Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1520787
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 JUNE/JULY 2024/VOL. 39, NO. 10 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 Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics DESIGN Jeanette Blankenship Chris Miller F F F PUBLISHER Mark Panus BUSINESS MANAGER Linda Autry CIRCULATION MANAGER Tristin Shears ADVERTISING SALES Maria Taustine (502) 552-4390 CUSTOMER SERVICE Crystal Clayton, Cathy Jones (800) 421-7751 BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED (USPS 742-550) is published monthly, except June, by Coman Publishing Co., a division of On3 Media, Inc., located at 905 W. Main St., Suite 24F, Durham, NC 27701. 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 correc- tions/changes to BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED, PO Box 2331, Durham NC 27702-2331. For advertising or subscription information 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 PSU'S LOSSES THIS SPRING TO THE TRANSFER PORTAL … Amazing how a position of strength can change so dramatically and quickly. We are one injury away from being in a very precarious position at safety [with sopho- more King Mack having left for Alabama]. Does this change the 4-2-5 alignment in any way? Will we see less of it or maybe change who fills the fifth defensive back spot to some degree with the possibility that with a deep room, cornerbacks get more run there than originally thought? — PhillipintheValley Getting through portal season only losing King Mack is a net positive. KeAndre Lambert-Smith was gone no matter what. I will give [James Franklin] credit here. — Fullback_Dive I will say it again: The only "impact" player that Penn State lost (based on actual in-game contributions) is KeAndre Lambert-Smith. The loss of King Mack is not insignificant, but his contribution to date has been nil. — LBUfanatic I get that King Mack wanted to be among the top three [safeties], but with Tom Allen's new 4-2-5 defense, we're one injury away from Mack being a starter. That hurts to lose him. — Valhalla Valley I'll be rooting for London Montgomery wherever he goes. Talented kid who couldn't add enough weight and also had to deal with the [knee] injury recovery setback as well. — PSURam Tip of the hat to Golden Israel-Achumba. Dude has been here a long time and must have brought a lot to the team. I hope he finds a place and sees significant playing time. Good luck, Golden!! — DCPSU ON PENN STATE'S FOOTBALL OUTLOOK IN 2024 … It is notable that the analytics gurus like Tom Fornelli [of CBS Sports], Bud Elliott [of Cover 3] and Bill Connelly [of ESPN] are very high on Penn State. A big reason for that is the great amount of returning production. Penn State is the most experienced team in the current top 10 (e.g. compared to Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, Oregon, Michigan, Bama, Ole Miss, Mizzou, LSU, Notre Dame). Fornelli and Elliott are also in love with the coordinator hires. Based on a number of metrics/analytics, they think those hires were excellent. — Lamgol The offense has to be so much better than it has been the past few years to have any chance of only a two-loss season. That five-game stretch in the middle of the season is brutal, and there are a number of offenses on the schedule this year that can put points on the board. The passing game needs to make huge strides, and I am not sure I see it. — Miseryluvscmpy I said this a while ago, but a lot of the teams on the schedule look way tougher because of their helmets than actual talent. I'm not surprised we look to be double-digit favorites in most games this year. — i3irdramon The only thing that can carry this team to a ranking of 7 or higher in my opinion is a net positive impact from our new offensive coordinator. Otherwise, this is just the same good not great Penn State team we've always seen from James Franklin. — PaulPosluvsme PSU will have trouble at West Virginia, at USC, at Wisconsin and vs. Ohio State. That's a floor of 8-4, which is unlikely. The ceiling is 12-0, which is also unlikely. But two losses will get you into the playoff, and one loss will likely get you in the Big Ten Championship Game, so expectations are high. — J.E.B. The offense has much more firepower than that West Virginia defense. Andy Kotelnicki is used to playing Big 12 defenses and might feast, honestly. Wisconsin will be tough, but Franklin has a proven track record vs. them. I still think our talent outweighs Wisconsin on both sides. USC will be tough for sure, especially if they found some semblance of a defense. Ohio State is Ohio State. All signs point to 3-1, just my opinion. — JKlee717 4 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 4 Senior receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith signed with Auburn on April 24 after four years at Penn State. He was the Lions' leading receiver last year with 53 catches for 673 yards and 4 touchdowns. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL