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special teams. He said the coaches were able to get a good feel for the team's strengths and weaknesses, giving play- ers a roadmap to follow as they head into a summer filled with informal workouts and limited coaching instruction. The team was without a number of key players during its April 17 practice. De- fensive backs Joey Porter Jr. and Ji'Ayir Brown, linebackers Jesse Luketa and Charlie Katshir, offensive linemen Juice Scruggs, Des Holmes and Landon Teng- wall, and running backs Noah Cain and John Lovett were all absent. Porter and Luketa are returning starters, and sev- eral of the others are expected to be in contention for starting spots in presea- son camp, so their absence was notable. Luketa was out this spring with what appears to be an injury to his left arm, and Cain is still working his way back from a foot injury that forced him to miss all but the first few plays of the 2020 season. Lovett and Scruggs were back in action in the April 23 practice. One of the advantages of holding a couple of practices front of a crowd, Franklin said, was that they allowed the staff to get a better sense of how the quarterbacks are coming along in the new offense being installed by Mike Yurcich, particularly backups Ta'Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux, who between them have attempted just one pass at the collegiate level. "I think it's hard to say that [you're comfortable with the depth at quarter- back] when you have guys who haven't played significant game reps," Franklin said. "It's hard to say that you feel that way because you never know until guys get in there. That's why I think being in Beaver Stadium today was important for us. Because it's different. It's different than being on the practice fields at Lasch. "Both Ta'Quan and Christian show some really good flashes of understand- ing what we're trying to do, how to op- erate the offense the way Mike wants it run, and then also the ability to make some plays and have the vision to read a defense and deliver a throw. Ta'Quan this spring has probably had as many of those 'wow' throws as anybody. Sean [Clifford] has had a bunch of them, Ta'Quan has had a bunch of them and Christian as well. But until you get that experience, it's hard to say that you feel great. … So we've got some work to do there. But we feel really good about our guys, and we feel really good about the guy coaching them." As for Clifford, Franklin said he's "done some really good things" throughout spring drills. "I think Mike has really been im- pressed from what I've seen in terms of Sean's approach," Franklin said. "It's re- ally important to Sean. He works really hard at it and prepares like you're sup- posed to prepare." Both Roberson and Clifford were in- tercepted by the afternoon's breakout star, Kalen King, during the April 17 practice. A four-star cornerback from Detroit and a January enrollee at Penn State, King had been generating plenty Penn State's defense had a nice a9er- noon in the team's open practice on April 17, creating turnovers, getting to the quarterback and making plays in the back7eld. True freshman cor- nerback Kalen King was arguably the biggest story of the day with his two in- terceptions, including a pick-six against backup quarterback Ta'Quan Roberson on the second o8ensive series of the a9ernoon. Although he's only been on campus for a few months, that's been more than enough time for the January enrollee to make a strong impression on defensive coordinator Brent Pry. "We have seen some highlights from him. He's still learning the position as far as schematics and some tech- niques," Pry said. "Terry [Smith] has done a nice job with him. But he's got a really good skill set, is very mature, very con7dent, and has great in- stincts." King's quick emergence as a poten- tial impact player was one of the fac- tors that allowed the sta8 to audition Marquis Wilson at wide receiver. Wil- son played cornerback in his 7rst two seasons at Penn State, but the coaches felt good enough about their depth at the position to give Wilson a shot at playing o8ense. It's unknown whether the move will turn out to be perma- nent. King wasn't the only defensive new- comer to attract attention in the 7rst of the team's two open practices. Also making their public debuts were cor- nerback Johnny Dixon, defensive end Arnold Ebiketie and defensive tackle Derrick Tangelo. Pry said that any con- cerns about how the three transfers would 7t in at PSU have been alleviated during the past three months. "I think Dixon is a playmaker," Pry said. "He's a mature guy, he's got good size and strength. He's a con7dent guy also. And he has a good skill set. I'm excited that he's here and I think he's only going to get better and better as he learns our system. And he's a guy who's Newcomers, veterans have Pry feeling hopeful about defense PRY |

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