Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> steady, methodical accumulation of practice reps that quarterbacks are ac- customed to receiving. It'll be a race to get top guys prepped while squeezing in some reps for the other scholarship quarterbacks. Having some carryover from last year to this year is going to be tremendously helpful. Which is not to say that things will go off without a hitch whenever practice starts up. Even though the Lions aren't making a clean break from their recent past, the elimination of spring practice is certain to have an impact. "Getting with Coach Ciarrocca, sitting in a room for a month and taking the best things that they did at Minnesota and the best things that we did at Penn State and merging them, there's a lot of work to be done," Franklin said. "We've been able to do a lot of this stuff re- motely, but face-to-face time is impor- tant. And then being on the field. It's one thing to know the playbook and have I f your tight end room includes Pat Freiermuth, it is, by de=nition, a pretty strong room. But depth is crucial, too, so while Penn State believes it has an All- America-caliber player at the position, the coaching sta> has also been busy working to develop the players behind him, none of whom have had an oppor- tunity to gain much experience to date. Tight ends coach Tyler Bowen said he's been pleased with the progress that redshirt sophomore Zack Kuntz and redshirt freshman Brenton Strange have showed. Between them, the two backups have made only four catches for 30 yards to date, but they've both added weight in anticipation of having bigger roles now that Nick Bowers has graduated. "A big part of their development has been physical maturity, but I've also seen both of those guys mature emo- tionally and mentally from a football standpoint since they've been on cam- pus," Bowen said. "I think that's shaping up to be a very important position battle on our o>ensive unit this year with Nick Bowers leaving, =nding a replacement. Obviously, we're going to utilize multi- ple tight ends at the position, and I've been very pleased with Zack and Bren- ton, how they've approached it in the weight room, how they've approached it in the classroom. I think they're both shaping up to have a pretty special prac- tice session whenever we get that going." The 6-foot-7 Kuntz is up to 254 pounds on Penn State's recently released spring roster. That's an improvement of 11 pounds from his listed weight last season and is up nearly 20 pounds from his weight in 2018, when he arrived at Penn State as a rangy 235-pound fresh- man out of Camp Hill, Pa. Strange, a four-star prospect from Parkersburg, W.Va., showed up at PSU weighing 211 pounds, Bowen said, but was listed at 242 on the roster that the team released last month. "Even as an early enrollee freshman, I don't think he missed a beat transition- ing to the college level, whether that was school or practice," Bowen said. "He's got a very good work ethic." The Lions have also brought in a four- star true freshman in Theo Johnson, who arrived in January as an early en- rollee before having to head back to his native Canada following the COVID-19 outbreak. Johnson was bothered this spring by a shoulder injury he received while practicing for the Under Armour All-America Game, but Bowen said he handled the setback well. "He came in with a nice emotional ma- turity, and from that standpoint I don't think the transition from high school to college was a huge hurdle for him," Bowen said. "His =rst semester, he shows up, he has some adversity his =rst week, and now he's =nishing the semester virtually. I've really been impressed with the way he's handled it. The big thing for his de- velopment this spring is getting him up to speed from a playbook standpoint, and then also doing whatever he can do to be healthy and get as strong as he can in the weight room. He came in with a nice foundation, very similar to Pat from a physical maturity standpoint. He's a year older coming out of high school with how Canadian high school works." As for Freiermuth, Bowen still sees room for improvement as a junior. In his =rst two seasons, Freiermuth amassed 69 catches for 875 yards and 15 touch- downs, with the latter stat tying Mike Gesicki's school record for tight ends. He received second-team All-Big Ten notice as a sophomore, and he has higher goals for his junior year, when- ever it begins. "I just want him to continue improv- ing, and I think he would tell you the same thing," Bowen said. "The big things that we worked on last year coming into his second year were just details in route running. I would say he's an above-the- line route runner at the tight end posi- tion when you look nationally. I think the biggest thing he's focused on is, how can I be the best all-around tight end in the country? How can I be the best tight end in pass protection? How can I be the best tight end in the run game? How can I be the best tight end in the pass game? How can I be the best tight end on screens? Every facet of tight end play, he has the skill set to excel at. The big thing for him is putting it all together. He's been able to put together little bits and pieces in his career. Now, being able to have a little bit of a toolbox to put it all together in and be the best all-around tight end in the conference and in the country, I think that's his goal." ■ Bowen lauds Nittany Lions' depth at tight end spot | BOWEN

• Cover