Blue White Illustrated

BTN set to air Blue-White Game The Big Ten Network will stream the Blue-White Game live at 2 p.m. April 21 on both BTN2Go and The Big Ten Digital Network. BTN also will have highlights and analysis from that day's Big Ten spring games on Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET on "B1G Tonight Spring Football Edition" with Dave Revsine, Ger- ry DiNardo and Howard Griffith. The Penn State game will air on BTN at 8 p.m. ET on Satur- day. Kevin Kugler and former Penn State running back Ki- Jana Carter will call the game. BTN's spring football coverage includes the "Big Ten Football Report" every Tuesday night and "B1G Tonight Spring Foot- ball Edition" Saturday nights beginning April 14. BTN will of- fer a live television or Internet broadcast for every Big Ten spring football game or final practice. BTN2Go is a live 24/7 digital extension of the Big Ten Network that gives fans the ability to watch the network live wherever they are via computer, smart- phone or tablet. Full online ac- cess to BTN2Go is available to subscribers of participating TV providers at no additional charge. As of March 23, Bright House Networks, Charter, Cox, DIRECTV, Dish, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS were of- fering BTN2Go to their sub- scribers. For more information, go to BTN2Go.com. The Big Ten Digital Network, which is available via subscrip- tion, combines streaming audio and video content from games/events that are not tele- vised live on BTN. Fans who are only looking for access to a sin- gle school's content can sub- scribe to just that school on monthly and annual renewing terms. If you are not already a subscriber to the BTDN, go to video.btn.com/allaccess to sub- scribe to view the Penn State game. 8 A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 1 2 It isn't just the QB situation that bears watching this spring PHI L 'S CORNER tion at Penn State this spring has been focused directly on the team's three returning quarterbacks: fifth- year senior Matt McGloin, junior Rob Bolden and redshirt sophomore Paul Jones. The battle for the starting quarter- W back spot has been the No. 1 on- field storyline of the past few months and will probably continue to be so until August. That's entirely understandable given the inconsis- tent performance of the team's quarterbacks throughout the 2011 season. But if Penn State wants to emerge from spring practice as a legitimate contender for the Big Ten's Leaders Division crown this fall – a crown that it came improbably close to claiming last season despite its con- siderable offensive difficulties – im- proved play at the quarterback posi- tion is only one of the pressing mat- ters that needs to be resolved in the off-season. In addition to the work that Bold- en, Jones and McGloin must per- form as they look to familiarize themselves with the new offensive philosophy that Bill O'Brien is in- troducing to the team, a number of other key players must step forward and get themselves ready to have breakout seasons. That list includes redshirt senior defensive end Pete Massaro, red- shirt junior defensive back/wide re- ceiver Curtis Drake, sophomore running back Bill Belton, junior de- fensive tackle DaQuan Jones and redshirt junior tight end Garry Gilliam. ith Maryland's redshirt junior quarterback Danny O'Brien having decided to transfer to Wisconsin, everyone's atten- Here is a closer look at those five players – players who won't be throwing any passes or calling any audibles but will definitely influence Penn State's 2012 season… 1. PETE MASSARO Penn State will enter the 2012 season with only two experienced defensive ends: Massaro and fellow senior Sean Stanley. Jack Crawford and Eric Latimore have graduated, and redshirt sophomores C.J. Olaniyan and Kyle Baublitz saw ex- tremely limited playing time during the 2011 season. Olaniyan saw ac- tion in only six games and recorded three tackles, while Baublitz, de- spite receiving playing time in all 13 games last fall, recorded only a single tackle. The problem here is that Massaro missed the entire 2011 season with his second ACL injury. While he said he felt as though he was nearly back to full health heading into spring practice, he was not healthy enough to participate fully in every aspect of the team's drills. Massaro needs to come out of spring practice healthy and fully confident that his knee is going to be OK. Like all the other players on defense, he needs to get accus- tomed to the new schemes that are being introduced this spring. He's an important player because Penn State hopes to be able to use a four-man rotation at defensive end this fall. "I really can't tell [how close I am] to being back to 100 percent, but I'd say I'm pretty close," Massaro said recently. "There are some things that I'm very comfortable with, and there are other [times when] I can tell the knee bothers me and it's just a little bit uncomfortable. "I just need to continue to work on those things. But if I had to put a number on it, I'd say 80 to 85 per- cent. So I'm getting close; it's just a few little loose ends I need to tie up." 2. CURTIS DRAKE A similar situation exists at both of Penn State's cornerback posi- tions. Gone are 2011 starters D'An- ton Lynn and Chaz Powell, making senior Stephon Morris and sopho- more Adrian Amos the only experi- enced cornerbacks going into the 2012 season. To solve that depth problem, O'Brien made a surprising position change at the beginning of spring practice, moving Drake from the slot receiver position on offense to the field cornerback spot in the second- ary. "What I saw with Curtis on the football field was good size, good feet, good hips, instinctiveness, and I think he's a guy who can con- tribute over there," O'Brien said at a news conference last month pre- viewing the team's spring practice sessions. "He's got to keep up his end of the bargain by doing well in school and keeping his nose clean, and then we'll give him a shot to play over there this spring." During the first week of spring practice, it was looking as though the experiment with Drake at cor- nerback was taking hold. In the Nit- tany Lions' third practice session this spring, Drake was already shar- ing time with Amos on the first- team defense at the field cornerback spot. With Amos recovering from a 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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