Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1525333
1 0 S E P T E M B E R 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 A fter an offseason of change on offense, Penn State players and coaches went into preseason camp feeling good about how the unit was shaping up. The biggest change was to the of- fense's leadership, with Andy Kotelnicki taking charge after three seasons at Kan- sas. Unlike many of his counterparts at other schools, Kotelnicki is not a quar- terback-centric coordinator. A former offensive line coach, he has taken an all- encompassing approach to his interac- tions with players, bringing everyone in on the conversation. "With Coach K not necessarily having a specific position that he's assigned to, he'll float between rooms," junior quar- terback Drew Allar explained. "I think it's very positive, because that's how it is at the next level with coordinators. I think it's good for him to bounce around to each room and have relationships with everybody and be able to connect it. "If something pops up in the O-line room about protections, he'll just float over to that room, talk to us about it and then go down to the running backs and communicate about it." The bulk of Kotelnicki's playbook had been installed by the time the Nittany Lions opened preseason camp on July 31. The lingo being used around the building these days isn't all that different from what Kotelnicki's predecessor, Mike Yur- cich, put in during his tenure. "I think when Coach K first got hired [in December], he was able to see our process throughout the bowl game prep. He became familiar with our terminol- ogy," redshirt sophomore quarterback Beau Pribula said. "He kept a lot of the terminology that we had in our last of- fense and tried to transition it. Obvi- ously, with the new offense comes dif- ferent things, and we had to adjust to that. But I think, really, it was a smooth transition. "One of the biggest differences wasn't even because of his new offense, but just huddle operation — having the headset in the helmet now, getting rid of signals and stuff like that. That was the biggest change. Not that it's been difficult or anything; I think it's been great for col- lege football, and it's been great for us as well." In addition to bringing Kotelnicki aboard, Penn State has made some sub- stantial revisions to its wide receivers room. The unit may not have undergone a top-to-bottom overhaul, but it does look very different from last season. Gone are last year's top two wide re- ceivers, KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Dante Cephas, along with backups Ma- lik McClain, Malick Meiga and Cristian Driver. In their place, the Lions have Nittany Lion Offense Rolls With The Changes S E A N F I T Z | S E A N . F I T Z @ O N 3 . C O M NEWS & NOTES Rather than prioritizing the quarterback position during practices and meetings, coordinator Andy Kotelnicki has been heavily involved in all aspects of the offense. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS