Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1462941
A P R I L 2 0 2 2 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Franklin is in the midst of his ninth spring as Penn State's head coach. The Nittany Lions are looking to bounce back after going 7-6 last season. PHOTO BY RYAN SNYDER Franklin also noted that assistant coaches Phil Trautwein (offensive line), Ty Howle (tight ends) and Ja'Juan Seider (running backs) are "taking a lot of re- sponsibility and ownership" as Penn State looks to rebound from a season in which it plunged to 118th in the FBS in rushing offense, averaging 107.8 yards per game. "We have to get the run game going, and that's my job as the head coach, to make sure that we do the things necessary in the offseason and during spring ball so that it can be [productive]," Franklin said. "Ev- erybody is taking responsibility there." But the big concerns surrounding Penn State have less to do with acknowledging responsibility for what went wrong than with finding the people the team needs in order to make the necessary fixes. That's why so much attention has been focused on high-profile newcomers like true freshman quarterbacks Drew Allar and Beau Pribula, true freshman running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, and returning-but-still-youthful linemen Olu Fashanu and Landon Tengwall. The struggles on the ground last sea- son were at the root of the Nittany Lions' problems. Their ineffectiveness in that area — their average of 3.21 yards per carry ranked 13th in the Big Ten — was a liability that led to an over-reliance on the pass- ing game. Then when senior quarterback Sean Clifford got hurt at Iowa, the passing game fizzled, too, leaving PSU fresh out of workarounds. They lost to the Hawkeyes, 23-20, and fell in nine overtimes to Illinois, 20-18, a game in which an ailing Clifford was only able to throw for 165 yards. The good news for Penn State is that its recent talent infusion could help fix some of the specific problems that torpedoed the team's title hopes last year. Singleton and Allen could give the back- field a big lift. The 6-foot, 219-pound Sin- gleton is only four months removed from a high school career in which he rushed for 6,326 yards and scored 115 touchdowns. Allen, meanwhile, is listed at 5-11, 216 pounds and is coming off a senior season in which he topped 1,400 yards. The two freshman runners will join three scholarship returnees — junior Keyvone Lee, senior Devyn Ford and red- shirt sophomore Caziah Holmes — to form a seemingly deep talent pool. Only one of those five players failed to receive a four- star rating coming out of high school. That would be Singleton, who was a five-star. Franklin said all five running backs would be given a chance this spring to show what they can do. "We'll rotate the running backs all spring," he said. "Obviously, there are guys who have experience here and played a lot of football, but we've got two running backs that we're excited about, and win- ter workouts and testing have only built on that. "Right now, for me to say before prac- tice [begins] they're going to get reps with the ones, I'm unsure. We'll just see how it goes. They'll have some opportunities in live work to rotate in there, and we'll see how it plays out as the spring goes on. "But we're excited about that group, the guys who are coming back and the experi- ence that they've gained … and then the infusion of two guys coming in at mid- semester who were very well thought-of nationally." The offensive line is the other key vari- able that will determine whether the Nit- tany Lions are able to improve. Penn State