Blue White Illustrated

team scrimmaged, he stepped aside. The injury also hindered his development in the weight room, making it harder to do all the upper-body lifting that his teammates were doing. Even so, he managed to add about five pounds of muscle in the off-season. "Now I'm about 210, and I've maintained my speed and flexibility," he said. "That's a good thing for me, especially [having to face] the running backs in the Big Ten." Obeng-Agyapong's willingness to play through the pain last season made an impression on teammates. "We knew that he was playing injured," junior cornerback Adrian Amos said. "But he pushed through. Obeng is tough." Obeng-Agyapong said he expects to be fully recovered in time for the start of preseason practice. The Nittany Lions will no doubt need his experience as they piece together their secondary. They have some veteran leadership on the first team, with Amos and senior free safety Malcolm Willis returning. But Obeng-Agyapong's possible backup at strong safety, junior Ryan Keiser, is inexperienced, and everyone else on the depth chart has either freshman or sophomore eligibility. Safeties coach Anthony Midget, himself a newcomer this year, said the presence of two seniors in the back of the secondary will help the Nittany Lions groom their young talent for bigger roles in the future. Said Midget, "Malcolm Willis has been great, especially as a tremendous leader, and also Obeng; he has been a great leader. Those guys are basically coaches on the field who understand the defense and understand what we want, and they can help us with the younger guys and their understanding of the system." Obeng-Agyapong's goal this summer will be to make sure he's ready for his return to the field. He said he's "not too worried about getting back into contact drills." That's a good omen for the Nittany Lions as they prepare for a season that could pose even more challenges than their first year under O'Brien. "I've been here for five years, so I'm used to the contact at the college level," Obeng-Agyapong said. "I'm not too worried about that." Lucas makes impression in spring drills | Jordan Lucas was honored at halftime of the Blue-White Game last month. A sophomore cornerback, Lucas was named co-recipient of the Jim O'Hora Award alongside defensive end C.J. Olaniyan. The award goes to the defensive player "whose spring contribution is most worthy of special tribute." By all accounts, the recognition was no accident. Throughout the spring, the 6foot, 185-pounder from New Rochelle, N.Y., turned heads, emerging as a viable replacement for graduating senior cornerback Stephon Morris. His performance, coupled with the development of converted wide receiver Trevor Williams, allowed the coaching staff to try Adrian Amos at safety early in spring practice. Defensive coordinator John Butler said Lucas "made a tremendous amount of improvement in the spring. I think he's probably one of the reasons why we have the rotation now that we have. If we have good players at corner, guys who we have confidence in, we can make some moves and we can be flexible. "Our No. 1 deal is, we've gotta put the best 11 guys out on the field who are going to help us win. We [as coaches] have a much bigger role than that, but when it comes to playing football on Saturdays in this stadium, we've gotta put the best 11 guys on the field who are going to help us win games. Whatever position they're going to play, they're going to play the ones that can help us win. Jordan has had a good spring, and Adrian, he gives us flexibility." Asked whether his performance this spring had a direct impact on the coaches' decision to move Amos, Lucas was uncertain. "I'm not going to say that I had anything to do with it," he said, "because I don't know what the coaches talked about. But, you know, it's not a bad move. It's cool." Coach Bill O'Brien hailed Lucas as "a heckuva young player" during an informal media interview midway through the spring, and the coaching staff certainly appears less worried about the secondary than it did a year ago. The key going forward will be to build up the young player's confidence through practice repetitions and game action. "I think it's just experience with him," Butler said. "He's getting reps, he's going up against Allen Robinson in practice every day. I think he's got the skill set that we're looking for. He's a tall, athletic, long guy who can do multiple things. He's physical, and he cares about football, so he cares about his development. "I think the biggest thing with him that helped us last year is that he practiced a lot. He didn't play as much as he might have thought [he would], but he practiced every week and got a lot of reps, so as the season progressed, he got a lot better. "He is probably one of our most improved players from the time he enrolled to where he is now, because he was able to practice and get coached and have us on his backside getting after him." As he looks ahead to the 2013 season, Lucas said his goal is to get better every day. "I know that I have a lot of stuff to improve on from this spring," he said. "I've gotta go back, watch some of the film, take notes on myself, see what I did wrong, and just try to minimize each one of those mistakes coming into summer camp, and just get better fundamentally."

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