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that may or may not affect the team's depth chart heading into the hastily re- arranged campaign. Here's a position- by-position look at what's changed since August and how those changes could impact Penn State going forward: QUARTERBACK WHAT WE SAID IN AUGUST "Penn State won't have a quarterback competition ahead of the 2020 season. Good thing, too. Already challenged by the transition from Ricky Rahne to new offensive co- ordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, as well as re- ceivers coach Taylor Stubblefield and offensive line coach Phil Trautwein, the Nittany Lions have enough on their plate. A global pandemic abruptly halt- ing team activities, canceling spring practice in its entirety, and forcing a three-month hiatus in isolation didn't help, either." – Nate Bauer WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE Not a whole lot. The Nittany Lions' depth chart re- mains intact at this position, with re- turnees Sean Clifford, Will Levis and Ta'Quan Roberson all awaiting their chance to get back in action, and true freshman Micah Bowens in the fold, too. OUTLOOK On Aug. 11, the day the Big Ten announced that it was postponing its season, Clifford posted the following on Twitter: "I know that when I get to play football again, whenever that may be, myself and my teammates around me WILL be ready." The Lions worked out in late August and early September but were hampered by the NCAA-mandated restrictions on practice time that were imposed on the conferences that ini- tially opted not to play in the fall. It will be interesting to see whether those restrictions end up having a note- worthy impact. On the one hand, James Franklin seemed quite disappointed when Big Ten and Pac-12 teams were given only 12 hours per week to work with their players. On the other hand, Penn State's 2020 debut has been pushed back by nearly two full months, giving Clifford and company a lot more runway than they would have gotten in an ordinary year. RUNNING BACK WHAT WE SAID IN AUGUST "Penn State has too many good running backs. As problems go, that's a good one to have. But make no mistake, it does pose some challenges." – Nate Bauer WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE Penn State still has more than its share of good run- ning backs, but one of them has been waylaid by off-the-field trouble, and it remains to be seen how that might im- pact his immediate on-field outlook. Sophomore Devyn Ford was one of three Penn State players facing charges after >> I f you're a Penn State fan looking to find some excitement about new of- fensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca and his potential impact on the Nittany Lions' passing game, one stat line should do the trick. It belongs to Tan- ner Morgan, a former three-star recruit out of Kentucky who had only three Power Five scholarship offers. By Morgan's sophomore season at Minnesota, Ciarrocca had helped transform him into one of the Big Ten's most produc- tive passers to the tune of 3,252 yards, 30 touchdowns and a 66 percent com- pletion rate. Following the Big Ten's announce- ment that it would pursue playing a fall football season, Ciarrocca won't have to wait to get on the field with Sean Clifford and his big right arm. Even with no spring practice and a summer practice slate that has been far from conventional, Ciarrocca's initial work within the quarterback room has been productive. "What we started from the very be- ginning is really just understanding how we want to think about the plays and just sharing back-and-forth," he said during a recent appearance on the Penn State Coaches Show. "Really, when we first started to get together, it was more of, 'Hey, how do you think about this play?' And then I would lis- ten to them and I would talk about how I think about the play, because we need to merge our thoughts together." Those meetings started during the winter, Ciarrocca said, and there has been a continuous dialog ever since. Together, Ciarrocca and Penn State's quarterbacks have watched the entirety of Minnesota's 2019 season, in which the Gophers finished with the nation's 22nd-ranked offense, their first time inside the top 50 since 2006. "They [were] just constantly asking questions," Ciarrocca said. "'What were you thinking here?' And some- times the answer was, 'I wasn't really thinking anything, I just happened to make that call.' " Clifford and backup Will Levis have been more advanced in these discus- sions due to their age, Ciarrocca said. | Ciarrocca excited about quarterbacks' progress CIARROCCA

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