Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/629829
League Offensive Player of the Year and FCS All-American. But Nebrich was a jun- ior when he took over, and one of his two pre- vious seasons was spent at Connecticut. So he had a chance to grow into the job and adapt to Moorhead's system. McSorley, Stevens and Zembiec won't have the luxury of time. They'll be getting a crash course. RUNNING BACK KEY RETURNEES Mark Allen, Saquon Barkley, Nick Scott, Johnathan Thomas KEY LOSS Akeel Lynch NEWCOMERS Andre Robinson, Miles Sanders OUTLOOK Heading into the 2015 sea- son, the conventional wisdom held that Penn State's backfield had little experi- ence but vastly more potential than its 2014 incarnation. That assessment proved to be pretty accurate. Barkley en- joyed a marvelous debut season, finish- ing with 1,076 yards and averaging 97.8 yards per game to rank third in the Big Ten. He ripped Ohio State for 194 yards and had 120 yards at Northwestern and 103 at Michigan State. So it wasn't as if he was simply boosting his stock at the expense of undermanned opponents. In fact, Barkley sat out the Army and Indi- ana games with a high ankle sprain, and to hear Franklin tell it, he was impacted by the injury even after returning. So, as impressive as they were, his numbers could have been even better. The lone drawback to Barkley's emer- gence as one of the Big Ten's rising stars is that it left few opportunities for Penn State's other running backs to make an impact. In the seven games that fol- lowed the freshman's return to action, Lynch, Allen, Scott and Thomas com- bined for only 13 carries. Lynch recently announced that he plans to leave as a graduate transfer. Looking ahead, it's tough to envision a scenario in which Barkley doesn't contin- ue to receive the majority of the carries. After all, as Franklin has noted, he's "just scratching the surface" of his potential. "He's still figuring things out. He's still growing," Franklin said. "You think about that guy with a whole off-season of strength and conditioning and speed work, of continuing to study defenses and understand coverages and fronts. He's just at the very beginning of it. Al- though he's physically developed, he's just going to get bigger and stronger and faster and more explosive and more con- fident. And the more confident you get mentally, the faster you're able to play." Penn State's offense will undoubtedly evolve now that it's under new manage- ment. A position switch or two wouldn't be surprising, either, as the backfield will be even more congested this coming season with Robinson coming off a red- shirt year and Sanders, a player with tremendous breakaway potential, set to enroll in the summer. So things aren't completely set in stone. But if you were Joe Moorhead, who would you want car- rying the ball in 2016? RECEIVER KEY RETURNEES TE: Mike Gesicki, Brent Wilkerson; WR: Saeed Blacknall, Chris Godwin, DaeSean Hamilton, Brandon Polk, DeAndre Thompkins KEY LOSSES TE: Adam Breneman, Kyle Carter; WR: Geno Lewis NEWCOMERS TE: Nick Bowers, Dan- A T T H E 2 0 1 6 N I T T A N Y L I O N S LENDING A HAND Godwin finished his tremendous sophomore season by catching six passes for 133 yards in the TaxSlayer Bowl. Photo by Steve Manuel