Penn State Sports Magazine
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A P R I L 2 0 2 5 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M canceled their spring games as of early March, the Nittany Lions are playing on … sort of. This year's Blue-White Game will kick off at 2 p.m. April 26 at Beaver Stadium. As of mid-March, coach James Franklin and his staff were still figuring out what exactly the contest will look like, but football in some form will be played in Beaver Stadium that day, in part because of all the ancillary events that surround the intrasquad clash. "We will still have the spring game, be- cause I know what it means to this com- munity and the hotels and the bars and the restaurants and the tailgating and all of it," Franklin said in February. "We're working on that now. We may do some more events that we're still working through." Work In Progress The most obvious difference between this year's Blue-White Game and its pre- decessors — one that will be noticed by attendees well before they pass through the turnstiles — is that a large part of Bea- ver Stadium is missing. Penn State's $700 million overhaul of the 65-year-old facility is underway, starting with a teardown of the up- per portion of the west grandstand and press box. Assuming that the attendance is comparable to recent years — an esti- mated 67,000 fans were on hand for last year's game — the Nittany Lions should have plenty of seating to accommodate fans in the other portions of the stadium, but the west side is a hard hat area, and Penn State hasn't yet erected any of the 7,900 temporary seats that it expects to have in place in time for the season opener Aug. 30 against Nevada. "I'll just give everyone a heads up, the spring game is going to be a little inter- esting. And by interesting, I really don't know what it's going to look like," athlet- ics director Patrick Kraft said in Febru- ary. "We're expanding the east side con- course, so we're doubling the east main concourse, and I've got to hit a mark of that Nevada game." Penn State has said that the construc- tion footprint will shrink during the regular season to accommodate game- day parking, but the Blue-White Game doesn't draw the kind of crowds that will show up in the fall, so fans should expect certain parts of the facility to be off-limits in April. Early Impressions The Blue-White Game will be the last of the 15 spring practice sessions that be- gan at Penn State on March 25. It will be the only one of those sessions that is open to the public, and it could be the first op- portunity to see the team's six transfers in action, along with some of the 16 true freshmen who arrived in January. Blue-White Game Highlights A Busy Offseason The Penn State football team passed one of the offseason's biggest mile markers when it began spring practice on March 25. It was the first of 15 sessions for a Nittany Lions team that has been garnering praise as a potential national championship contender in 2025. We'll get a glimpse of how the Lions are shaping up when they conclude practice April 26 in the Blue-White Game. With few exceptions, Penn State's offseason action takes place behind the scenes, but that doesn't mean that the pace has slowed down significantly. Players and coaches have a busy offseason schedule ahead of them as they prepare for their season opener against Nevada on Aug. 30. Here's a look at how their calendar is shaping up. — Greg Pickel KEY DATES Date Event March 25 Penn State starts spring practice March 27 Spring practice No. 2 March 28 Pro Day at Holuba Hall March 29 Spring practice No. 3 April 1 Spring practice No. 4 April 3 Spring practice No. 5 April 5 Spring practice No. 6 April 8 Spring practice No. 7 April 10 Spring practice No. 8 April 12 Spring practice No. 9 April 15 Spring practice No. 10; spring contact window opens for recruiting April 16-25 Spring transfer portal window April 18 Spring practice No. 11 April 21 Spring practice No. 12 April 23 Spring practice No. 13 April 24-26 NFL Draft in Green Bay, Wis. April 25 Spring practice No. 14 April 26 Blue-White Game, which is Penn State's 15th and final spring practice May 12 Start of the "Maymester" on Penn State's academic calendar; signees in the 2025 recruiting class who are not yet on campus can report at this time May 19 Start of the first summer session on the academic calendar; signees in the 2025 recruiting class who are not yet on campus can report at this time May 24 Spring contact window for recruiting ends May 25-28 Recruiting dead period May 29 Quiet period starts in which recruiting visits are allowed June 1 Elite Showcase I recruiting camp June 6 Lion Strong 7-on-7 and Big Man Challenge June 8 Elite Showcase II June 13 Lion Strong 7-on-7 and Big Man Challenge June 18 Specialist Showcase and Elite Showcase III June 20 Lion Strong 7-on-7 and Big Man Challenge June 23-July 31 Summer recruiting dead period July 2 Start of the second summer session on the academic calendar; signees in the 2025 recruiting class who are not yet on campus can report at this time July 22-24 Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas Early August Penn State starts preseason camp Aug. 11 Projected date of first Associated Press Top 25, per The Athletic Aug. 30 Penn State's season opener against Nevada