Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1511150
Site Lines C O M M E N T S F R O M T H E L I O N S D E N A T B L U E W H I T E I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M DECEMBER 2023/VOL. 39, NO. 4 MANAGING EDITOR Matt Herb CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Stu Coman Cathy Jones Chris Riffer WEBSITE PUBLISHER Sean Fitz WEBSITE EDITOR Nate Bauer STAFF WRITER Greg Pickel RECRUITING REPORTER Ryan Snyder FOOTBALL ANALYST Thomas Frank Carr CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jim Carlson PHOTOGRAPHY Daniel Althouse, Bill Anderson, Steve Manuel, Mark Selders COVER PHOTO Steve Manuel DESIGN Jeanette Blankenship Chris Miller F F F PUBLISHER Mark Panus BUSINESS MANAGER Linda Autry CIRCULATION MANAGER Crystal Clayton CUSTOMER SERVICE Cathy Jones 800-421-7751 BUSINESS INTERNS Jackson Jones Joel Jones BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED (USPS 742-550) is published monthly, except June, by Coman Publishing Company, 905 W Main St, Ste 24F, Durham, NC 27701-2076. A one-year (11 issues) subscription is $68.00. First-class, digital and foreign rates available on request. Periodicals postage paid at Durham, NC 27701 and additional mailing offices. Printed by The Papers, Milford, Ind. POSTMASTER: Please send address corrections/changes to BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED, PO Box 2331, Durham NC 27702-2331. For advertising or subscription informa- tion call 1-919-688-0218 or write BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED, PO Box 2331, Durham NC 27702. W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M ON PENN STATE'S DIFFICULTIES ON OFFENSE THIS SEASON … Our play-calling seems disjointed, and we seem to call trick plays at very awkward times. It's [infrequent] that we scheme players open. I also think this offense is awful for Drew Allar. I would have him under center. Great coaches ad- just to the guys they have on the roster. We seem to try and fit the guys on our roster into our scheme. — WeArePSU_82 They needed to get one, if not two, starting-quality receiv- ers in the portal and ended up with zero. — Sloepoke20 This team has a serious talent issue at wide receiver. They simply are not good enough for the Big Ten. Unfortunately, this particular talent problem can't be addressed until after the season via the portal and incoming recruits. Lastly, there is definitely a mismatch between the offensive schemes and the personnel (WR and QB). Allar is a pure pocket quarterback who is never going to be considered a threat to run. Penn State needs an offense designed to maximize the talents of a pocket quarterback like Allar. Mike Yurcich is trying to force Allar to adjust to a scheme better suited for a dual-threat QB. — Blair10 We've been yelling it for years. We don't have an offensive identity, period. Forget about fitting talent to it. — Bleed- BlueWhite There's a golden opportunity for one of our other receivers to step up since we don't have Trey Wallace [due to an injury]. I'm hoping Dante Cephas gets more physical on the line of scrimmage. The potential is definitely there. He just needs to get more physical against the DB. It's very important that James Franklin raises the bar on our receivers coach and WR group as a whole. Get a lot of production out of these guys, and we're on our way. Tough love, so to speak. — Spice67 Penn State got a win [against Indiana], and that's what matters. Style points would be nice, but a win is a win. However, the offense has some serious issues. I don't see how that is debatable at this point. My guess is they lose to U-M and play in a meaningless bowl game to decide whether they finish top 10 or not. It's pretty much their M.O. at this point. — KJB32812 Why isn't Trey Potts getting touches when he's been effective? Where are Beau Pribula packages, which will undoubtedly help the run game? Heck, even battering ram Will Levis helped a struggling run game in 2020. — TomPSU823 ON HOW THE PENN STATE MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM IS SHAPING UP … As a longtime fan, what stands out for me right now is the difference in the style of play from last year and back as far as I can remember. It is now fast-paced with an attack at both ends. Press and trap on defense, and cut and slash on offense. They do not need a 30-second clock. When watching Penn State's prior half-court style of offense, one regularly tended to keep an eye on the 30-second clock. That will be a rarity with this group. I think of [former Arkansas coach] Nolan Richardson's "40 Minutes of Hell" style. However, by no means does PSU have the athletes to even begin making a comparison with those teams. There will be times I suspect that it will be 40 minutes of hell watching them play. Of course, as a PSU hoops fan, I have seen plenty of this. — GP360 I continue to worry Ace [Baldwin] won't get the whistle he got at VCU. Also, as much as I really like Ace and es- pecially Kanye [Clary], that is a tiny backcourt in the Big Ten. … There are some really intriguing parts on this team. I'm curious to see how some of them develop, but I'm not sure what they all add up to at this point. — crftsy I think we can all look at this whole idea and be intrigued by the thought of a super high-tempo, super defensively aggressive style being an advantage in this conference. But at the same time, the concern is that maybe there's a reason why there aren't too many teams in this conference running that sort of game. — Corneliuswonder 4 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 3 Senior receiver Dante Cephas arrived from Kent State this year and had caught 17 passes for 199 yards through nine games. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL