Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1499919
1 4 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M "If you were looking to be wowed by quarterback Drew Allar, his most impressive throw of the day was a side-armed completion that gained a total of one yard. Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton were fine but totaled 10 carries, which will likely amount to a third of what they should have on any given Saturday in the fall. "One might have wanted to see more out of the offensive line, but it's hard to put too much stock in any single unit's performance when practices are often more about observing broad themes than drilling down on all the finer details. "And the theme from Saturday? This team seems talented, but it will have to do a lot of growing to get where it wants to go." — Ben Jones, StateCollege.com columnist, on Penn State's showing in the Blue-White Game "Penn State is set up to push for its first Big Ten championship since 2016, and much of the opti- mism around Happy Valley stems from who returns on defense. Coordinator Manny Diaz had a solid first season and is back despite generating some interest for head-coaching vacancies. "Diaz's aggressive scheme suits returning players such as ends Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac, and linebacker Abdul Carter, a national awards candi- date who recorded 6.5 sacks, 10.5 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles as a true freshman. Carter will help lead the defense through at least 2024, and Robinson is a true junior. Linebacker U has an excel- lent opportunity to uphold its tradition with Carter, Curtis Jacobs and Kobe King, who are all experi- enced and boast multiple years of eligibility left." — ESPN college football writer Adam Rittenberg, who ranked Penn State sixth in his survey of the nation's best defenses heading into the 2023 season "I thought Dani was unblockable out there. He's going to have a big year for us. I couldn't be more excited about him." — James Franklin on sophomore defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, who was credited with 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry in the Blue-White Game "He picks things up very quickly. Tony just likes making improvements every day, week and month. He came in at like 195. Now, he's like 230. He came in and put in the work, learned the playbook and studied film. He's going to be big for us." — Sophomore Abdul Carter on fellow linebacker Tony Rojas, a January enrollee who led all players in the Blue-White Game with 9 tackles "This is something that was always in the back of my mind, in my family's mind: What if I end up in Pittsburgh? Now that I'm here, we're just trying to figure out where I'm going to live. It's a good problem to have." — Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. after being selected in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Pitts - burgh Steelers, the team for which his father played from 1999-2006 "I just want to thank Penn State, Nittany Nation, for these past five years. They took me from a boy to a man, and I'm forever thankful, forever blue and white." — Interior offensive lineman Juice Scruggs fol- lowing his selection by the Houston Texans in the second round of the draft They Said It "The kid has got some gamer to him, which we really like, and his personality when he was here really came through. I just think he's going to be a really good fit, as a person as much as he is a player, too." — Milt Hendrickson, Green Bay Packers director of football operations, on the team's rationale for drafting former Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford in the fifth round Sean Clifford became the third Penn State quarterback to be drafted during the James Franklin coaching era when the Green Bay Packers selected him in the fifth round with the 149th overall pick. Clifford's two predecessors at PSU were also drafted, with Christian Hackenberg going to the New York Jets in the second round in 2016 and Trace McSorley to the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round in 2019. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE