Blue White Illustrated

I n a normal year, this column would be focused on my breakout players and top position battles for the upcoming football season. This is not a normal year, obviously. There were no spring practice sessions in March and April, and preseason camp was abruptly halted in August a;er just four practices. Those cancellations have made it impossible to treat this presea- son as if it were business as usual. So rather than focusing on a handful of position battles, what I'd like to address this month are the major question marks at each position group. We'll begin our discussion at the quarterback spot. QUARTERBACK Can Penn State keep Sean Cli9ord healthy for the entire sea- son? During the 8rst half of the 2019 cam- paign, Cli9ord exceeded many people's expectations. The 8rst-year starter completed 64 percent of his passes and was leading the Big Ten in total o9ense, averaging just over 280 yards per game. One of the main reasons for Cli9ord's hot start was that he remained free from any serious injuries. To that point in the season, Penn State's o9ensive line was allowing an average of only 1.2 sacks per game and had helped him become the No. 2 rusher on the team with averages of 58.7 yards per game and 5.9 yards per carry on just under 10 carries per game. For Cli9ord to continue posting those kinds of numbers in the second half of the season, Penn State needed to keep him injury-free. That didn't happen. In the second half of the year, the Nittany Lions allowed 3.6 sacks per game, and Cli9ord su9ered a shoulder injury against Ohio State in week 11 that kept him out of action until the Cotton Bowl. For the season, he ended up completing 59.3 percent of his passes for 2,654 yards, and Penn State's pass o9ense 8n- ished eighth in the Big Ten, averaging only 221.3 yards per game. Heading into the 2020 season, Clif- ford's health has to be a major priority. The o9ensive line can't allow 32 sacks, and Cli9ord shouldn't be carrying the ball 116 times as he did last year. It's as simple as that. Penn State doesn't have a lot of game experience behind Cli9ord. Redshirt sophomore Will Levis did play in seven games last season, completing 28 of 47 passes for 224 yards, but redshirt fresh- man Ta'Quan Roberson has only been on the 8eld for a handful of plays, and true freshman Micah Bowens arrived this past summer. There is no Tommy Stevens backing up Cli9ord. The Nittany Lions' depth situation magni8es the importance of their re- turning starter. Without a healthy Clif- ford for the entire 2020 season, the Lions don't have a chance of qualifying for the College Football Playo9. RUNNING BACK Can Penn State run a three- or four-man rotation at running back this fall? Many believe that Journey Brown and Noah Cain will enter the 2020 season as the top running back tandem in the Big Ten. In his 8nal 8ve games last year, Brown rushed for 598 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 7.6 yards per carry. Said running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider, "In the last four or 8ve games – and I know I'm biased – I thought Jour- ney Brown was playing as good as any running back in the country. He's got freakish athletic ability and strength that he 8nally started tapping into." When you combine Brown's capabili- ties with what Cain accomplished in his debut season, rushing for 443 yards in only 10 games and setting a Penn State freshman record with eight rushing touchdowns, you can understand why some might argue that those two should carry 100 percent of Penn State's rush- ing attack this fall. With Ricky Slade having transferred to Old Dominion, one has to wonder how many carries Devyn Ford, Caziah Holmes and Keyvone Lee will receive. Ford rushed for 294 yards and three touchdowns last year, while Holmes im- pressed Penn State's coaching sta9 a;er he arrived on campus in January as an early enrollee in the Class of 2020. But with just an eight-game regular-season schedule and no nonconference games, I'm not sure if Ford and Holmes will be a credible part of Penn State's rushing at- tack. It may even be di:cult for Ford to see the same type of action he saw dur- ing the 2019 season. That will pose some challenges for Seider. He'll have to 8nd a way to keep 8ve running backs happy during a shortened season in which there simply won't be as many carries to go around as there usually are. But that's a problem every other Big Ten running backs coach would like to have. In the end, I think Brown and Cain will end up dividing close to 90 percent of the carries. That might be what's best for this team. WIDE RECEIVER With six wideouts holding freshman eligibility, can Penn State's passing game improve on its eighth-place 8nish in the Big Ten last year? K.J. Hamler is now playing in the NFL, leaving junior Jahan Dotson as the only returning wideout with more than 10 re- ceptions in 2019. Dotson had 27 catches for 488 yards and 8ve TDs as a sopho- more. Another returnee, redshirt soph- PHIL'S CORNER To make a playoff run this season, PSU must answer these questions

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