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block one of them, we'll read him. Just let me know. Other than that, that's what your job is.' I said, 'I can handle that. We can get that done.' That's kind of how it's been." The goal is to provide the quarterback, running back and receivers with opportunities to ex- ploit whatever weaknesses they see in the opposing defense. As Limegrover notes, defenses can't outnumber their opponent both in the box and on the perimeter. Something is going to be open. It's just a question of finding it and capitalizing on it. "If you're getting outnumbered, you don't just turn around and hand the foot- ball off anyway, which was a lot of what we did at Minnesota, what they did here," Limegrover said. "The protection part of it is really the same type of animal. The more people you get in around [the line of scrimmage] and the more you allow the defense to dictate what they want to do because of what you're doing formation- ally or tempo-wise, [the more] they can take off. "Defensive coaches will tell you they love it when you huddle up. … They have a pretty big call sheet, but when you're going with great tempo, you're not changing personnel. You're getting out there, you're getting on the ball quickly. Their game plan shrinks down, and when it does, there are many fewer things that you have to be aware of. It allows those guys up front to not think as much and to go play. When you go play and don't think as much, you're more ag- gressive. You can be a better football player." What's left for Lime- grover is to fine-tune the approach so that the linemen enjoy a strategic advantage but don't suffer from what he describes as "paralysis by analysis," a problem that arises when players are so preoccupied with possible defensive scenarios that they aren't able to execute their assignments. The last thing he wants is for his players to com- pete at only 75 percent of their potential because they're thinking too much. Throughout the off-season, and partic- ularly during spring practice, he saw the improvement he was looking for. "The more they got comfortable, the more you could see guys playing up to their abilities or getting closer to what their abilities would tell you as opposed to letting it come to them and really turn- ing them into average or below-average football players," Limegrover said. "I think that's a huge thing: 'Hey, let's cut it loose. You may not be perfect on this, but if you do your job in this phone booth here and you take care of this, those backs we have, those receivers we can throw it to, that quarterback who can pull it at any point and go and get it done with his arm or his feet – that's when those guys be- come lethal.' " ■ Gaia sees new attitude on Lions' offensive line B rian Gaia o6ers a succinct appraisal of the improvements Penn State's o6ensive line has made this o6-sea- son: "Stronger, bigger, faster, all that." But there's a longer version, and it in- volves the group's mindset, which has been di6erent than in years past. Said Gaia, "We're always taking things seri- ous, but maybe just honing our cra8 more. Not just worrying about how fast can I run this drill; it's more like, how good can I get in my kick set?" Penn State was plagued the past two seasons by inconsistent play on the o6ensive line. The unit took the brunt of the criticism for an o6ense that last year ranked 105th out of 127 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision with an average of only 348.6 yards per game. But this past year brought a new of- fensive coordinator in Joe Moorhead, a new position coach in Matt Limegrover and a new high-speed scheme that the Nittany Lions hope will alleviate some of the di7culties they endured in 2014 and '15. It also brought a new set of expec- tations for players to meet. As they learned the technicalities of the new o6ense, the linemen were told they needed to be focused and precise at all times. As Gaia explained it, "You've got to make sure that every time you do a rep that's not live, that you do it like it's live, so that way when it is live, you don't have bad habits." Gaia, who is expected to be the Lions' 5rst-team center this year a8er starting 25 games at guard during his sophomore and junior seasons, ac- knowledged that the Nittany Lions didn't always have the right mindset in the past. LOW MAN WINS Limegrover watches his line- men take part in a drill during the first day of Penn State's preseason practice sessions. Photo by Steve Manuel

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