Blue White Illustrated

Reeder's exit comes at a curious time. He had appeared to be one of the Lions' rising stars, but now he'll be remem- bered by Penn State fans as a tantalizing what-if story. Of course, there was a very good pos- sibility that he would have seen a reduc- tion in playing time as a sophomore be- fore returning to the starting lineup at a later point in his career. His ascension to the first-team linebacker unit as a fresh- man was the result of a season-ending injury that Wartman-White suffered in the opener at Temple. The coaches had to reshuffle, moving Cabinda inside and promoting Reeder to the starting weak- side linebacker spot. By all accounts, Wartman-White's re- hab has been going well. Assuming he's able to return for his senior season, the Lions' starting unit will probably look the way it was supposed to look in 2015, with Wartman-White in the middle and Cabinda and Bell outside. The other op- tion would be to station Wartman- White at outside linebacker, where he began his career, with Cabinda remain- ing in the middle. A sophomore last season, Cabinda finished as the team's leading tackler with 100 stops, so he made a fairly smooth transition. Either option would have bumped Reeder out of the starting lineup had he stuck around. With Reeder gone, Bowen and Cooper will likely serve as backups. Penn State had been planning to redshirt one or both of the true freshman linebackers in 2015, but injuries forced the coaches to abandon those plans, and Cooper even got a start, filling in for the in- jured Reeder in the Tax- Slayer Bowl. The action they see this coming fall will be in anticipation of bigger roles in 2017, by which time Wartman-White and Bell will have graduated. Speaking of Bell, he brightens the Li- ons' outlook considerably. The senior- to-be will start somewhere – mostly likely at the strongside outside line- backer spot – after a junior year in which he battled a number of unspeci- fied injuries that forced him to miss two games but still finished fifth on the team in tackles (65), third in tackles for loss (12.5) and third in sacks (5.5). SECONDARY KEY RETURNEES CB: Christian Campbell, Grant Haley, Amani Oruwariye, John Reid, Jordan Smith; Saf.: Marcus Allen, Troy Apke, Koa Farmer, Malik Golden, Anthony Smith KEY LOSSES CB: Trevor Williams, Daquan Worley; Saf.: Jordan Lucas NEWCOMERS CB: Zechariah Mc- Phearson, Garrett Taylor; Saf.: Jarvis Miller, Ayron Monroe, John Petrishen, Andrew Pryts OUTLOOK The Lions recruited this area hard in their 2014 and '15 classes, and for much of last season, they were faring pretty well against opposing passers. But due to injuries – both in the backfield and on the line – and also to a backloaded schedule, the second- ary started to develop some leaks late in the year. Northwestern's Clayton Thorson was ripping Penn State before leaving with a lower-body injury early in the game, Michigan's Jake Rudock hit 25 of 38 attempts for 256 yards and two touchdowns, Michigan State's Connor Cook went 19 of 26 for 248 yards and three TDs, and Georgia, TEAM EFFORT Allen (left) and Reid close in on Georgia receiver Malcolm Mitchell. Photo by Steve Manuel A T T H E 2 0 1 6 N I T T A N Y L I O N S

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