Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541276
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 5 3 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M With Warren gone, Kotelnicki pivoted to his wide receivers for vertical shots. It was a logical decision after PSU used the transfer portal to land seniors Tre- bor Peña, Kyron Hudson and Devonte Ross. However, the receivers as a group have failed to deliver. Penn State's most frequently called play has been to target its wideouts on a four-verticals concept. They've caught 44 percent of those tar- gets for an average of 7.0 yards per catch. Even last year's much-maligned receiver unit — aided by the presence of Warren — averaged 11.2 yards per catch and had 3 touchdowns. Allar's completion percentage to his receivers on deep isolation and all-go concepts dropped to 45 percent. With the same quarterback and the same plays, it's hard to point to anything other than personnel as the issue. Key Takeaways So, what have we learned? For start- ers, we've learned that the offensive line couldn't stand on its own without assis- tance from Kotelnicki and the scheme. Second, Kotelnicki couldn't gener- ate an explosive rushing offense with- out the read option being a threat on a healthy number of plays. The supplement of tempo, which the Nittany Lions used during their 2024 playoff run, predictably wore off once the surprise did. Allar and Hudson proved to be an ineffective RPO duo to take the heat off the offensive line on pursuit from the backside. Penn State's offensive line crumbled under the weight of playing evenly with the defense. Third, Penn State overestimated the talent of the receivers it brought into the building. The Nittany Lions wanted to pivot to more three-receiver sets and push the ball downfield, but they ended up with more dead plays than anyone could have imagined. Teams knew what Kotelnicki wanted to do through the air last year, but Warren won anyway. Now, nobody is winning. Finally, the lack of explosive talent any- where on the roster continues to plague the Lions. Penn State's only real big-play threat is senior running back Nicholas Singleton, whose vision and instincts have never been great. Without the as- sistance of wide running lanes, he's been rendered ineffective this year. The team cannot stretch the field with play-action deep shots, vertical concepts into the in- termediate zones, or by having any one player be better than the competition. One Last Thought It's not fair to say that Kotelnicki didn't try to tweak and augment the of- fense. It's also not a bad idea to try to keep parts of the offense that worked well in 2024. The issue is that there was a miscalculation on what constituted a real advantage for the team. Kotelnicki's attempts to create more disadvantages for the defense, includ- ing a misguided idea to use wildcat plays with senior running back Kaytron Al- len at quarterback, caused more prob- lems for his offense than for the defense. Tempo, RPOs and the wildcat were not good replacements for a real option threat under center. In this situation, you need a player to save you. Throughout the offseason, I stumped for the team to build around Al- lar and let the quarterback lead you. The gamble was that your senior quarterback would carry the team and be the engine driving success. But it takes a truly special quarter- back to elevate a bad situation. Allar did not meet that threshold and gave up everything, including his health, trying to do so. ■ In Andy Kotelnicki's second season with the program, Penn State has gone from averaging 430.2 yards and 33.1 points per game to 335.7 yards and 30.7 points. PHOTO BY RYAN SNYDER "One thing I've learned in this process is, no matter who you have coming back or what your identity is or what you are, it's always going to evolve or change. It's never going to be the same." K O T E L N I C K I