahne explained in an interview with BWI earlier this summer, there are other athletic traits that are far more critical to a quarterback's per- formance than pure speed. Forty-yard times "mean everything and they mean nothing at the same time," Rahne said. "Obviously, you would love for a guy to score when he does get into the open 9eld, to make a big play and take it to the house. One of the things that is more important to us, though, is their foot quickness and their ability to change direction. That is more important to us at the QB position than necessarily the 40. The 40 is a bonus and you would love to have it. But foot quickness is the more important one. Because you have to be able to change direction. That helps not only the pocket movement, but also in the run game and all that sort of stu;." Does Cli;ord have that kind of ability? "Absolutely, he does," Rahne said. "He's very good on that – very good on change of direction." No matter how he stacks up with Mc- Sorley, the bottom line appears to be that Cli;ord has the athletic ability to operate Penn State's o;ense the way the coaching sta; wants it run. RUNNING BACK It's looking as though the Nittany Lions will take a committee approach at this position group. They have a lot of talent here, and assistant coach Ja'Juan Seider prefers to use a ro- tation whenever possible. Since 2011, Seider has coached at Mar- shall, West Virginia, Florida and Penn State, and in only three of those seasons (2013, '15 and '18) has one of his running backs carried the ball 200 or more times. Last year, Miles Sanders ran 220 times for 1,274 yards. When Seider has the luxury of a well- stocked back9eld, it's not unusual for three or more running backs to have at least 60 carries. The average number of carries for a No. 1 running back in a Sei- der-coached back9eld is between 140 and 160. Knowing that tendency, I feel quite comfortable predicting that Penn State fans will see the team's top four running backs all receive substantial action. Ricky Slade looks to be the Lions' No. 1 back, but Journey Brown, Noah Cain and Devyn Ford all 9gure to get their carries. WIDE RECEIVER One of the biggest questions that many fans have raised this o;-season concerns the Lions' re- cent history at this position group. No one has forgotten the problems that Penn State's receivers had holding onto the ball last year. I'm a little more opti- mistic than some people, in part because the receiver corps has undergone a major overhaul. Put simply, the receivers who struggled the most last year are no longer on the team. In this year's group, there are a couple of young players who will obviously bear watching, the most notable being pro- jected starter Justin Shorter. But there are also a few less-heralded players who could surprise. One of those players is redshirt sophomore Daniel George. At 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, George reminds me of Chris Godwin. TIGHT END This is one of Penn State's biggest assets. I believe that Pat Freier- muth and Nick Bowers comprise the best tight end duo in the Big Ten and one of the best in the country. They both have excellent size, yet are athletic enough to play as :ex tight ends who PHIL'S CORNER Practice sessions raise questions, but also provide some answers

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