Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1220211
S P R I N G P R A C T I C E R E P O R T Gillikin's punt was blocked. Ohio State went on to win, 39-38. We'll never know how the rest of that game would have played out if Barkley hadn't gotten caught behind the line on first down. But the Lions scored more points that afternoon than in any of their pre- vious 18 trips to Columbus, so it's not hard to imagine an alternate history in which they avoided the big loss, got the field goal they wanted and went on to win. Trautwein has the kind of history – both as a player and as a coach– that makes you think he can play a signifi- cant role in helping the Lions get those kind of wins. There's every reason to believe that the line he inherited will be quite good in 2020. The Nittany Lions are losing only one starter – left guard Steven Gonzalez – and because two players shared the opposite guard spot – redshirt juniors C.J. Thorpe and Mike Miranda – the team is well- equipped to fill its only loss. What's more, the depth at all five spots should be improved, especially if interior line- man Juice Scruggs is able to recover from the car accident that forced him to sit out the 2019 season. Even with an abundance of returning talent, the Lions won't be the same team they were a year ago. Not exactly. They will be tweaking their offense this spring following the arrival of new coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca from Minnesota. Ciar- rocca isn't expected to make wholesale changes to their approach; Franklin made it clear throughout the hiring process that he didn't want a clean break from the past few seasons but rather a quick transition to a system that blended the best of the old with a few new wrin- kles. It sounds as though Trautwein is tak- ing a similar approach with his position group. He, too, wants a smooth transi- tion, but he has his own points of em- phasis. For example, Trautwein tries to develop linemen from the ground up, putting the focus on lower-body ALL ON THE LINE Trautwein (left) spent two seasons on Steve Addazio's staff at Boston Col- lege. All five of his starting linemen last year won All- Conference honors in the ACC. Photo courtesy of Boston College