Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1322704
GROWING SEASON Unprecedented circumstances slowed Phil Trautwein's efforts to revamp the offensive line. But as players have gained experience, the unit's potential has begun coming into view ore than any of Penn State's other three new assistant coaches last spring, Phil Trautwein couldn't hide a look of concern. The Nittany Lions' new hire in charge of the of- fensive line was in the same spot as many other college football coaches around the country, in- cluding his colleagues at Penn State, in that he was having to make the most of a remote-learn- ing situation that was far from ideal. But for Trautwein, brought to Penn State to fundamen- tally reshape the offensive line's approach to the game, the task was especially daunting, border- ing on completely unrealistic. "All I had with them was five winter workouts where I showed them the basics. I filmed from it and I just tried to critique it off of that the best way I could. I tried to just show them clips of guys doing it right from the NFL, to me showing them some videos of me doing it, just trying to get them to see it so that they could do it when they were at home," Trautwein said. "That was our way of trying to get the technique going when they were gone for six months. I tried to do it in many different ways and tried to be as cre- ative as possible, but it was definitely a learning process for all of us." Emphasizing accountability and the need to complete tasks no matter the obstacle, Trautwein and his new pupils gave it their best effort and made no excuses along the way. Through the remote learning, the eventual re- turn to campus with hyper-vigilant COVID-19 safety protocols creating an odd, disjointed sum- mer without contact, and into an abbreviated preseason with limited contact in the trenches, Penn State didn't have the luxury of an adjust- ment period. And once the 2020 season started, its opponents provided no sympathy. Able to ex- ploit the Nittany Lions early and often, Indiana, Ohio State, Maryland, Nebraska and Iowa piled up sacks, quarterback hurries, stops behind the line of scrimmage, and forced fumbles at an alarming rate. So effective was the blueprint set by the Buck- eyes, one in which they bottled up the running game and dared the Nittany Lions to pass, that by the time Penn State fell for the fifth time in as many weeks to start the season, its offense was ranked No. 122 of 127 Football Bowl Subdivision teams for sacks allowed, averaging 4.0 per game, and 112th in tackles for loss allowed at 7.8 per game. Both figures were the worst in the Big Ten at the time, and the Nittany Lions' place in the league standings was correspondingly low. But amid all those struggles, Penn State's vul- nerable offensive line was attempting to put into action a transition more significant and chal- lenging than their collective can-do attitudes had revealed. "Coach Traut has taught us to block more ag- gressively, and he emphasized all our little me- chanics, the small, important mechanics that you need [in order] to have good technique to ef- ficiently move someone from point A to point B," left tackle Rasheed Walker said. "He was teach- ing us all those new mechanics that will help us, but you just have to keep on practicing. We got to work with him a little bit [in February], but due to COVID, we didn't really get to work that much | M