Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> that kids from South Jersey wanted to go to." There was just one problem: While Trautwein considered himself a Penn State guy, Penn State didn't. He had at- tracted some major-college attention, but the Nittany Lion coaching staff was- n't sold on his potential to contribute at that level and didn't pursue him hard. He ended up signing with Florida, even though he knew it would be an uphill battle in Gainesville, too. As Trautwein recalled recently, he was told that he "would never play at the University of Florida, wouldn't be good enough." But he believed in his own ability even if no one else did, and he knew there were steps that anyone could take to become a better player – steps that didn't neces- sarily require natural athletic gifts but rather a willingness to put in the work. Trautwein was willing to put in the work. You probably know where this is going. The lightly recruited prospect from New Jersey developed into a starting offen- sive tackle on two national champi- onship teams. He became a two-time All-Southeastern Conference pick and a team captain, helping protect a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in his final season. Following his college career, Trautwein became an NFL player, sign- ing with the St. Louis Rams as a free agent in 2009 and spending four years in the pros. Then he became a coach, start- ing out as a grad assistant at Boston Col- lege after his NFL career ended, followed by two seasons at Davidson and then a return to Chestnut Hill, where he served as the Eagles' offensive line coach for two seasons and last year saw all five of his starting linemen earn All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors. And now, after all that, he's finally be- come a Penn State guy. Trautwein's de- cision in January to join the Nittany Lions' staff as offensive line coach was one of the biggest developments in a winter that featured more than its share of coaching upheaval. He's only been a full-time coach for four seasons, but at age 33, he's already got an enviable re- sume, and his acceptance of James Franklin's offer was, by all accounts, a real coup for Penn State. Franklin had been tracking Trautwein's career from afar and believed that his bi- ography would resonate with current and future Nittany Lion offensive line- men. "I think he has a story," Franklin said. "I think he's got a story that is at- tractive to our current players and also to recruits. [He] was not a highly re- cruited guy, goes to Florida, wins two national championships, starts for mul- tiple years at left tackle, doesn't get drafted, finds a way to play in the NFL, gets into coaching, trains under an O- line tree that I respect, and has had suc- cess. And then you couple all that with the people who I know and trust [who recommended him], and then watching film and then studying the data – it just all kind of made sense and aligned." Trautwein's hiring followed the news that Matt Limegrover's contract would not be renewed after four seasons in charge of the Nittany Lions' offensive front. The timing of that move had been awkward. The Lions were coming off a Cotton Bowl performance against Mem- phis in which they rushed for 396 yards, including a Penn State postseason record 202 yards by Journey Brown. But even in a game in which the Lions scored 53 points and averaged 7.2 yards per play, you could see some traces of the difficulties that had convinced Franklin that a change was needed. Of particular concern were the pass-pro- tection issues. Quarterback Sean Clif- ford was frequently under duress when he dropped back to throw, completing only 11 of 20 attempts for 133 yards while being sacked four times. That performance was not uncharac- teristic. The Lions gave up 32 sacks in 2019, the fourth-highest total in the Big Ten. Not coincidently, they finished eighth in the conference in passing with a 221.3-yard average. They did improve in the running game, going from fifth place two years ago to fourth in 2019. They even displayed an ability to close out games by getting first downs on the ground late in the fourth quarter, run- ning out the clock on Iowa and Michi- gan, two of the season's biggest wins. But against Ohio State, the opponent they will have to figure out how to beat if they're going to compete for Big Ten championships and College Football Playoff appearances, the offensive line was overwhelmed. In a 28-17 loss in Columbus last season, the Lions weren't able to keep Chase Young out of the backfield and weren't able to throw the ball effectively, giving up five sacks and passing for 128 yards in a game that ended with Clifford on the sideline after being injured in the third quarter. They also weren't able to run effectively, to- taling 99 yards and averaging just 2.8 yards per carry. At his introduction a few weeks ago, Trautwein pointed to two key stats as in- dicators of whether an offensive line is getting the job done: How many sacks and tackles for loss does it allow? "Usu- ally, those problems are the offensive line's fault," he said. His line at Boston College last year didn't allow a whole lot of either. The Eagles gave up only 13 sacks, fourth-fewest in the country, and 65 tackles for loss, tied for 29th-fewest nationally and third-fewest in the ACC. Negative-yardage plays often tend to be drive-killers, and they can affect the course of a game even when they don't occur in the waning moments. Everyone remembers the 2-yard loss that Miles Sanders took on fourth-and-5 against Ohio State in 2018, a play that all but clinched the Buckeyes' 27-26 road win. But there was a play that was nearly as costly in the teams' previous matchup in Columbus a year earlier. Penn State was up by 15 points early in the fourth quar- ter and had just recovered a J.T. Barrett fumble in Buckeyes territory. A couple of first downs would have put the Lions in field goal range, giving them a chance to take a three-score lead with a little over 10 minutes to play. But on first-and-10 from the 42-yard line, Saquon Barkley was trapped in the backfield by Dante Booker and took a 7-yard loss. The Lions never recovered. Trace Mc- Sorley threw an incomplete pass on sec- ond down, and Barkley managed just 6 yards on third. On fourth down, Blake

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