Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1503568
A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 7 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / S P E C I A L T E A M S / / / / / / / "He calmed me down. He told me that my career is not done and with an ACL nowadays, it's easy to recover from," De- Luca said. "He had a plan for what I was going to do and when I was going to come to campus and all that." It's been nearly four years since De- Luca was injured, and that plan has served him well. He's preparing for his redshirt sophomore season at Penn State, where he has quickly become a contributor at linebacker, a special teams captain and a scholarship recipi- ent. If anything, his progress has been even quicker than he expected. "If you had told me coming out of sur- gery that I'd be a captain and be put on scholarship at Penn State, I'd be like, 'Yeah, maybe my last year, but not two years into the program,'" DeLuca said. Heading into his third season at PSU, he isn't slowing down. In addition to his rotational role on defense, the 6-foot-1, 213-pounder from West Pittston is add- ing another big responsibility by step- ping into the shoes of former special teams captain Jonathan Sutherland. It's a lot of work for DeLuca, who will contribute to the punt, kickoff, kick- return and punt-return teams this fall. In many ways, it makes him a two-way player. But being a captain doesn't just mean ensuring that players know their as- signments. It's also about being a leader from an emotional standpoint. Kick coverage is some of the most intense work on the field. You have to sprint 50 yards downfield while maintaining your lane. To do that all-out every time is a difficult challenge, and De- Luca is the player responsible for hold- ing the standard in practice and not let- ting players give a half-effort. "Special teams are kind of like hav- ing one bullet in the chamber," he said. "You have to take your one shot, be- cause there's no do-over. You don't get another special teams play [right away]. "So, everyone buying in, competing, going full-out on special teams pays off for us at the end." His role in the kicking game requires an intense focus, but it's not as if De- Luca hasn't already brought that qual- ity to the defense. Although he wasn't a starter last year, he was a key contribu- tor at linebacker, seeing action in all 13 games and finishing with 29 tackles, in- cluding 2 for loss and a sack. DeLuca still has three seasons of eli- gibility ahead of him and isn't content with what he's accomplished so far. One of his remaining goals is to earn jersey No. 0. For most of its history, the NCAA wouldn't allow players to wear that number, but it changed its stance in 2021. Since then, schools have typically been awarding No. 0 to veteran players. Penn State wanted to imbue it with a different meaning, though, so Franklin announced that every year, No. 0 would go to the Lions' top special teams per- former. As of early July, no one on the Penn State roster had been assigned the num- ber. DeLuca was still listed as wearing No. 34, just as he did last year. He's made it clear that he wants the No. 0 jersey, but he admits he's far from the only one. "I feel like half the team asked Coach Franklin for zero," he said. "I love the whole process where we have one guy who dedicates most of his time to special teams and also plays other positions. It shows you're a two-way player." ■ Coordinator Stacy Collins Sees Potential In Nittany Lions' Kicking Game The parameters of Penn State's kicking competition are established at this point. Special teams coordinator Stacy Collins has at his disposal five viable competitors for two positions heading into preseason camp. For field goals, he'll chose between redshirt sophomore Sander Sahaydak and senior transfer Alex Felkins. At punter, redshirt freshman Alex Bacchetta, senior transfer Riley Thompson and redshirt sophomore Gabriel Nwosu will compete. While those players showed their potential throughout the spring, Collins said he believes that informal midsummer practices can make a big difference in how the position battles take shape in August. "I think you can make huge strides in those four months," Collins said. "The nice thing after spring is, you can identify some things that they need to work on, tweak and turn. Then you gain those four months in the summer to put yourself into game mode as you head into August." At both punter and placekicker, Penn State will need to replace its starters from the 2022 season. Among the returning punters from last season, Bacchetta finished with 4 attempts, averaging 40.0 yards per try. His game reps came in relief of Barney Amor, who suffered from inconsistency in No- vember. Nwosu, meanwhile, averaged 34.0 yards on 2 punts in a win at Indiana. Penn State relied heavily on Jake Pinegar for field goals and PATs last year; Sahaydak was the only other placekicker to log an attempt. First appearing in a September win over Central Michigan, Sa- haydak missed on a 56-yard try going into halftime. Later in November, he hit a 20-yard attempt in a win at Rutgers. Two wild cards this year are Felkins and Thompson, both of whom gained substantial experience at their previous schools. A year ago, Felkins hit 11 of 16 field goals and all 28 of his PATs at Colum- bia. Thompson punted 61 times at Florida Atlantic and finished with a 45.4-yard average. Collins came away from the team's spring sessions feeling encouraged by the progress he saw. "The great thing after 15 practices is that you've got some really good competition. You've got competition at all of our kicking spots," he said. "That's probably the biggest side of this. You get a chance to see guys in action, see some things they do well, see some things that they need to get better at. "We've got great competition within the specialist group. We'll get into camp and see how this thing works out." — Nate Bauer Fast Facts: Special Teams Coordinator: Stacy Collins (2nd season) Returning starters: KR Kaytron Allen, KR Nicholas Singleton Departing starters: LS Chris Stoll, K Jake Pin- egar, P Barney Amor, PR Parker Washington Projected new starters: K Alex Felkins, LS Tyler Duzansky, P Riley Thompson Top reserves: K Sander Sahaydak, P Alex Bacchetta, P/K Gabriel Nwosu Newcomers: K Alex Felkins, P Riley Thomp- son