Blue White Illustrated

GAME GRADES QUARTERBACK McSorley had his ups and downs, no doubt, but when it came time to produce, this young man put the team on his back and got it done. Not much else to say, in my opin- ion. GRADE A- RUNNING BACK Barkley finished the day with 63 yards rushing, and the most of those yards came on two runs. That was hardly his fault though, as Minnesota consistently created pres- sure between the tackles. However, you can also argue that he tried to do a little too much at times, which cost his team valuable yards. But as he always does, Barkley kept fighting for yards and he was rewarded in the end with the win- ning touchdown. GRADE B WIDE RECEIVER Separation remains an issue, but give credit where credit is due, as Charles, Gesicki, Godwin and Thompkins all came down with excel- lent receptions in the second half. The Lions' main issue here is athleticism. They have a good group of receivers, but they're all possession receivers. Thomp- kins is the only one who has shown the ability to really open up the defense, and he's inconsistent. GRADE B OFFENSIVE LINE It was very diffi- cult for Penn State to get much of a rushing game going, but I thought the pass protection was improved, espe- cially in the second half. GRADE C+ DEFENSIVE LINE What's there to say that hasn't been said already? It's clear that this unit is PSU's Achilles heel this year, but the linemen did step up and create two huge sacks late in the game. GRADE C LINEBACKER Considering this unit's youth and inexperience, I thought they had a solid game. Manny Bowen is clearly taking steps in the right direc- tion, while Cam Brown finished second on the team in tackles with nine. It looks like Jake Cooper may have an- other shoulder injury, while Brandon Smith was also banged up, so we'll be seeing a lot of Bowen and Brown next week. I like the potential they're show- ing. GRADE B- DEFENSIVE BACKWhat a huge in- terception by Jordan Smith in the fourth quarter. Without that play, this is a totally different ballgame. Also, give credit to Allen. Yes, his tackling has been inconsistent at times this season, but he managed to rack up 22 tackles against the Gophers. That's impressive for a safety. Reid was his consistent self, while Haley got back in the mix with a few nice plays. GRADE B SPECIAL TEAMS No major mistakes to note today. Gillikin performed well with a wet ball, while Davis came up clutch, converting all three of his field goal attempts, including a 40-yarder to send the game to overtime. GRADE B COACHING The first half was worri- some, no doubt. What made it worse is the fact that we've seen those sluggish starts before. However, Moorhead opened things up a bit more in the sec- ond half, while Pry became a bit more aggressive with the blitz scheme late in the game. Overall, I thought they did enough to get the win, but they need to do a better job having the team prepared and fired-up from the start. GRADE C+ CROWD Considering the weather, I thought it was a decent turnout by the PSU faithful. The announced attendance was 95,332, and while today's crowd was definitely under 90,000, the fans created an excellent atmosphere in the second half and into overtime. GRADE B O c T O B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 6 R Y A N S N Y D E R | B L U E W H I T E I L L U S T R A T E D Penn State played host to only a handful of recruits for Saturday's game against Minnesota. Aside from two verbally committed players – Class of 2017 offensive line- man Michael Miranda and Class of 2018 defensive end Micah Parsons – the Nittany Lions hosted only about a dozen prospects, none of whom have picked up an offer from the coaching staff. The most notable prospect was Dar- ius Wise of Beaver, Pa. A 5-foot-11, 173-pound running back, Wise has earned scholarship offers from Brigham Young, Eastern Michigan, Colorado State, Miami (Ohio) and Vir- ginia. He's coming off one of the best performances in WPIAL history, as he rushed for 403 yards and scored seven touchdowns in a 77-49 victory over Keystone Oaks on Sept. 23. The coaching staff is not expected to ex- tend offers to any running backs in its upcoming class, but Wise could be someone to watch late in the process if Penn State were to miss out on a handful of its top remaining Class of 2017 targets. The Nittany Lions also hosted two notable Class of 2018 prospects. Jake Kradel, a 6-4, 270-pound of- fensive tackle from Butler, Pa., burst onto the scene this past summer when he picked up an offer from Syracuse. Since then, he's also been in commu- nication with both Penn State and Pitt, but neither one of those pro- grams has extended a scholarship offer yet. The other name to remember is de- fensive tackle Ja'Mion Franklin of North Caroline High School in Ridg- ley, Md. The 6-3, 305-pound nose tackle camped with the coaching staff in July for the Friday Night Whiteout camp. Franklin has not yet picked up any Division I scholarship offers, but he's been communicating with a number of the top rpograms in the re- gion. –RYAN  SNYDER RECRUITING Nittany Lions welcome guests for game vs. Minnesota

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