Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/541265
2 0 1 5 P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L pable all-around running back. "A lot of times in coaching, in recruiting and in the draft, everyone gets focused on one special trait – a guy who runs a 4.3, a guy who's 240 pounds, a guy who's got 'make you miss' capability. I don't know if Akeel's got one real special trait," the coach said, "but he does a lot of things really well. He's big and strong. He has good speed, especially for his size." As the only upperclassman in a backfield full of freshmen, Lynch is looking to set a positive tone this fall. When he was new to Penn State in 2012, he paid close attention to the way Michael Mauti, Michael Zordich and Jordan Hill exerted leadership, and he aims to put those lessons to good use. "I'm the oldest running back in the room and one of the older guys on the offense," he said. "I have to step up and be more of a leader. I've been through a lot of the things these young guys are going through right now, so I can reflect back on my experiences. You're older, so they look up to you. You tell them what you need to tell them." He's also focused on sharpening his own game. The goal, he said, is to refine what works and avoid the temptation to make radical changes. It's an approach he de- veloped after talking with Belton about the 2012 season, in which the converted wideout struggled at times and eventually lost the starting job to Zwinak. "He kind of let the moment get too big for him. That's what he told me. He said he let it get way too big and kind of lost track of what he did, and I kind of saw that, too," Lynch said. "So I'm going to try to learn from his experience and bring it to mine. That means continuing to do the little things right and continuing to try to improve by little measurements. You don't have to rewrite your whole workout plan or stay up till 3 in the morn- ing doing pushups. You just have to keep doing what you're doing, but also know that guys are coming up behind you and you have to continue to improve. I've al- ways tried to be a starter since the day I came here. Now that I'm there, my goal is to go up another staircase. But I'm still going to be the same person." ■ KEY PERSONNEL Mark Allen, Saquon Barkley, Akeel Lynch*, Nick Scott, Andre Robinson, Johnathan Thomas LOSSES Bill Belton*, Cole Chiappi- alle, Deron Thompson, Zach Zwinak* RISING STAR The depth chart is overflowing with promising young players who have yet to show what they can do in a college football game. Five of the players listed above – Allen, Barkley, Scott, Robinson and Thomas – will have freshman eligibility in 2015. With so little hard data to go on, guess- ing which of those players is most like- ly to emerge as Lynch's backup would be a shot in the dark. But… the player who seemed to have everyone's atten- tion this spring was Thomas, a 5-foot- 11, 215-pounder from Peabody, Mass. Coach James Franklin said "there's an excitement in our program about him." That excitement is tempered by the re- alization that Thomas missed a num- ber of practices along with the Blue- White Game for unspecified reasons. Franklin is always cagey about injuries, so it's hard to say what exactly was holding the young prospect back in the spring. But whatever the reason, it's unlikely that his coach would be talk- ing him up this summer if he didn't think that Thomas had the potential to make an impact at some point in the not-too-distant future. BIGGEST LOSS Between them, Bel- ton and Zwinak started 32 games over the previous three seasons. Zwinak led the Nittany Lions in rushing in 2012 and '13, but his career ended pre- maturely when he suffered a knee injury on the opening kickoff against Ohio State last year. Belton made 11 starts as a senior but saw his role diminish as the sea- son went on and Lynch emerged as the team's primary ball carrier. Looking back on their careers, it's clear that Belton and Zwinak helped Penn State get through some of its toughest >> RUNNING BACK NO NAME YR HT WT 22 Akeel Lynch R-Jr. 6-0 220 8 Mark Allen R-Fr. 5-7 186 26 Saquon Barkley Fr. 5-11 217 6 Andre Robinson Fr. 5-9 215 24 Nick Scott R-Fr. 5-11 201 20 Johnathan Thomas R-Fr. 5-11 215 * Starting experience in 2014 NICK SCOTT Steve Manuel