Penn State Sports Magazine
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2 2 A P R I L 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M The Nittany Lions' revamped wide re- ceiver corps will be of particular interest. They have brought in redshirt senior Ky- ron Hudson from USC and senior Devonte Ross from Troy. Hudson was listed in the On3 Industry Ranking as the No. 44 re- ceiver available in the portal during the postseason transfer window, while Ross was No. 35. They'll be called on to make up for the loss of Harrison Wallace III and Omari Evans, who combined to total 67 catches for 1,135 yards and 9 touchdowns last season before leaving for Ole Miss and Washington, respectively, in January. The Lions' receiver corps also includes three redshirt freshmen (Tyseer Den- mark, Josiah Brown and Peter Gonza- lez) and a trio of January enrollees (Koby Howard, Matt Outten and Lyrick Sam- uel), some of whom will likely see action in the spring game. "We were able to bring in some guys who graduated early from high school, which is helpful," Franklin said. "Those guys have been impressive so far at a po- sition where freshmen can play. And then we went to the transfer portal and got some guys who've also been impressive. "We'll have a better idea [about their readiness] once we get through winter workouts. We'll have a better idea through spring ball. We'll have a better idea after talking to the strength coaches, when we really get into it and do the testing." It's possible that Franklin and his staff will want to see how well the newcomers mesh with senior quarterback Drew Allar in a game-like environment. If that's the case, Allar could end up seeing more ac- tion than other senior stars like running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Al- len, defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, defensive tackle Zane Durant and safety Zakee Wheatley. But the coaching staff will also un- doubtedly be looking to throw the team's younger quarterbacks into a simulated game environment. With Beau Pribula leaving via the portal in December, Ethan Grunkemeyer finished his true fresh- man season as Allar's backup and will be looking to reprise that role this fall. His competition will come from redshirt sophomore Jaxon Smolik, provided the Iowa native is fully recovered from the unspecified injury that kept him sidelined all last season. The Lions also have a Janu- ary enrollee at quarterback in three-star prospect Bekkem Kritza. With four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, PSU has sufficient manpower at the game's most important position, but there's virtually no experience behind Allar. The three backups have combined to play in just two college games, and Grunkemeyer is the only one to throw a pass, having completed 1 of 2 attempts for 9 yards, along with an interception, in the Lions' College Football Playoff opener against SMU last December. The other big unknown this spring is just how Knowles plans to revamp Penn State's defense. He didn't offer many specifics at his introductory presser in January, noting only that he was going to "go at the pace of the players — not at my pace — because I'm not the one making the plays out there." By late April, the former Oklahoma State and Ohio State defensive coordi- nator will have had a full month to see how much information his players can absorb. Even so, spring games are rarely revealing when it comes to schematic changes. While the Nittany Lions are no doubt eager to see what Knowles can do with a unit that returns five starters af- ter ranking seventh in the FBS last year in total defense, they're not foolhardy enough to put their work on display. In fact, this year's game isn't even being televised. Roster Upheaval The Blue-White Game is set to take place the day after the spring transfer window closes. The window will be open from April 16-25, so if anyone is watching the game in hope of identifying poten- tial transfer targets — Matt Rhule's fear at Nebraska — they're going to have to wait until December at the earliest. A more pressing concern is the likeli- hood that PSU will be dealing with some roster upheaval in the waning days of spring practice. The potential for depar- tures is ever-present, as was made clear when super senior defensive lineman Smith Vilbert entered the portal in Feb- ruary, passing up what had seemed likely to be an expanded role at Penn State this coming fall. There's also the potential for additions, though any newcomers PSU signs won't be arriving until the late spring or sum- mer. Kraft conceded the obvious earlier this year when he said, "We all know we need wide receiver help, so we've got to go find one." Whether there will be any play- ers in the portal who can improve PSU's outlook is very much an open question, but the Lions figure to be serious con- tenders if such a player materializes. Penn State's spring game typically takes place in early or mid-April but this year's contest was pushed back to the final Sat- urday of the month. One gets the impres- sion that PSU's staff wouldn't be opposed to pushing it off the calendar altogether like so many of their colleagues around the country have done. But it's an important day for recruiting and serves as something of a scaled-down homecoming weekend, so it remains on the schedule. "I locked my date in for the spring game a while ago, because there are so many things at the university that are built around the game in terms of devel- opment, fundraising, all types of events that the university has," Franklin said in February. "We don't have a whole lot of flexibility there." ■ While other programs have canceled their spring games, James Franklin's Nittany Lions are going forward with theirs. "I know what it means to this community and the hotels and the bars and the restaurants and the tailgat- ing and all of it," the coach said. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS