Penn State Sports Magazine
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> > two potential early-impact cornerbacks set to arrive this summer in Reid and Taylor. Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop was particularly happy with Allen's debut. The 6-2, 196-pounder became the Li- ons' starting free safety when Keiser went down with a season-ending rib in- jury in October. Despite making only six starts, he 9nished third on the team with 52 tackles. Said Shoop, "I really think he played as well as any safety in college football the second half of the year." It's at the other safety spot where the questions abound. With Amos and Della Valle gone, the Lions will be looking for someone to emerge at strong safety. Golden and Anthony Smith will both be juniors in 2015, so they'll probably get an audition in the spring. The coaches might also look to move a cornerback, such as Campbell or Lucas, to the position. That move worked out well for Amos, and the Li- ons are stacked at cornerback. There's been some speculation that Taylor might get a shot here. He's listed as a cornerback by Rivals.com, and he's coming o: a knee injury that forced him to miss his senior season at St. Christo- pher's High in Richmond, Va. But he's got the size to 9ll the position (6-1, 188) and has been compared to the hard-hit- ting Amos. SPECIAL TEAMS RETURNING KR: Grant Haley; LS: Zach Ladonis, Tyler Yazujian; P/PK: Chris Gulla; P: Robbie Leibel, Danny Pasquariello; PR: Gregg Garrity ARRIVING PK: Joey Julius; PR: De'An- dre Thompkins DEPARTING H: Ryan Keiser; PK: Sam Ficken; PR: Jesse Della Valle ANALYSIS Whoever replaces Ficken is going to have some big shoes to 9ll. The three-year starter converted a lot of red-zone misadventures into points for Penn State this past season, ranking eighth in the Big Ten in scoring (100 points) even though the Nittany Lions 9elded the conference's lowest-scoring o:ense. Given that their rebuilding e:orts on o:ense are far from complete, the Lions are still going to be leaning heavily on their kicker in 2015. Who's it going to be? Gulla will certainly get a shot. He may have lost the punting job to Pasquariello this past season, but he was more highly regarded as a place-kicker than as a punter coming out of high school. Also expected to vie for the starting spot is Julius, a freshman walk-on from Hummelstown, Pa. At a news confer- ence leading up to the Pinstripe Bowl, Franklin said Julius "has done a really good job. That's going to be an impor- tant piece moving forward with Ficken graduating and moving on, and he's done such a great job for us." If the bowl game was any indication, Penn State has not completely solved its punting problems. Pasquariello av- eraged 34.5 yards on six attempts and didn't get much hang time, either. The Lions finished ninth in the Big Ten in punting average (34.3 yards), so this will clearly be a priority in the off-sea- son. One other point of emphasis will be the return game. Penn State 9nished the season ranked seventh in the Big Ten in kick-return average (20.9) and 10th in punt-return average (6.8). This is a spot where Thompkins could provide a big li;. A January 2014 enrollee, he turned in the team's fastest 40-yard time last spring and was seen as a potential spe- cial teams contributor as a true fresh- man before the decision was made to hold him out. ■