Blue White Illustrated

F A S T F O R W A R D > > A N E A R L Y L O O K ny Dalton, Jonathan Holland; WR: Irvin Charles, Juwan Johnson OUTLOOK This position group should be one of the Nittany Lions' biggest strengths in 2016. Between them, God- win and Hamilton caught 114 passes for 1,681 yards and 11 touchdowns this past season. They're the kind of players who can make an inexperienced quarterback look good, which is just what they did in the TaxSlayer Bowl, coming up with a series of big catches to help McSorely get in a groove late in the game. Godwin was particularly impressive during a breakout sophomore season, finishing with 69 catches for 1,101 yards and five TDs. His yardage total was the second-highest single-season haul in school history, and he's already Penn State's career leader in postseason re- ceiving yardage, having amassed 273 yards against Boston College and Geor- gia in the Pinstripe and TaxSlayer bowls. Receivers coach Josh Gattis said he was "very pleased" with Godwin's perform- ance this year, and, well, why wouldn't he be? Said Gattis, "He's a very talented player, a very mature player. He takes a lot of pride in how he practices and pre- pares himself, and I think that showed up in his production on the field. "He has a very bright future. He's a great kid, an awesome teammate. He's truly a leader for us on our team and he's a guy that we're really, really excited about. He's only going to continue to get better." The Lions also return Blacknall, Polk and Thompkins, who combined for 34 catches this past fall. In fact, of the 15 players who caught at least one pass in 2015, only three are departing: Lewis, Carter and Hackenberg, the latter hav- ing caught a TD pass from Nick Scott on a gadget play vs. Illinois. Those numbers alone would be enough to inspire optimism, but it gets even bet- ter, as two of the most heralded prospects in the Lions' 2015 recruiting class are getting set to make their debuts in the fall: Charles and Johnson. Both are listed at 6-foot-4, 213 pounds, and their size should help give the passing game another dimension. "We're really excited about those two guys," Gattis said. "They're going to have a bright future here, and we're real- ly excited to get them on the field here at some point." While the wideouts appear poised for big things in 2016 – assuming there's a satisfactory resolution to the QB battle – the tight ends will be looking to regroup. Gesicki is coming off a disappointing season in which he dropped some key passes and finished with only 13 recep- tions for 125 yards. As a group, the tight ends managed only 33 catches for 299 yards and one touchdown. That was partly because Breneman was barely able to play due to chronic knee prob- lems. He did not have any catches as a redshirt sophomore and announced ear- lier this month that he was giving up football. OFFENSIVE LINE KEY RETURNEES C: Wendy Laurent; G: Derek Dowrey, Brian Gaia, Brendan Mahon, Chasz Wright; T: Noah Beh, Brendan Brosnan, Albert Hall, Andrew Nelson, Paris Palmer, Chance Sorrell KEY LOSSES C/G: Angelo Mangiro, Kevin Reihner NEWCOMERS C/G: Ryan Bates, Steven Gonzalez, Connor McGovern; G/T: Michal Menet; T: Will Fries, Ster- ling Jenkins, Alex Gellerstedt OUTLOOK As far as this position group is concerned, the biggest differ- ence between the past two seasons and the one to come may well be the expec- tation level. Penn State fans were willing to show some (grudging) patience dur- ing Franklin's first two years, well aware that the depth chart the new coach had inherited was in a shambles. But this coming fall, the Lions will have plenty of experience on the first-team unit, and hopes will be correspondingly higher, even with a new coach in charge in Matt Limegrover. Assuming they reprise their roles at right tackle and right guard, respective- ly, Nelson and Gaia will be starting for the third consecutive season. Palmer, meanwhile, will be a senior and will be starting for the second season after transferring from Lackawanna College a year ago. Another senior, Laurent, will be back at center after starting five games in 2015. That leaves the left guard spot, where Mahon, a redshirt junior, and Dowrey, a fifth-year senior, will likely do battle. The offensive line has caught plenty of flak for its performance the past two years, which is understandable given that Penn State surrendered a dismal 83 sacks during that span and wasn't able to run the ball with much consistency, finishing last in the Big Ten in 2014 and 12th this past season. But there are hopes that the on-the-job training players received will start to pay off in 2016. It also helps that Gonzalez, Bates and Jenkins are set to come off their redshirt seasons this fall. Franklin has said re- peatedly that he would prefer not to play offensive linemen extensively before their redshirt sophomore year. But the Lions need depth, and the trio of high- profile redshirt freshmen appears capa- ble of supplying it. "Those three guys, as true freshmen during the redshirt period, have really improved," Franklin said in December. "And then there are the other guys, who are redshirt freshmen who are coming on, like the Noah Behs and guys like Chance Sorrell. Those guys I think have really taken another step, as well. They are exciting for our future, in terms of the depth and the size and the experi- ence that we're looking for on the offen- sive line." One worrisome sign for Penn State is that the current group did not seem to be on an upward trajectory at the end of the 2015 season. The Lions rushed for 70 yards against Michigan, 122 against Michigan State and 120 against Georgia. If the veteran players continue to strug- gle in the upcoming nonconference sea- son, those redshirt freshman linemen could end up doing more than simply supplying depth.

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