Blue White Illustrated

A T T H E 2 0 1 7 N I T T A N Y L I O N S Nelson is an experienced veteran and will give the Lions a big lift if he's healthy, but given the thickness of his medical dossier, there are going to be some lingering con- cerns. Mahon's situation is cloudy, too. He went down with what appeared to be a lower-leg injury against Iowa on Nov. 5. Three days later, he was admitted to Her- shey Medical Center for unspecified rea- sons and was listed in stable condition. Franklin does not discuss injuries, so it's not known whether those two medical episodes were connected. Mahon was not ruled out of action until several weeks be- fore the Rose Bowl, so if there was still hope late in the season that he might re- turn at some point, it bodes well for his chances of making a full recovery in the coming months. This much is certain: He was having a great year before getting hurt. If he's back at full strength next fall, the Lions should be rock solid at left tackle. In fact, if they can find a center and build up their depth at guard, they should be solid all around. As Bates noted in De- cember, "We're a bunch of ass-kickers right now." DEFENSIVE LINE KEY RETURNEES DE: Torrence Brown, Ryan Buchholz, Shareef Miller; DT: Tyrell Chavis, Curtis Cothran, Parker Cothren, Kevin Givens, Robert Windsor KEY LOSSES DE: Evan Schwan, Garrett Sickels; DT: Antoine White NEWCOMERS DE: Damion Barber, Daniel Joseph, Yetur Matos, Shane Sim- mons, Shaka Toney; DT: Fred Hansard, Ellison Jordan, Antonio Shelton, Brenon Thrift OUTLOOK Even with Sickels deciding to leave early for the NFL and White an- nouncing in January that he's going to transfer to Albany, the Nittany Lions have plenty of manpower returning on their defensive front. Of the 12 players listed on their Rose Bowl depth chart, only three – Sickels, White and Schwan – will not be back next fall. Better still, of the team's nine returnees up front, seven saw action in 13 or more games in 2016, a result of the coaching staff's decision to alleviate its heavy graduation losses from the previ- ous season by playing just about everyone at its disposal. The statistics reflected the wisdom of this approach. Without a couple of dom- inant players such as Austin Johnson and Anthony Zettel in the middle of their de- fensive front, the Lions gave up 151.3 rushing yards per game to rank eighth in the Big Ten. But because there was no major drop-off between the starters and the backups, the coaching staff had no reservations about relying on inexperi- enced players such as Windsor, a redshirt freshman, and Chavis, a juco transfer. As a result, they were able to use their depth to wear down opponents in the second half. Penn State surrendered 223 points in the first halves of its 14 games and 130 in the second halves. It may have been born of necessity, but there was a lot to be said for the coaches' approach. The Wild Dogs might not have been quite as wild as they were in 2014 when they finished third in the country against the run (100.5 rush- ing yards per game) but they actually fared no worse against the run than they did with Johnson and Zettel in the lineup in 2015 (151.0). Quantity, in this case, translated into quality. "You're talking about a bunch of red- shirt freshmen [who], as the year went on, got more comfortable at their position," Pry said. "And we got more comfortable doing more with them. They allowed us to take the handcuffs off a little bit." The Lions should be even deeper at de- fensive tackle in 2017, with Jordan and Shelton coming off redshirt years and Hansard, a four-star prospect, set to ar- rive this summer. They should be bigger, too. Givens, a converted defensive end who is perhaps Penn State's most prom- ising young lineman, played his first sea- son at 275 pounds. Cothran also had made the move inside, and played at 285. Chavis was a bit bigger at 298, but he needed time to adjust to the level of com- petition in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Another year in the strength program will likely make a big difference for all of those players. Penn State also used the 270-pound Buchholz at defensive tackle, a possible precursor to a move inside. But with Sick- els leaving early, the Lions' needs are more acute at defensive end. Sickels and Schwan combined for 12 sacks and 21 tackles for loss last season, so there's def- initely some work to be done here. But there's also reason for optimism, as this was another position at which Penn State used a lot of players last fall, most of whom are returning. The team finished second in the Big Ten with 40 sacks, and 22.5 were made by players who will be back in 2017. Brown and Miller would ap- pear to be first in line for the starting spots, but it's also a sure bet that some of Penn State's younger players will see ac- tion here. Simmons, a high-profile re- cruit in the Class of 2016, will be one of the more heavily scrutinized players of the off-season. LINEBACKER KEY RETURNEES ILB: Jason Cabinda, Brandon Smith; OLB: Manny Bowen, Cam Brown, Jake Cooper, Koa Farmer, Johnathan Thomas KEY LOSSES OLB: Brandon Bell, Von Walker, Nyeem Wartman-White NEWCOMERS ILB: Dylan Rivers; OLB: Brelin Faison-Walden, Brailyn Franklin OUTLOOK Bell won't be easily replaced. He started 32 games over the past four seasons and finished his senior year with 88 tackles, ranking second on the team despite missing four games due to an early-season injury. When he wasn't in the lineup, the Lions struggled, giving up more than 40 points against Pitt, Michi- gan and Southern Cal. As for Wartman- White, the Lions know all too well what it's like to go on without him, as he played in only four games his final two seasons due to knee injuries. The loss of those two veteran players, as well as a wrist injury that forced Cabinda to miss five games, gave the Lions a sneak peek at their young linebackers. There were some growing pains, but there were also some encouraging signs. Bowen en- joyed a strong sophomore year, starting 12 games and finishing with 68 tackles to rank fifth on the team. His Rose Bowl sus-

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