Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1482664
1 6 N O V 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 "A former four-star prospect, Carter has developed into a tough-to-stop defender. He's the Nittany Lions' next Micah Parsons, which is only part of the reason why he wears the coveted No. 11. With 18 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble already, Carter is showing signs he will be an elite player who can become a high draft choice and likely three-and-out guy." — ESPN.com analysts Tom VanHaaren and Tom Luginbill on PSU linebacker Abdul Carter, who appeared at No. 2 on their list of college football's top true fresh- men of 2022 "An 'A' gap left open can be a problem. Doesn't mat- ter whether you're playing Michigan, Central Michigan, Northern Michigan or Lake Michigan." — Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, speaking to re- porters a few days before the Nittany Lions surrendered 418 rushing yards against the Wolverines "Everything happens really fast, and obviously, you're dealing with bigger guys in general. Also, you're moving up to the Big Ten from an FCS conference. So, that was a challenge. But the coaching staff did a really great job throughout camp, getting me ready and adjusting me. I think it's gone well." — Senior interior lineman Hunter Nourzad on his transition from Cornell to Penn State, and from tackle to guard and center "I'm happy with our group. We're going to fight every single night. We're going to make it as hard as possible. We're going to do what we can each and every day to become one of the best teams in the Big Ten." — Men's basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry on Penn State's outlook heading into the 2022-23 season "The NCAA long before this should have found a way to remunerate student-athletes so that it didn't come to this. But because it is here, Penn State has to be competitive." — Ira Lubert, former chairman of Penn State's board of trustees who now chairs the Success With Honor NIL collective, on the need to be proactive in the area of name, image and likeness "Broadly, there is nothing that says Penn State should be a top-five team right now or is entitled to that status. Franklin having been at Penn State for nine seasons does not mean his ninth should be his best by virtue of being the most recent. Longevity in coaching is as much about avoiding prolonged periods of absolute failure as it is regular high-level success. Whatever his shortcomings might be, Franklin has afforded Penn State the opportu- nity to play in games like [the top-10 matchup at Michi- gan] by winning all the ones that came before them. The theory has always been the same: keep knocking on the door and you'll eventually be let in. There is something to be said for that. "At the same time, the more you fail to open the door, the more people despise knocking in the first place." — Ben Jones, StateCollege.com columnist, writing in the aftermath of Penn State's loss to Michigan They Said It Kaytron Allen has been a high-impact freshman for the Nittany Lions this season, ranking second on the team in rushing with 396 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground through seven games. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE "They've played a ton of football for us. They've learned a lot through both good experiences and challenging experiences and adversity. I think they learned how physical and how challenging our conference is, spe- cifically our side of the conference. So, yeah, those experiences are valu- able for them. I'm a huge believer in the experience that they gained on the field from a physical perspective, a mental perspective, that they're growing every single day. "They been very supportive of each other, and Keyvone [Lee] has been a great mentor, too. There are a lot of positives there. We need to create some more big plays and get more explosive with those running backs. We have the ability to do that, and we have done it at times this year. We need to be more consistent." — Football coach James Franklin on the development of true fresh - man running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen