Blue White Illustrated

their best to build productive working relationships between coaches and players, but with all the instruction taking place online, they were at a dis- advantage compared to teams that hadn't endured as much off-season change. Penn State has had some change this year, too. Mike Yurcich has been hired as offensive coordinator, while Ty Howle has taken over as tight ends coach and Anthony Poindexter as safeties coach. Those moves make it all the more en- couraging that PSU appears ready to conduct a real set of in-person drills in the weeks to come. The Nittany Lions' practice sessions were set to begin on March 15. When will they end? And will there be a Blue- White Game of some sort? The answers to those questions were unclear as of early March. While James Franklin and his staff sort it all out, let's look at five of the more pressing issues facing the team as it begins its first set of spring drills in two years. 1 How should Penn State pro- ceed at the quarterback posi- tion? It's the big question for the Nittany Lions this off-season, but, whether it's recognized as such or not, it's also the big question for every college football program every off-season. Yes, the posi- tion is that important to the success or failure of any team in modern college football. And at Penn State, given the performances of starter Sean Clifford and his midseason replacement, Will Levis, during the 2020 campaign, it's a critical question without an answer ahead of the 2021 season. Offered the opportunity to provide his initial evaluation of Clifford during his introductory press conference on Feb. 2, Yurcich opted out. "My comments on any individual player, my opinions of them – I'm not going to give them, whether it's on Sean, or anybody up front, or any re- ceivers right now," he said. "I think it's best for me to approach this very non- judgmentally, especially with the media. I think it's fair for me to go through spring practice and then give you an assessment of where those guys are at that time. I don't want to pre- judge or talk about any one player specifically with you guys at this point." >> Yurcich views passing accuracy as highest priority P enn State made one of the most note- worthy hires of the James Franklin era when it announced in January that it was welcoming Mike Yurcich to the sta< as o

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