Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1511150
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 3 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Warren, true to form, echoed that as- sessment. "We've been playing together for four years — we know what we're both think- ing without having to ask. It's hard to ex- plain, but we do it in practice every day," he said. "He knows what I'm going to do, and I know what he's going to do. … We both do a little bit of everything, so hav- ing us out there is a big help for the both of us." It's definitely given a lift to an offense that has needed to lean on its junior tight ends to supplement a receiving corps plagued by injuries and inconsistency. Franklin had said going into the 2023 campaign that Penn State would likely rely on "12-personnel" alignments fea- turing one running back and two tight ends. That has indeed been the case. Penn State opened eight of its first nine games in two-tight end sets, with the Week 2 clash against Delaware being the only game in which PSU started three wide receivers. The statistics have reflected the im- portance of Johnson and Warren to Penn State's offense. Through nine games, they were second and third, respectively, in catches. Johnson had 24 for 246 yards and 4 touchdowns, while Warren was right behind with 23 for 216 yards and 6 scores. PSU's tight ends have been dubbed by po- sition coach Ty Howle as the "Aces," and they even have an X (Twitter) account ex- tolling their accomplishments. The high- light reel is getting longer by the week. "I think our tight ends room is as good as any tight ends room in the country," Franklin said. "Early in the season, the tight ends' production wasn't what maybe people thought it should have been, but that's changed. You're allowed to get better as the season goes on, and those guys have done a great job." A Challenging Transition The toughest part of Warren's journey to Penn State football stardom was the first. He had thrown for 1,149 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior at Atlee High, and in August 2018, he committed to Virginia Tech as a quarterback. Other college recruiters looked at his 6-foot-6, 235-pound frame and saw a tight end. Penn State's coaches were among them. The Nittany Lions thought he had the potential to grow into the posi- tion, and they sold him on their vision for his future. While Franklin acknowledged that such moves are fraught with uncer- tainty, Warren never doubted that he had the physical toughness he would need to play at the line of scrimmage for a Big Ten team. What he didn't know was how to play the position. "There's more that goes into the stuff you see at tight end than [is visible] to the outside eye," he explained. "It was probably more than a year before I felt like I was a confident tight end. That re- ally came with the route running and the blocking. I always had a pretty good knack for catching the ball, but there was a lot of other stuff I had to do. Run blocking is something that's going to take a while if you've never done it." Warren's athleticism helped smooth the transition. He had played basketball at Atlee, and some of those skills and tech- Warren had a career-high 6 receptions for 37 yards in Penn State's 63-7 victor y over Delaware in September. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL