Penn State Sports Magazine
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2 2 A P R I L 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M that on-field decisions feel more intui- tive. "With Coach K, one of his big things is eliminating variables for us, just allowing us to go out and play fast," Allar said. "I think that will clear a lot of things up with guys not being indecisive. Now they'll be able to go out and play full speed. I think that's a big thing for us this spring spe- cifically. Go out and just go 100 percent. Do whatever your job is, and earn those opportunities. Do your responsibility, and those big plays will come." Franklin pointed to the Lions' final regular-season games last year against Rutgers and Michigan State as evidence that the Lions can address their prob- lems with schematic changes rather than a personnel overhaul. Against the Scarlet Knights, Penn State was able to pull away for a 27-6 victory even though Allar was knocked out of the game with an injury. Six days later against the Spartans, PSU totaled 586 yards, including 303 through the air by Allar and backup Beau Pribula, in a 42-0 romp. That success is replicable, Franklin said. "There are some things that you can do with the wide receivers in terms of mo- tion, in terms of alignment, like stacks and bunches and things like that, that will help our guys versus man coverage," he said. "I think that's going to be really, re- ally important for us. "You look at what they were able to do at Kansas and what we were able to do the last couple of [regular-season] games with play-action passes specifically, mo- tions, shifts, formations, bunches, stacks, things like that to make it more challeng- ing for people in man coverage. I think those are probably the biggest things that jump out to us." The Lions have many other issues to address this spring, and they'll have to do it while waiting for one of their more important players to recover from post- season surgery. Junior Drew Shelton, a contender to replace All-American Olu- muyiwa Fashanu at left tackle, is sitting out the drills with an unspecified injury to his arm or shoulder. Nevertheless, success next fall starts this spring. By the time spring drills wrap up with the Blue-White Game on April 13, Franklin hopes his staff will have given players everything they need to excel. Emphasizing the educational part of that process, he quoted one of his offensive analysts, former Boston College and Tem- ple assistant coach Frank Leonard. "As Frank would say, we're overpaid phys ed teachers, right? What can we do to put our players in the best position to be successful and learn the information, and what's the best way that we can teach it?" he said. "What can we clean up that doesn't really make sense, and how do we marry those things that are in Penn State's best interest? What's in the student-ath- letes' best interest to allow us to have the type of spring ball, training camp, and then season we want to have?" ■ James Franklin Hoping To Stage A Traditional Spring Game James Franklin wants to have a conventional football game when Penn State wraps up spring practice in mid-April, not just a glorified practice session or a skills competition. "We're hopeful that we're going to be able to have more of a traditional spring game, which I think has become more and more challenging the last couple of years," the 11th-year Nittany Lion coach said. "We're seeing a lot of people go away from spring games and have more of a practice or skills-type activity in front of the fans." Penn State has more depth than in recent years, as evidenced by the size of the spring roster. There are 124 players listed on Penn State's current roster, about 20 more than PSU carried at this time a year ago. That should help the Nittany Lions hold the kind of exhibition that the staff wants to see when the Blue-White Game kicks off at 2 p.m. April 13 at Beaver Stadium. Attendance for the spring game has surpassed 60,000 fans in nine of the past 10 years, and this year's contest will also air live on the Big Ten Network. For Franklin, the opportunity to play before an audience is part of the game's appeal, even if it means that upcoming opponents will be able to watch, too. The Nittany Lions may have brought in three new coordinators in recent months, welcoming Tom Allen from Indiana, Andy Kotelnicki from Kansas and Justin Lustig from Vanderbilt to handle the defense, offense and special teams, respectively. But even with new faces in key leadership positions, the Lions are, in many ways, an open book. "I'm not one of these guys who is overly concerned about hiding too much," Franklin said. "The reality is that people can watch us last year. They've got all the tape. They can watch Vanderbilt spe- cial teams tape. They can watch Kansas' offensive tape and watch a combination of Indiana and our defensive tape from last year. It's not like there are a whole lot of secrets out there. "I think being able to go out there and compete in a spring game-type setting … will be really im- portant for our team." — Matt Herb Penn State drew an estimated crowd of 63,000 for last year's spring game, which was won by the Blue squad, 10-0. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL