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he will be redshirted this coming fall, but there is a chance that the coaches will use him in a situational role as a third-down pass rusher. That brings us to Toney. The fact that he's listed at 6-3, 200 pounds makes it hard for me to believe he will play at Penn State as a weakside defensive end with his hand in the ground, but that's where assistant coach Terry Smith said he will begin his career. I expect Toney to be redshirted this fall. With the arrival of these four players, Penn State will have nine or 10 defensive ends on its 2016 scholarship roster. Red- shirt sophomore Torrence Brown is ex- pected to 9ll Carl Nassib's starting posi- tion, joining redshirt junior Garrett Sickles, who will be the only returning starter on the defensive front. Senior Evan Schwan, redshirt junior Curtis Cothran and redshirt freshman Shareef Miller will also practice at the position this spring, while Buchholz may be practicing at both strongside defensive end and three-technique defensive tackle. This may be the deepest area on Penn State's defense going into the 2016 sea- son. The coaches could not have done a better job of recruiting for need. And one 9nal note: Although Cameron Brown will most likely start his Penn State career at the Sam outside line- backer position, he has the frame to add 30 pounds, which would put him in con- tention for playing time at the weakside defensive end spot in the Nittany Lions' basic 4-3 alignment. LINEBACKER SIGNEE Cameron Brown ANALYSIS This is the one area where I believe Penn State came up short. With the transfer of Troy Reeder, the Lions have only six linebackers on their spring roster: seniors Brandon Bell, Von Walker and Nyeem Wartman- White, junior Jason Cabinda and soph- omores Many Bowen and Jake Cooper. And bear in mind, Wartman-White is coming back from a knee injury that forced him to miss nearly the entire 2015 season. Bell, Walker and Wartman-White all have only one season of eligibility re- maining, while Cabinda will be a senior in 2017. That means Bowen and Cooper are the only scholarship linebackers on the current roster who will still be at Penn State in 2018. That's a big concern, even with redshirt freshman Jarvis Miller potentially seeing some reps at the Sam outside linebacker spot this spring. The ultimate goal in recruiting is not simply to address immediate needs but to 9ll openings that will occur two years down the road. Penn State now needs to recruit four linebackers in its Class of 2017. DEFENSIVE BACK SIGNEES T.J. Johnson, Zechariah McPhearson ANALYSIS It appears that Penn State will be in pretty good shape here going into spring practice. There's depth at safety, where the practice roster will in- clude senior Malik Golden, juniors Mar- cus Allen and Troy Apke, possibly red- shirt sophomore Koa Farmer, and red- shirt freshmen Jarvis Miller, Ayron Monroe and John Petrishen. And at cor- nerback, the Lions return juniors Chris- tian Campbell and Grant Haley, redshirt sophomore Amani Oruwariye, sopho- more John Reid and redshirt freshman Garrett Taylor. With so much talent returning, the losses of Hill and Pryts were by no means devastating to this class. Still, it makes sense that Penn State recruited Johnson and McPhearson. Johnson could play free safety or cornerback, while McPhearson is a highly underrated prospect who will add to the team's depth at cornerback. The coaches get top marks here for meeting their needs. SPECIAL TEAMS SIGNEES Alex Barbir, Blake Gillikin ANALYSIS The coaches did a great job of meeting their needs in this area. Bar- bir will compete for the starting place- kicker job, while Gillikin could be the punter this fall. He averaged just short of 44 yards as a senior at Westminster High School in Atlanta. ■

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