Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/541265
T here's no way to sugarcoat it: Last season was a tough one for Penn State's offense. The Nittany Lions were young and inexperienced on the line and at wide receiver, and their quarterback, while highly touted com- ing off a record-setting debut season, was still only a sophomore. And com- pounding the personnel upheaval was the fact that everyone was adjusting to a new coaching staff. Those factors combined to produce some unsightly statistics, as Penn State averaged only 20.6 points and 335.3 yards per game, worst in the Big Ten in both depart- ments. But the great thing about young play- ers is that they grow up. Penn State, which finished the 2014 season with one of its strongest performances, produc- ing 453 yards of total offense in a 31-30 overtime victory over Boston College, goes into the upcoming campaign with much more experience up front and at wideout than it had a year ago. More- over, the returning players have spent a year in coach James Franklin's system and have a better grasp of the new schemes, as well as the staff's expecta- tions. Coordinator John Donovan says that the offense has benefitted from "just being able to sit back and evaluate the year, evaluate our opponents, evaluate other people, do other studies, go through our spring practice, fully focus on what we want to do moving forward. … Hopefully, the evaluation and the work in the off-season will lead to pretty good things this year." Donovan recently sat down with BWI's Nate Bauer to preview the upcoming season. Here's what he had to say... What are you most looking forward to about this season? Getting started. Every year is a new year, every year tells a story, so just be- ing able to dive into it. I think everyone is excited about the possibilities of this year, and so I'm just ready to get started. Is there anything encouraging about having the first season and its grow- ing pains behind you? I think you learn from every experi- ence, good or bad. We had a lot of guys playing for the first time, so they'll be able to draw on that experience. They were with us for the first time, we were with them for the first time, our staff was here for the first time. So I think a lot of things going into year two usually get better [because] you know what's around the corner somewhat. Most of our guys are back, so that's exciting be- cause they're a year older, stronger, faster, wiser, and we've been together over a year now, so that should help. What are the complications that can arise during that transitional phase? We definitely have a system where you've got to be able to think and process information quickly in order to execute it the way we'd like. When you've got guys who are learning a new system or playing for the first time in their careers – whether it's a freshman or [someone] moving from one side of the ball to the other – you have to really be able to think fast and process the in- formation to allow your athletic ability to take over. [Players have been] hearing the same verbiage and have gone through two springs and a fall, and now going into the second summer, I think it's going to help. What is Christian Hackenberg's po- tential this season? Obviously, he's got very good ability physically. He can throw the ball, he is a very good athlete, and he's big. But the thing that you love about him is that he wants to be great. So he'll work at it and he'll do whatever he's got to do to be great. I think the one thing we're looking forward to is him being the elder states- man of the group now instead of just the kid playing. Sometimes there's some transition into that, but now there are no ifs ands or buts about him being a veter- an guy on this team. He's got all the abil- ity, he works at it, he wants to be great, and now he's got the experience to hopefully lead the troops. Weeding through all the outside opinions, what did you take away from his sophomore season? The best thing he did and that we did as an offense was being able to operate at the end of games or the end of a half in a two-minute situation. In order to do that, you definitely need to have a trig- ger man, and he's shown that he's able to lead us for last-minute drives to win or tie games and go the length of the field. That's a pretty special ability to be able 2 0 1 5 P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L GROWING SEASON John Donovan sees PSU learning from last year's diculties T H E O F F E N S E