Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1476228
S E P T E M B E R 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 position group. Penn State fielded a surprisingly ineffectual running game in 2021, ranking 13th in the Big Ten and 118th in the country with an average of 107.8 yards per game. Overreliant on their passing attack, the Lions averaged just 25.0 points per game. After defeating Villanova 38-17 in September, the offense never produced more than 28 points in any game the rest of the season. Trautwein, who ar- rived at Penn State in 2020 after two seasons at Boston College, has now had 20 months to work with Yurcich and is hopeful that t h e t i m e t h e y ' v e spent to- gether will enable Penn State to im- prove on its biggest short- c o m i n g l a s t year — an in- ability to gener- ate big plays, and so m e t i m e s eve n small plays, in the run- ning game. "I love Mike, I love what he's about and I love his scheme, I love who he is," Trautwein said. "We work well together; we communicate well to- gether. This is the second year with his offense, and a lot of people don't under- stand [how significant that is]. "My first year with Coach Meyer, we didn't play very well, just because it was the first year. … It just takes time. Being able to be faster and quicker — and what we call the no-talent things, understand- ing the offense, the schemes — are huge for us. It's a confidence booster." A Rebuilt Line Of course, the Nittany Lions will need more than just a con- fidence boost as they look to improve on last year's performance. They'll need a trio of unproven guards — redshirt freshman Landon Tengwall, redshirt junior Sal Wormley and Cornell grad transfer Hunter Nourzad — to help restock the depth chart at those positions. They'll need sophomore left tackle Olu Fashanu to perform on a weekly basis the way he did in his first career start, an im- pressive showing in the Outback Bowl last January in which he earned a 71.6 block- ing grade from Pro Football Focus, second highest of the seven linemen who played. They'll also need their two returning starters — redshirt senior Juice Scruggs and redshirt junior Caedan Wallace — to excel at center and right tackle, respec- tively. And they'll need everyone to stay healthy. Trautwein said he's confident in Wormley, who missed all of last season with an injury. "He did a lot in the spring," the third- year Penn State coach said. "He's pro- jected to start, just because of where he is right now." Trautwein has also liked what he's seen of Nourzad. The FCS All-American has "shown some great things," Trautwein said, adding that his quick acclimation "is motivating everyone in the room." If you're a Penn State fan, that has to sound good. It also has to sound familiar. Media day is always full of effusive praise, with no games on the immediate horizon to put a damper on all the good vibes. The affirmations that this will be the year in which the offensive line puts it all together have an especially familiar ring. Penn State's coaches have been offering variations on this theme for the past few years, only to have the season begin and many of the same problems recur. That disparity was clearly on head coach James Franklin's mind at media day when it was his turn to assess the progress of the offensive line and the running game in general. Rather than gushing about what he saw in spring practice and in the first few days of preseason camp, he kept his thoughts on the line's development mostly to himself, acknowledging the gap