Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1476228
2 0 S E P T E M B E R 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 After last year's subpar performance on the ground, Penn State is determined to open up some running lanes in 2022 P enn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein is not a great believer in sophomore slumps. To Trautwein, the second year is when everything is supposed to come together, not fall apart. That's how it worked when he was an offensive lineman at Florida in the mid-2000s. The 2005 season was Trautwein's first as a regular con- tributor on the Gators' offensive front. It was also Urban Meyer's first season as head coach. Florida wasn't a great team that year, dropping three regular-season games and finishing 16th in the Associated Press poll after entering the cam- paign ranked 10th nationally. Trautwein's second season, though? Different story entirely. "The second year, we won the national cham- pionship," he recalled. "We had one of the most explosive offenses in college football history." Trautwein recounted that story at Penn State's media day earlier this month as a way of illustrating how coaching conti- nuity impacts on-field performance. The more time that coaches and play- ers spend with each other, the more seamless their operation becomes. With the Nittany Lion offense about to enter its second year un- der the guidance of coordinator Mike Yurcich, that's a hopeful sign. The first year was not a pa r t i c u l a rly g o o d o n e , especially for T ra u t w e i n 's M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M Fire In The Hole Running back Keyvone Lee has been Penn State's leading rusher each of his first two sea- sons on campus, gaining 438 yards as a true freshman and 530 last year. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL