Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1454229
Site Lines C O M M E N T S F R O M T H E L I O N S D E N A T B L U E W H I T E I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M MARCH 2022/VOL. 37, NO. 7 MANAGING EDITOR Matt Herb CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Ryan Tice, Mark Panus WEBSITE EDITOR Nate Bauer STAFF WRITERS David Eckert, Greg Pickel RECRUITING REPORTER Ryan Snyder FOOTBALL ANALYST Thomas Frank Carr CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Phil Grosz, Lou Prato, Jim Carlson PHOTOGRAPHY Bill Anderson, Steve Manuel, Mark Selders COVER PHOTO Ryan Snyder DESIGN Jeanette Blankenship, Chris Miller F F F PUBLISHER Stu Coman BUSINESS MANAGER Linda Autry ADVERTISING SALES/MARKETING Michelle DeLee-Hamilton 877-630-8768 CIRCULATION MANAGER Sarah Boone CUSTOMER SERVICE Cathy Jones, Laura Thornton 800-421-7751 BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED (USPS 742-550) is published monthly, except June, by Coman Publishing Company, 905 W Main St, Ste 24F, Durham, NC 27701-2076. A one-year (11 issues) subscription is $59.00. First-class, digital and foreign rates available on request. Periodicals postage paid at Durham, NC 27701 and additional mailing offices. Printed by The Papers, Milford, Ind. POSTMASTER: Please send address corrections/changes to BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED, PO Box 2331, Durham NC 27702-2331. For advertising or subscription informa- tion call 1-919-688-0218 or write BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED, PO Box 2331, Dur- ham NC 27702. W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Penn State's better-than-expected performance this sea- son has raised hopes for the men's basketball program's future under Micah Shrewsberry. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL ON THE BASKETBALL TEAM'S PROGRESS IN MICAH SHREWSBERRY'S FIRST SEASON AS COACH … I had lower expectations this season than the results that we've seen. These guys aren't bad and are always in it. They likely should have at least a few more wins even with the officiating. But Coach Shrewsberry is going to infuse this team with talent in the coming years and have them playing well as a team. The trajectory appears to be up. — WeAre Let's give Shrewsberry a couple years and he will have our team in the NCAA Tournament. It's just a matter of time. He needs a few elite players. The man is definitely a fighter who knows the game. It's ALL about recruiting. — AK1967 It is set up for him to succeed. He'll bring in some kids from the Midwest (Indy, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan) where there is a diminishing talent pool (which won't make the other Big Ten teams happy). He'll also keep the Philly pipeline open and pick up some from the NYC-to-DC corridor. I already like his game management. With better players (and they're on the way), we'll be a very good program. — Rick76 I look forward to seeing our Penn State basketball team continue to climb up the national ratings as Coach Shrewsberry attracts and recruits players with greater potential. I've been waiting for this change since our last trip to the NCAA Final Four in 1954. —Cheerleader Ed ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF PENN STATE'S OFFENSIVE LINE… From what I have observed about the blocking scheme in the limited amount of analysis I did last season, there is nothing wrong at all with the scheme — nothing. It's no different than what about 75 percent of the rest of the country runs. There WERE problems with the execution of that scheme. It's just not a real complicated system, but like any college system you need the hosses up front to do their job. PSU didn't have that horsepower last year. —SJLuvsLions I'm really excited by [offensive line coach Phil Trautwein's] recruiting and the size of the linemen he is targeting. However, the production on the field has been so suspect, and going into his third season I'd really like to see some positive trends coming this year. And the problem with that is, I don't exactly feel good about the OL going into 2022. Sure, there are some starters returning and there are some promising young players in Olu Fashanu and Landon Tengwall, but I am not going to assume that these are net posi- tives for this season. — Rwd5035 Ultimately Traut will be judged by how his OL performs on the field. That is more than fair. I think we have recruited well enough (especially lately) to give him the horses he needs to get the job done. … In my mind, 2022 is a BIG year for Traut, Mike Yurcich and our offense in general. My mind is still open, but this season will tell us a real lot. It is time for production to show itself at game time. I am cautiously optimistic and hopeful that this all comes together. — Joe Pano19 Even with RBs like Saquon Barkley, Miles Sanders and Journey Brown, PSU struggled to take over games on the ground when it needed to most. The NFL just doesn't look at PSU anymore for O-linemen, for good reason. — TomPSU823 I agree with a lot of the angst and "I'll believe it when I see it" about the O-line. I think the optimists in the group believe that swapping out coach after coach isn't the right approach and if the players believe in the coach, that trumps everything we think we know. I've coached a lot of teams (although only one year of football), and players who believe in their coach outperform those who don't. Let's hope Coach Trautwein turns this group into a solid run/pass line that becomes a strength. — NavyBlue 4 M A R C H 2 0 2 2