Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1520787
1 4 J U N E / J U L Y 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 "It's safe to say that of all the things impacting Penn State's upcoming season in a newly expanded Big Ten, the work of its receivers will be among the most important. If the Nittany Lions are able to give Drew Allar reliable and consistent targets, there's no real reason to think that Penn State will struggle in 2024. If they can't, it could be another slogging season with some underwhelming of- fensive performances against the league's best. A lot of that will come back to how Penn State's receivers approach the offseason and the months ahead when nobody is really watching. If the Nit- tany Lions can find a legitimate No. 1 receiver, that will go a long way towards more offensive stability. There are options on this roster you can imagine stepping up into that role, but seeing is believing with this bunch. A surprise considering how good Penn State has been at receiver over the years." — Ben Jones, StateCollege.com columnist "Chop Robinson, to me, is a roll of the dice. He had a situation where you've got a great workout [at the NFL Combine] but you didn't have the production [in college]. If you can be that good, that athletic, and that physically gifted, why in the world didn't you just dominate? Why didn't you have a ton of sacks? Why did you have two against UMass, and not much against anybody else? I don't get it." — ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr., expressing reser- vations about Miami's selection of Robinson with the 21st overall pick in the draft "[Sacks are] an important part, but we've always talked about the ability to disrupt the passer. His disruption numbers are all very high. … The guy that comes to mind for me would be Danielle Hunter [who is now with Texas after eight seasons in Minnesota]. He had four career sacks coming out of college, and he's become a really good player in this league. "I'm not putting that pressure on [Robinson] to be Danielle Hunter. ... He has things he has to work on. He knows that. The exciting part is the [kind of] kid he is, his work ethic, how much he loves ball and his toughness. We're excited to work with him, and we think he has a really good chance to be a really good player." — Chris Grier, Miami Dolphins general manager, explaining the team's decision to make Robinson its first pick in the draft "As everyone knows, this year was difficult as I had to deal with many things both on and off the mat. Even though this season ended with me on top of the podium, I was not satisfied. I'm here to take over. With one year of eligibility left, I want to end my collegiate career on my terms. Healthy, in style, and in a dominant fashion." — Wrestler Carter Starocci, announcing via so- cial media that after overcoming a late-season leg injury to take first place at 174 pounds in March, he intends to return in 2024-25 to chase an un- precedented fifth national championship "Olu is a mauler. He had an incredible career at Penn State. He's not going to need to jump in right away at tackle, for sure. We'll see if we work him in at guard. I think he's going to have a long career in the league." — New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers on the team's selection of tackle Olumuyiwa Fashanu in the first round They Said It Andy Kotelnicki will be looking to improve a Penn State offense that last year was one of the worst in the FBS at generating big plays. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL "Penn State's biggest problem last year was a lack of explosive plays. Its explosive play rate of 10.5% finished seventh in the Big Ten and No. 103 nationally. (That seemed to be a problem for the entire league!) Kansas' offense under Kotelnicki ranked seventh. With the lack of an obvious big-play threat at receiver and Penn State having to replace a couple of significant pieces on the offensive line, the pressure will be on Kotelnicki to scheme up explosive plays. It's something he did quite well at Kansas." — Tom Fornelli, CBSSports.com columnist, on the development of Penn State's offense under first-year coordinator ANDY KOTELNICKI