Blue White Illustrated

look at the redshirt freshmen who are about to make their debuts, players such as Koa Farmer and Troy Reeder, as well as the Class of 2015 prospects who have a shot at making the depth chart this fall, you can envision a scenario in which the defense will be able to keep just about every game close should the o=ense take time to develop. That's not an ideal scenario, as Penn State proved last season. But of its six losses in 2014, only two were by more than a touch- down. So if the o=ense makes incre- mental improvements and the defense holds steady, it's not unreasonable to think that the Nittany Lions could build considerable momentum as they make their way through a favorable early-sea- son schedule that features ;ve home games. Would I bet on this team being 6-0 heading into its trip to Ohio State on Oct. 17? Not a chance. But I wouldn't rule it out, either. 2 How e+ective will the Nit- tany Lions be in replacing two defensive ends? Quite effective, it appears. At 6-foot- 4, 262 pounds, Garrett Sickels looks as though he's developing into the kind of physical presence that Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Oklahoma, Stanford and many others thought he would turn out to be coming out of Red Bank Regional High in New Jersey in 2013. He may have played sparingly as a redshirt freshman, but that's about to change in a big way. "Last year, I didn't really know the de- fense well. I was trying too hard, I was overthinking everything," he said. "This spring, I knew the defense from last year, so I knew what I had to do, and it de;nitely helps having a year in the weight room, getting help and getting stronger. I just think it's con;dence real- ly." On the opposite side of the line, the Lions may have gotten extraordinarily lucky when Carl Nassib opted to join the team as a walk-on in 2011. Back then, the West Chester, Pa., native was a 218- pound project. Now he's a 6-7, 270- pound pocket-wrecker with NFL poten- tial. This should be fun to watch. "He's a beast," Shoop said. "He's the type of guy who I think will come out of nowhere and have the type of year that could be an All-Big Ten-caliber year. … He came to me numerous times during the winter and spring and said, 'Coach, invest in me. I'm a good investment.' I'm excited to work with him." Nassib's development underscores just how fortunate the Lions have been in certain areas as they've coped with the fallout from the NCAA sanctions. Their roster management has been so good on the defensive line that last year they were able to loan out two of their back- ups to the o=ense while still ;elding a defense that was good enough to ;nish second in the nation against the run. If Penn State had caught the kind of breaks at other position groups that it has caught on the defensive line, it would be poised to take a big leap forward this fall rather than the more modest step that most people seem to be anticipating. Which brings us to… 3 What will Penn State's of- fensive line look like going forward? In the Blue-White Game, it looked a lot like last year's o=ensive line. Facing a White defense composed entirely of backup players, the Blue squad surren- dered ;ve sacks and averaged 1.7 yards on 21 rushes. Even accounting for the unique nature of the game, in which the quarterback is considered down once he's been touched, there's still ample ev- idence that the Lions are not home free here. Not by a long shot. Which, in fairness, is what Franklin has been saying all along. "I told you guys last year, it wasn't going to be like we were going to er starting last season at 292. Fellow guard Brian Gaia has gone from 291 to 301, center Angelo Mangiro from 309 to 315 and Nelson from 305 to 310. And they've got three more months to work on their strength and condition- ing. The bad news is that last year's strongest position going into the season – le> tackle – is this year's biggest con- cern. Here, the Lions are giving up 55 pounds, as Paris Palmer slides into the position at which Donovan Smith start- ed for three seasons. Earlier this spring, Franklin likened the 6-foot-7, 278-pound Palmer to a power forward, noting that Patrick Chambers would probably like to have him on the basketball team. Maybe if power forward turned NFL hopeful Ross Travis had any eligibility le>, Franklin and Chambers could have swung a deal. Aside from the left tackle spot, the biggest problem here may be the expec- tation level. There was much grumbling after the Blue-White Game about the state of the offensive line – how it still isn't any good, how it's going to torpe- do the offense again this fall, how this kind of thing would never happen at Ohio State. But the myriad issues that Penn State faced in 2014 were never going to be re- solved in a year's time. That the Lions are now looking to a juco prospect with no FBS experience to bail them out at a position of critical importance says a lot about the true extent of the prob- lems that Franklin and his staff inherit- ed when they took over the program. None of which is going to stop Twitter and assorted other social media plat- forms from raining down condemna- tion if the Lions go out and rush for 57 yards against Temple, as they did in last year's opener against UCF. Franklin probably wishes he had switches for those, too. W R A P

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