Blue White Illustrated

P enn State head coach James Franklin and his Nittany Lions are zooming through spring practice, able to take signi7cant strides that had been nearly impossible a year ago due to the team's manpower shortage. With the Blue-White Game approaching, here are some of the biggest story lines to watch: 1 If Penn State's o8ense is going to im- prove on its up-and-down perform- ance in 2014, the line will be where it all starts. Although there are certain to be additional shi9s a9er Stanford transfer Kevin Reihner arrives in the summer and Derek Dowrey is further along in his rehabilitation, an initial two-deep has started to take shape. It features An- drew Nelson and Brendan Brosnan at right tackle, Brian Gaia and Chasz Wright at right guard, Angelo Mangiro and Wendy Laurent at center, Brendan Mahon and Albert Hall at le9 guard and Paris Palmer and Chance Sorrell at le9 tackle. Franklin has said that the sta8 is really throwing Palmer and Sorrell into the 7re at le9 tackle. The coaches would like to see the depth chart take shape as much as possible this spring. The "Ob- viously, we'd like to get it resolved now," Franklin said. "At the other positions, I think for the most part guys are taking control of some spots. The quicker we can identify that, the better. We'd like as many positions solidi7ed ahead of time as we can." 2 Franklin said the defense has been keeping things pretty simple so far in order to speed the development of the o8ensive front. He is hop- ing the o8ense can make some serious strides this spring and into the summer months. "Instead of them getting a lot of blitzes and crazy looks early on in spring, we're going back to more part, part, whole and building," Franklin said. "It's hard, because our defense likes to do a lot of that, so I'm asking them to limit and let it progress and let it grow, and I think that's going to be helpful. We'll use the same model during camp. "I thought last year our defense built up a lot of con7dence and our o8ense was seeing too many looks early on. In the long run, it's going to be better for everybody. So I've been pleased with that. Plus, it gives you a better opportu- nity to evaluate the guys and how they're playing, rather than seeing 55 di8erent looks on day one." 3 Jordan Lucas' switch from corner- back to safety appears to be going quite well. The senior defensive back had several interceptions at safety throughout the 7rst week of practice, and Franklin's initial comments indicate that the coaching sta8 is con7dent that the changes in the secondary will allow the team to get the most out of its per- sonnel. As for the cornerbacks taking Lucas's place, Franklin said that Christian Campbell, Grant Haley, Trevor Williams and Daquan Worley have all done some good things this spring. "Trevor is playing at a really high level, and Daquan Worley is showing some re- ally nice things," Franklin said. "We need that fourth guy to step up for us right now, and then the move makes really good sense because now you're 2 1 ⁄2 deep at safety and hopefully 2 1 ⁄2 deep at cor- ner." 4 The wideout competition has been heating up throughout the spring. Chris Godwin and DaeSean Hamilton emerged early on as the 7rst-team re- ceivers, with Geno Lewis and Saeed Blacknall as the second unit. Consistency has been a major point of emphasis in practice. Quarterback Christian Hackenberg didn't know which guy was showing up on which day last season – not an entirely unex- pected development given the group's inexperience – and their erratic per- formances contributed to the o8ense's struggles. That Godwin and Hamilton are assert- ing themselves is telling. As of this writ- ing, Lewis was running with the second team, an indication of how high a pre- mium the coaches have put on consis- tency. 5 Franklin said the Nittany Lions are conducting more contact drills this B L U E - W H I T E G A M E Seven takeaways from spring practice | WATCHFUL EYE Franklin oversees practice during one of Penn State's first sessions of the spring. Photo by Tim Owen

• Cover