Blue White Illustrated

He was held out last year as he completed his rehabilitation and adjusted to college- level competition. Now Haley is beginning to see Taylor, too, adjusting in time to fill a role as a key cog in PSU's rotation of defensive backs. "I think Garrett has looked really good," Haley said. "He came in with a little trou- ble with his knee, but he has gotten stronger and has gotten faster. He had a great winter and now he's having a great spring." While Taylor redshirted last year, class- mate John Reid saw the field right away, starting the opener vs. Temple in place of the injured Haley. With a full year under his belt, Reid has picked up where he left off and then some, Haley said, due to some defensive packages that are built around his skill set. "I think John is playing extremely con- fident right now," Haley said. "Very com- fortable. He had a good lead year last year and he's just excited for this year. He can play fast now. We're getting some calls in that he loves playing. He loves playing man, so we're playing little bit of man out there." Reid finished with two tackles and three pass breakups in the Blue-White Game, including an aggressive breakup on a deep throw over the middle intended Scott excited about move to a new backfield | A s Nick Scott describes it, the seed was planted by former Nittany Lion defensive coordinator Bob Shoop. "Ever since I was a recruit," Scott said, "he would always sort of tease me: You should play on [defense]." A running back dur- ing his first two years on campus, Scott was admittedly intrigued. But he didn't consider it to be a serious option until Saquon Barkley burst onto the scene as a true freshman last fall. Barkley's 1,076 yards easily eclipsed his own total of 133 yards on 30 carries, and those numbers per- suaded Scott that it was time to follow up on Shoop's proposal. "Basically, he told me he felt like I could be a really good safety at this level," Scott said. "And being in the position I was in during the season, I heard that and I latched onto it. It's one of the main things that really pushed me forward to making the change, especially hearing from guys like Shoop who have seen a lot of big players in and out of his sys- tem." All of the evidence seemed to indi- cate to Scott that the time was right to switch positions. He had the physical- ity and the size (5-foot-11, 195 pounds) to make plays in the second- ary, and he had excelled on special teams as a member of the coverage teams. Those factors, coupled with his experience playing safety in high school, convinced him that he could make an impact as a defensive back during the final three years of his Penn State career. "I was familiar with the position, and so I didn't really think it would be that much of a challenge if I moved over," he said. "I felt like I could con- tribute more to the team." Scott talked it over with head coach James Franklin following Penn State's bowl game, and they found them- selves in complete agreement: He would line up in the defensive back- field when spring practice began in March. Once the off-season drills began, the plan changed a bit, with Scott moving from cornerback to strong safety midway through the team's sessions. But having played safety in high school, Scott was feeling excited about his new role as the drills con- cluded in late April. "I'm more comfortable with it. I've been playing it for a while," he said. "I think it sort of suits me more and my personality on the field. It's fewer rules and regulations and reads and it's more of a 'see quarterback, see ball, get ball' type of deal." After the Blue-White Game, in which Scott was credited with one solo tackle and two assists, Franklin said the sophomore was "a little bit more natural at safety." Considering the influence fellow safety Marcus Allen played on his ini- tial decision to switch, the recent move has only furthered Scott's com- fort level. He's now taking his cues from Allen, Jason Cabinda and Malik Golden on the defensive side of the ball and has focused intently on his footwork and vision. Asked whether or not he would have made a different choice if not for Barkley's emergence as the team's go-to running back, Scott said he's "not real interested in hypotheti- cals." "What happened, happened," he said. "I'm happy where I'm at right now, I'm happy with the decision and I'm only looking forward from here." SCOTT

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