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end on Penn State's roster. Cothran (weakside) and Schwan (strongside) will supply depth this spring. In the summer, Penn State's tal- ent pool will expand with the arrival of freshmen Ryan Buchholz, Kamonte Carter, Kevin Givens and Shareef Miller. The newcomers 8gure to battle Cothran and Schwan in preseason practice for backup spots. INSIDE LINEBACKER PLAYERS Ben Kline (Sr., 6-2, 238), Troy Reeder (R-Fr., 6-1, 244), Gary Wooten (Jr., 6-2, 237) OUTLOOK Hull may turn out to be the toughest player to replace on Penn State's defense. We all know how well he played last fall, but one facet of his game that was sometimes overlooked was his leadership. Kline, Reeder and Wooten will be looking to 8ll that void in spring prac- tice. The biggest surprise here is the fact that Kline rehabbed his Achilles tendon injury well enough to participate in win- ter workouts and is expected to be ready for spring practice. That's important, because Kline has more experience than the other players at this spot. Wooten made a big improvement in 2014 and saw extensive backup duty be- hind Hull. He played in 11 games, total- ing 12 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Reeder is only a redshirt freshman, but linebackers coach Brent Pry said he has great potential. "Troy loves paying at- tention to detail and wants to be a real student of the game," Pry said. "He pre- pared for game day with the gameplan every week last fall in the same way Mike did. This is going to be an important spring practice for Troy." The competition between Kline, Reed- er and Wooten should be interesting, to say the least. One other possibility at middle line- backer is sophomore Jason Cabinda. At 6-1, 246 pounds, Cabinda is capable of playing both outside and inside line- backer in Shoop's 4-3 defensive scheme. Shoop said on signing day that red- shirt junior Nyeem Wartman is expected to stay at the Will outside linebacker po- sition this spring and fall, so if any of the outside linebackers were to move inside, Cabinda would be the most logical choice. FREE SAFETY PLAYERS Troy Apke (So., 6-1, 185), Malik Golden (R-Jr., 6-1, 198), Jordan Lucas (Sr., 6-0, 198), Amani Oruwariye (R-Fr., 6-1, 198) OUTLOOK I'm con8dent that the Nit- tany Lions will be even better in the sec- ondary than they were last fall, and one of the reasons is the likely move of Lucas from cornerback to safety. Shoop said the coaches are "de8nitely looking at Jordan at free safety this spring. He's a better inside player than outside player." Behind Lucas, depth will come from Apke, Golden and possibly Oruwariye. To me, Apke is the biggest surprise here. He's said to be the second-fastest player on the team behind Grant Haley and could weigh as much as 195 pounds by the start of preseason camp in August. Golden appears to be healthy coming o9 the calf injury that caused him to miss eight games last fall. Oruwariye, meanwhile, has matured as much as anyone in Penn State's Class of 2014. He weighs nearly 200 pounds but still has enough speed and athletic ability to play cornerback. "We'll take a look-see at Amani at free safety," Shoop said. "But I'm still not convinced he can't do the job for us at the boundary cornerback position." At the strong safety position, Penn State appears to be in very good shape, with sophomore Marcus Allen having already demonstrated All-Big Ten po- tential a:er just one season in the pro- gram. Allen started only six games last season but 8nished tied for third on the team with 58 tackles. Potential backups include Golden, Oruwariye and possibly redshirt freshman Daquan Worley, who has the potential to 8t in at cornerback, free safety and strong safety this spring. When spring practice begins in earnest later this month, I'm sure other intense position battles will materialize. But the 8ve battles I've highlighted above are the most intriguing to me. ■

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