Blue White Illustrated

BLUE-WHITE GAME PREVIEW | PENN STATE VS. HOUSTON this spring. He reportedly looked good in the Coaches Clinic. If he's available in the fall after running into off-the-field trouble earlier in his career, he'll likely give the sec- ondary a big lift. 5. Anyone missing? Yes, and it's a real concern for the Nittany Lions. Tailback Curtis Dukes is sitting out to work on his grades, O'Brien said. That's a bad bit of timing, because the Lions were extremely thin at tailback even with Dukes in the fold. With the bruising redshirt junior out of action, Belton and former walk-on Derek Day have been the main backups behind Silas Redd. That's probably not a permanent sit- uation, as freshman Akeel Lynch is set to arrive this summer. But even if he's OK academically this fall, the coaching staff would surely have preferred to get Dukes some experi- ence in the new offense this spring. 6. Is the new weight program getting results? O'Brien seems to think so. At the start of spring practice, he hailed the work that strength coach Craig Fitzgerald and his staff did during winter workouts – work that took place in a partially completed weight room. O'Brien pointed specifically to redshirt junior offensive tackle Adam Gress. "You can see that [he] has had a heck of a winter and has already changed his body. You go from looking one way to looking more like a 'V' shape, and that's what you're looking for in your line- men. And there are many, many other examples of that. You can see it already in their conditioning levels and their flexibility. We've got a long way to go, but there's definitely been an effect on this team over the past three months with his program." It isn't just the weight room per- sonnel who have changed, but the weight room itself. The floor is new, made of a more forgiving material. The weights are arranged more effi- ciently so that players can move through them more quickly and squeeze their workouts into the NCAA-mandated in-season time lim- 20 A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 1 2 its. The Nittany Lions are still wait- ing for a lot of their custom-made gear to be delivered – a South Car- olina-based firm called Sorinex is making it – so the room will contin- ue to look a little Spartan until early May. But to hear Fitzgerald tell it, that's not necessarily a bad thing. "Our theory is slow-cook," he said. "We're in no hurry at all. [The play- ers] are in a hurry, because they're competitive guys, they're Penn State football players. They want this bad right now, but we're going to take our time getting the technique down. And we promise them the weights will go up." Even the walls look different. There's an enormous American flag on the wall above the word "PRIDE," competing for players' attention with the Nittany Lion logos. Like every- thing else that O'Brien's detail-ori- ented staff has put in place this past few months, Old Glory is there for a reason. Said Fitzgerald, "I don't think you can have too many Ameri- can flags." 7. Should I actually pay atten- tion to the Blue-White Game this year? I usually just go for the tail- gating and the autographs. Yes, you should pay attention. As usual, the game will be a carnival for fans – there will be rides, enter- tainment and food vendors, as well as the customary pregame auto- graph session. But for players? That's a different story. As far as O'Brien is concerned, the final day of spring practice is a work day, and he expects players to treat it accord- ingly. "I know there are going to be a lot of people here, and I think that's great," he said. "But for us as a foot- ball team, it's another opportunity to get better. So for us, it'll be treat- ed like a game scrimmage." Previous Blue-White games were a bit of a lark. Joe Paterno was part of the broadcast team, watching from the press box alongside Steve Jones and Jack Ham. Some players gar- nered praise, others came in for a tongue-lashing, and Paterno's wry SEE QUESTIONS, PAGE 37 GETTING SIDEWAYS Bolden and McGloin perform agility drills. Top position battles of the spring PHIL'S FIVE practice. The big news here is that Jones is academically eligible. RUNNING BACK With redshirt junior Curtis Dukes sitting out spring ball, Bill Belton's move from receiver to running back is critical. Until freshman Akeel Lynch arrives in June, Penn State has only junior Silas Redd, senior Derek Day and redshirt sophomore Zach Zwinak at the running back position. CORNERBACK Senior Stephon Morris, sophomore Adrian Amos and redshirt juniors Derrick Thomas and Curtis Drake are battling to fill two starting vacancies. Expect Morris and Amos to start, but Thomas will be a factor if his grades are OK. Drake's move to the field corner- back position might be the best move of spring practice. LEFT GUARD The most intriguing battle on an offensive line that is full of uncertainty pits redshirt sophomore Miles Dieffenbach against red- shirt freshman Angelo Mangiro for Johnny Troutman's left guard posi- tion. It appears youth will be served here. DEFENSIVE END Can Pete Massaro, who is coming off his second ACL injury, and fellow senior Sean Stanley fight off a challenge from red- shirt sophomores Kyle Baublitz and C.J. Olaniyan and redshirt fresh- man Deion Barnes? Steve Manuel QUARTERBACK With Maryland's Danny O'Brien having decid- ed to transfer to Wisconsin, the battle between fifth-year senior Matt McGloin, redshirt junior Rob Bolden and red- shirt sophomore Paul Jones is the No. 1 storyline of spring – PHIL GROSZ W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

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