Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1505736
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 3 2 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M team now, we've been here three, four or five years," he said. "We've spent a lot of time together. We're really good friends. "And then that has to do with love. We love each other. We're brothers. I have two blood brothers at home, but these guys are my brothers in the locker room. It's the same type of interaction. "Then the competition part, we're al- ways joking around about who's fast and who's slow, who won and who lost, and offense versus defense, O-line versus D- line. All those three things combined are really good for our training and our mind- set." ■ One of Penn State's most anticipated battles of the offseason may have been largely decided in the spring when fifth-year senior Caedan Wallace took an apparent lead over sophomore Drew Shelton for the right tackle spot. Shelton came on strong at the end of his true freshman season and ap- peared poised to make a strong push for the starting job in August. But by all accounts, Wallace rose to the challenge and is expected to be the starter when Penn State opens its season Sept. 2 against West Virginia. Still, there's plenty of drama elsewhere this summer. Below, BWI staffers Sean Fitz, Nate Bauer, Thomas Frank Carr and Greg Pickel look at some of the more interesting battles of preseason camp, all of which figure to influence the upcoming season in important ways. SEAN FITZ: I don't know if I would call it my favorite, but the battle to win the placekicking job is one that could show up in the wins column this fall. Leg talent really isn't an issue for redshirt sophomore Sander Sahaydak or senior Alex Felkins. It's all about consistency, and that's being charted by spe- cial teams coordinator Stacy Collins throughout August, just as it was in the spring. Penn State isn't in a rush to figure out who will be the guy, but the coaches would rather find out in August rather than learn on the fly in September. We saw at practice in early August that the staff is throwing everything they can at both kickers to add pressure to the battle. Sahaydak and Felkins re- sponded well, but there's only so much you can simulate in practice. To add to that, the kickoff job — a more important role than people care to remember until a kick goes sideways out of bounds — remains a question mark. NATE BAUER: I don't know if it qualifies as a position battle because I think the two starters at the safety positions are a foregone conclusion at this point. Senior Keaton Ellis and junior Jaylen Reed look to be the leading can- didates by a comfortable margin. But position coach Anthony Poindexter and defensive coordinator Manny Diaz face a question that I'm intrigued to see answered: How do you balance consistency, maturity and experience against tantalizing talent that's young and inexperienced? There are going to be situations this fall in which a forced fumble or inter- ception could be the difference between winning and losing. As Poindexter has said in the past, turnovers change lives. The reality, though, is that busted coverages can change lives, too. James Franklin said at media day that he hopes the safeties as a group are able to replicate the productivity of Ji'Ayir Brown, who led PSU with 74 tack- les and 4 interceptions last fall. That's going to require contributions from El- lis and Reed, along with sophomores Kevin Winston Jr. and Zakee Wheatley. How the coaches manage that position might in some ways determine whether their goals are met. THOMAS FRANK CARR: I'll go off the beaten path here. The battle I'd like to spotlight is not for a starting position, but for a key role. I'm intrigued by the battle for the nose tackle position in the Prowler pack- age. Sophomore Zane Durant played well last year as a pass rusher, but his classmate Dani Dennis-Sutton could be transformative. Dennis-Sutton is a defensive end, of course, but there's been some talk that he could see time rushing from the interior. My money is on this role. In terms of his size (6-foot-5, 258 pounds) and power, Dennis-Sutton is comparable to Greg Rousseau, an edge rusher who played for Diaz at Miami. Rousseau's totals as a redshirt freshman in 2019 —15.5 sacks, 46 pressures — were so good that he was taken in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft despite not playing the previous fall. Dennis-Sutton has a similar body type, with great size and a long reach. Plus, he's a better pass rusher than Rousseau was in college. Can Dennis-Sutton mimic that performance? If he can, he'll push Durant for the nose tackle role on third down. He'd give Diaz incredible flexibility, with junior end Chop Robinson, redshirt senior end Adisa Isaac and sopho- more linebacker Abdul Carter on the field simultaneously. It's no shot at Durant, but that lineup feels like a nightmare for offensive coordinators. GREG PICKEL: Penn State continues to put out positive vibes about its receivers room, but it's impossible to overlook the fact that its leader, junior KeAndre Lambert-Smith, has been inconsistent to this point in his career. Behind Lambert-Smith, there are as many intriguing possibilities as there are legitimate question marks about who will actually be ready to supply good game reps come the fall. Hopes are high for senior transfer Dante Ce- phas, and he looks the part so far. But I believe the players who are poised to step into big-time roles are sophomores Harrison Wallace III and Omari Evans. Both are capable and have shown flashes of being able to handle the responsibility. The reason this is my top position battle is because of all the unknowns that go into it. Penn State has a lot of pieces in place on offense, but if the receivers aren't ready to go, it will quickly scuttle some of the high hopes for the coming season. These Position Battles Will Shape Penn State's Season Dani Dennis-Sutton could be poised for a role as a pass rusher in the Prowler package after totaling 3.5 sacks in limited duty during his true freshman season. PHOTO BY THOMAS FRANK CARR