Blue White Illustrated

n the off-season, he was the talk of the weight room. A total transforma- tion, they would say. He had even grown a beard. During preseason camp, he was the talk of the offensive line. A total bull, they would call him. Breaking in true freshmen by driving them into the ground with one swift block – that became his routine. Throughout the season, he was one of the team's fixtures. The Nittany Lions re- lied on him like a veteran, asking him to play two different positions despite being a redshirt freshman and first-year starter. And next year, Ryan Bates is set to be the linchpin of his unit, as Penn State's coaches try to figure out where he bene- fits the team most. "We've all kind of seen it and discussed it," head coach James Franklin said of the 6-foot-4, 305-pound Bates. "There are some aspects of his body type that [indi- cate] he's probably more fit for center or guard, but his feet and his athleticism and his comfort in space make him really good at tackle. You would love a little bit more length, but his feet are just so good. You really see it if you go back and watch plays when he pulls. When that guy pulls and runs, he is a really, really good athlete. Then you see the same [athleticism] now with him on the edge playing left tackle." Bates, a native of Warrington, Pa., began the 2016 season as the starter at left guard and held that post for the first 10 weeks, making incremental improve- ments each game. Then injuries to Penn State's upperclassmen – Andrew Nelson first, then Brendan Mahon and then Paris Palmer – began to mount. When Palmer went down early in the Indiana game, Franklin and position coach Matt Limegrover were faced with the dilemma of whether to cancel their plans to redshirt true freshman Will Fries or reconfigure the interior of the line. They chose the latter, moving Bates to tackle and giving his classmate Steven Gonzalez an expanded role at guard. The shake-up went so well in the final two regular-season games that some were wondering if Bates could see game reps at left tackle next season in order to get the five best linemen on the field at once. But for Bates, the move wasn't as easy as it might have seemed. "Going from guard to tackle was a tran- sition," he said. "I was feeling more com- fortable at guard... but we all had to mature quick, and it's going well so far." In a meeting at the team hotel before Penn State's season finale, Franklin looked around at the linemen in the room. Of the 13, eight were freshmen. When Penn State faced Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, three members of | I NEW AND IMPROVED P O S T S E A S O N P R E V I E W >> P E N N S T A T E An infusion of young talent has helped Penn State solidify its oensive front

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