Blue White Illustrated

D efensive tackle Kevin Givens was Penn State's breakout player in spring practice. Following the departures of Austin Johnson and Tarow Barney on the interior of the Nittany Lions' de- fensive line, the redshirt freshman from Altoona, Pa., quickly emerged as an intriguing option for a graduation- depleted defensive front. With veteran Parker Cothren out of action due to an injury, Givens repeatedly earned praise from head coach James Franklin and teammates throughout the spring and into the summer. "Who would have thought Givens would have had the spring that he had? Obviously there was a lot of excitement about him, but he's a guy that has really done some nice things," Franklin said during an interview in June. "He still needs to get bigger, but he really did some nice things for us." Givens was again a topic of conversation in early August as the Nittany Lions gath- ered for their annual media day. In his in- troductory remarks, flowing from one position group to the next, Franklin again noted his excitement at what Givens and fellow redshirt freshman Robert Windsor are going to have an opportunity to do this fall. But, when Brent Pry was posed a ques- tion about Givens, the folksy defensive coordinator put up a checkpoint of sorts. "He's got a lot of work to do," Pry told reporters. "He's still very raw as an inside player." Listed on Penn State's newest roster at 275 pounds – an increase of eight pounds from his weight in the spring – Givens' career trajectory is still being deter- mined. Describing the defensive line as a "crit- ical area" for the Nittany Lions with four players from last year's two-deep spend- ing August in various NFL training camps, Franklin said Givens will push to join the likes of Cothren, Antoine White and Curtis Cothran, as well as newcomers Brenon Thrift and Tyrell Chavis, in the rotation. That spot is far from guaran- teed, but the coaching staff likes Givens' potential. "He's got some great qualities: his strength, his leverage, his instincts," Pry said. "He's still growing. We're still trying to get him a little bigger. He's got to gain a better understanding of the defense and playing in the framework of things. But we're excited about him. He's just got some work to do. "He's one of those guys who's got an as- terisk by his name. He's got some things he's got to handle this camp [for the team] to feel better about lining up and winning with him." – NATE BAUER Coaches see potential in 'raw' freshman Givens All-Big Ten performers in front of him; now he's getting the chance to prove he can pick up where Zettel and Johnson left off. "Parker Cothren's leadership and expe- rience are going to be critical," James Franklin said at media day. "He's one of the few guys on the inside with a decent amount of playing time. We're going to lean on him heavily." Aside from Cothren, experience is as low as the potential is high. For immedi- ate impact, the most likely contender as camp opened seemed to be Curtis Cothran, the 6-5, 280-pound redshirt junior who showed a knack for getting into opposing backfields during limited duty last season. Like the rest of the unit, he understands that the external expec- tations don't match what the players ex- pect of themselves. "We all know the next man steps up," Cothran said. "That's throughout the unit. It's the same situation every year: We never say we're rebuilding. We just reload." How much the unit's youngest players contribute to the reloading remains to be seen. Redshirt sophomore Antoine White is another player with a year of re- lief appearances on his resume, while redshirt freshmen Kevin Givens and Robert Windsor remain blank slates. What they all have in common is the priceless experience of watching and learning from guys who dominated the Big Ten last season and will be playing on Sundays this fall. Nobody knows if they can make a similar impact. But, Givens said, "that's motivation. We're definitely looking forward to seeing what we can do this year." ■ GIVENS

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