Penn State Sports Magazine
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7 8 A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M SPECIAL TEAMS PRESEASON ANALYSIS ★★★★★ National Title; ★★★★ Top 10; ★★★ Top 25; ★★ Too Unproven; ★ Major Concern STARTERS ★★★ In Chris Stoll, winner of the team's Outstanding Run-On award in 2019 and a scholarship player each of the past two seasons, Penn State has a reliable snapper to handle all of its special teams needs. A super senior taking advantage of the NCAA's bonus year of eligibility, he's been a fix- ture for the Nittany Lions each of the past three seasons and will play a similar role again this year. Elsewhere, Jordan Stout is gone, leaving Penn State with three spots to be filled: punter, place- kicker and kickoff specialist. Throw in Jahan Dot- son's departure — he averaged a school-record 24.6 yards on punt returns in 2020 — and the Nittany Lions have another big vacancy heading into the season. Redshirt senior Jake Pinegar returns as the team's most experienced scholarship specialist after redshirting in 2021. He handled field goal and PAT duties for most of the 2018, '19 and '20 seasons, but to regain that role he'll need to stave off redshirt freshman Sander Sahaydak. Punting will be a three-man race between Colgate grad transfer Barney Amor, redshirt fresh- man walk-on Gabriel Nwosu and true freshman Alex Bacchetta. Third-year sophomore wideout Parker Wash- ington returned two punts in the Outback Bowl, possibly foreshadowing a job he'll perform this season. And on kickoff returns, fourth-year junior running back Devyn Ford was the primary option for the Nittany Lions last season when healthy. EXPERIENCE ★★★ Pinegar's 36 career field goal makes are tied for 11th in school history, his 2019 mark with 11 makes on 12 tries is tied for a single-season record and at 73.5 percent for his career, he's now sixth. Amor, meanwhile, is a sixth-year senior with one season as Colgate's starting punter under his belt. After serving as a backup his first two seasons with the Raiders, he punted 63 times for 2,651 yards (42.1 yards per attempt) in 2019. If the Lions decide on Pinegar as their kicker and Amor as their punter, they will have plenty of returning experience among their specialists. DEPTH ★★★★ Penn State has to be about as pleased with its options as it could be, given the circumstances. Sure, Stout was a reliable presence during past three seasons, but moving on is part of the deal in college football. With the veteran Pinegar be- ing pushed by a promising freshman in Sahaydak, PSU should emerge with a solid starter here. Same goes for the punting vacancy, where Amor is vying to hold off another highly touted fresh- man in Bacchetta. At the other spots, Penn State can let the best man win and feel confident in its decision. OVERALL GRADE ★★★ Penn State's special teams are strong because the coaching staff has made them a priority. That has been the attitude of head coach James Franklin throughout his tenure, and aside from a hiccup or two, they largely have been a strength of the program. That is likely to continue this season with the well-regarded Stacy Collins taking over as coordi- nator, despite having decisions to make at nearly every spot. 2021 vs. 2022: Stock Up Or Down? With most of its key position battles still unsettled heading into pre- season camp, Penn State's special teams stock looks to be down a bit from last year. That's not to say that the Nittany Lions are going to struggle in the kicking game, just that they have a lot of questions to answer. No matter who replaces Stout as punter and kickoff specialist, it's un- likely that the Lions are going to make a year-over-year improvement in those departments. Stout simply didn't leave much room for that. He averaged just over 46 yards as a punter and had touchbacks on 59 of his 65 kickoffs. One area in which Penn State did leave room for im- provement is in field goal accuracy. The Nittany Lions were ninth in the Big Ten last year at 68 percent and will be eager in the coming weeks to find someone who can nudge that number back up into the 70s or higher. Which brings us to … X-Factor Can Jake Pinegar regain the form that he showed during his sophomore and junior seasons? In 2019 and '20, Pin- egar combined to hit 20 of 25 field goal attempts and won honorable mention All-Big Ten honors the first of those two years. Last season, he appeared in just one game and didn't have a single field goal attempt. If he re-emerges in 2022, it would be a huge boon to a Penn State team that figures to play its share of closely contested games. Freshman Outlook The Nittany Lions could have freshmen all over the field in the kicking game. Two of the three contenders for the punting spot are freshmen (Gabriel Nwosu and Alex Bacchetta), redshirt frosh Sander Sahaydak is bat- tling Pinegar for field goal and kickoff duties, and there's always a chance that a freshman or two will emerge in the return game, depending on who impresses in preseason camp. Special teams have often been a path to early playing time for the team's rising stars. This year should be no exception. — Matt Herb Redshirt senior Jake Pinegar hit 20 of 25 field goal attempts during the 2019 and '20 seasons before sitting out last fall. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL