Blue White Illustrated

O F F - S E A S O N R E P O R T resumes practicing. Four of those players – Jones, John Dunmore, KeAndre Lam- bert-Smith and Jaden Dottin – were set to take part in spring practice before the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down. Jones and Dunmore didn't get onto the field last year, but the two redshirt fresh- men have gotten a head start on their fel- low frosh. The coaches are hoping that their experience on the scout team last season will pay off when they make their on-field debuts. "They're Florida cats, they like to run, that's what they're known for – being out there in the sunny weather, playing foot- ball year-round," Stubblefield said. "You can tell when we have our Zoom meet- ings, they're either just getting done get- ting a workout in or getting ready to get a workout in. They're still fairly young, and we're in a new offense, so [it's a matter of] making sure they're doing more than just what we're allowed to do, making sure they're ready to go with what to do, so that when we get to fall camp, we're going more into the technique side, more into how to get things done, how to do it, not what to do. We want to be past that stage. I've been challenging all the guys, but specifically T.J. and J.D., to make sure they come in here prepared to know what to do so that we can work out all the kinks on how to do it." Lambert-Smith and Dottin are true freshmen who enrolled in Penn State's spring semester in the hope of accelerat- ing their careers. The spring sports shut- down put a halt to their acclimation process, but Stubblefield said they still got something out of the decision to ar- rive in January. "You enroll early to try to get a head start, and they have done that," he said. "They've been able to do that in the weight room, to try to change their bodies with our strength and conditioning staff. They do a phenomenal job with them, and you can see already the transforma- tion they're having with their bodies. On top of that, they've been able to bond with some of the guys. When you come in as a new guy, you've got to acclimate to the subculture of the room, and you have to bond with the other guys. They've been able to do that. "I'm excited to see what Dottin brings to C O A C H S P E A K T A Y L O R S T U B B L E F I E L D ON RETURNING TO THE BIG TEN This will be my =rst year coaching in the Big Ten. As a player, back between 2000 and 2004, us and Northwestern were doing kind of similar things. We didn't necessarily have the RPO game. We had more of a run, plus an add on, where you would pre-snap look out. Do you feel like you have leverage on the defender to throw the bubble? Do you feel like you have numbers? Now it has kind of evolved to the RPO game where, in some regards, it's option football. You're reading some- body and determining what you're going to do based o? of his reaction. And so, o?enses in general, shoot, even in the National Football League with what the Baltimore Ravens are doing, it's a little bit more of a college o?ense and not as similar to what it has been in the NFL for so long. It's going to be interesting to see the di?erent o?enses. I haven't seen a ton of Big Ten o?enses over my years being in the ACC and the Pac-12 and some other conferences. I do know that it's become a little bit more of a passing league than what it had been back when I was playing. Back when I was playing, there was Ron Dayne, there were some big ol' dudes, the guys at [Wisconsin and] Minnesota. ON JAHAN DOTSON Jahan is much more athletic than I ever was. He can do some things naturally; I was more of a technical skilled guy. He's a guy who has more athletic ability than I had. What's exciting about him is that he has the athletic ability, and then to put the scale on top of it makes it a great combination. I haven't had a ton of time to work with him, but seeing what he's been doing now, what we did in winter workouts, I really do believe that he's progressing to have a big sea- son. So I'm excited for him. I'm excited for the whole group, be- cause there's some uncertainty there. And we're challenging. Shoot, I'm challenged. We're challenged and we're up for the challenge to bring it, and to be consistent, and to be explosive, and to be tough. You're going to hear me say that quite a bit, and you're going to hear my guys talk about that kind of stu?, because that's what we want to be. ON DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP Obvi- ously, when you've played, like Jahan, you have some instant credibility to you. So the natural leader would be somebody like a Jahan, but I don't think Jahan is somebody who likes to be extremely vocal. I think that he's kind of a quiet guy who likes to do what he's supposed to. And so, are we chal- lenging him on that? Absolutely, but in a way that he's comfortable with. There are guys like Daniel George who some guys look up to because they've seen his work ethic. Guys like [Isaac] Lutz, who have earned the re- spect of the team. I mean there are guys like [Justin] Weller, who's a pretty smart guy, and so when guys have questions, they come to him. So there are di?erent kinds of ways that the leaders have been trying to be formed. It's still something that is going to be developed, and I still think that's something that's going to come to- gether. And it's going to come to- gether, probably a little bit easier, when we do start practicing to see a little bit more of somebody trying to bring the guys together. Who's going to be the second voice or a re>ection of my voice in our room? I do think that we have a few guys who are willing to step up, so I'm excited about that. ■

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