Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/741084
Hamilton couldn't hold onto a deep pass that would likely have resulted in a go- ahead touchdown and possibly com- pleted a comeback for the ages. It's unfortunate because, that drop notwithstanding, this group has been pretty solid. The key here has been the unit's depth. Heading into the Ohio State game, there were four players with 18 or more catches. As expected, Chris Godwin was leading the team with 23 catches for 325 yards through six games, while tight end Mike Gesicki also had 23 receptions for 277 yards. Hamilton and rising star De- Andre Thompkins both had 18 catches, and Thompkins' average of 18.2 yards per catch was by far the team's best among players with more than one catch. The Lions have also gotten big re- ceptions from Juwan Johnson and Irvin Charles. So deep is this group that it was able to withstand the loss of starter Saeed Blacknall and key backup Brandon Polk to injuries without any real drop- off in productivity. Which is not to say there haven't been problems. Except for Thompkins, the wideouts don't have a lot of breakaway speed, and in some games it's showed. Against Michigan's stellar secondary, for example, Godwin, Hamilton and Thomp- kins combined to make five catches for 20 yards. But a week later against Minnesota, that same trio finished with 11 catches 186 yards, and Charles had one of the biggest catches of the season, an 80-yard thun- derclap that launched Penn State's come- back. Expect more of the same as this group gets healthier and more experi- enced. GRADE B OFFENSIVE LINE There was a telling moment in the second quarter of the Minnesota game in which Franklin, faced with a fourth-and-goal situation at the Gophers' 1-yard line, called in the field goal unit. When asked about the decision after the game, he said that he wasn't confident that the Lions could get that yard. "We have not been great at consistently running the ball in short-yardage situ- ations," Franklin said. Fair point. The Lions still don't have a consistently effective offensive front, even though they have one of the more experienced groups of linemen in the country. Entering the season, their re- turning players had 91 career starts to their credit, the second-highest total in the Big Ten and the 17th-highest total in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Why have those numbers failed to translate into more than one big rushing performance? Partly because several of those veteran players have been dis- placed as the team's talent pool has im- proved. The Lions are starting two freshmen at guard in Connor McGovern and Ryan Bates. What's more, two of their returning starters – redshirt junior tackle Brendan Mahon and senior center Brian Gaia – are playing new positions. The only holdover from last year's start- ing five has been redshirt junior right tackle Andrew Nelson, and he went down with a season-ending knee injury in week six against Maryland. Because of that upheaval – and because opponents have been stacking the box to shut down Barkley – the Lions remain one of the least-productive rushing teams in the Big Ten. Still, the changes appear to have put Penn State on a good long-term path. And there have already been signs of im- provement. The most significant was that victory over the Terps in which PSU racked up 372 yards on the ground, but there's also this: Through six games, the Lions had given up 14 sacks, only four more than they surrendered in their first STOPPING POWER Allen was leading the Big Ten at the halfway point of the season with 57 tackles. Photo by Steve Manuel