Blue White Illustrated

PSU has some questions to answer as spring practice begins PHI L 'S CORNER school that has historically been known for its stability, but Nittany Lion fans have every reason to be excited about the spring practice sessions that will begin March 26. Since taking over the program, Bill P O'Brien has enjoyed a number of major successes and has clearly demonstrated that he's committed to making Penn State a success on and off the field. To recap: In a period of one week, he established what looks to be one of the best coaching staffs in the Big Ten. He then began working to repair Penn State's relationships and image with both the media and the Penn- sylvania High School Coaches Asso- ciation. In addition, he established an aggressive recruiting strategy that not only utilizes all nine of his assis- tant coaches in Pennsylvania but also expands Penn State's recruiting reach into states like North and South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and California. It's a plan that, over the past two months, has worked just as it was drawn up by O'Brien and his coach- ing staff. Consider that five Rivals.com Top 250 prospects have already given the Lions public verbal commitments. They are tight end Adam Breneman of Camp Hill, Pa., defensive back Ross Douglas of Avon, Ohio, quarterback Christian Hackenberg of Fork Union, Va., of- fensive lineman Brendan Mahon of Randolf, N.J., and defensive end Garrett Sickels of Little Silver, N.J. Two weeks before spring practice was set to open, during an im- promptu news conference March 14 8 A P R I L 1 1 , 2 0 1 2 enn State has made a lot of changes to its football program in the past few months. Change is never easy, particularly for a at Penn State's Pro Day, O'Brien said he was pleased with how things were shaping up. "I feel really good about where we're at right now," he said, "I do feel that we have a long way to go, but we're really excited about start- ing spring practice. "Our kids are excited about it, our coaches are [excited]. We're tired of being in that office. We're ready to get out on the field and coach some football." O'Brien said he liked the attitude players displayed during winter workouts. "Like I said from the day I got here full-time, I've been extreme- ly impressed with these student- athletes," he said, "They work ex- tremely hard. We're demanding on their time; the classroom is de- manding on their time, and they do a really good job of balancing it. It's been impressive to see to this point, and now we get to watch them play football starting March 26." With spring practice getting under way, O'Brien will soon have another benchmark with which to evaluate his team and see how his plan for success is coming together. If Penn State is to surprise the ex- perts this fall and perform above their expectations, a number of players will need to emerge in spring practice to answer some big ques- tion marks on both offense and de- fense. The No. 1 storyline of Penn State's upcoming spring practice sessions will be the development of Matt Mc- Gloin, Rob Bolden and perhaps Paul Jones under the guidance of new quarterbacks coach Charlie Fisher. But quarterback isn't the only po- sition at which some new Nittany Li- ons need to emerge. The team needs to find four new starters on the of- fensive line and also needs to get healthy at tight end. With Jack Crawford and Eric Latimore gone, Pete Massaro needs to be healthy, and two additional defensive ends must prove they are capable of be- ing full-time starters. Finally, four new starters need to be found in the secondary. On paper, it appears to be a daunting task. Let's take a look at the candidates for the job vacancies listed above, beginning at quarterback. Back in mid-February when Fisher was announced as Penn State's quarterbacks coach, he said the staff would go into the spring with- out any preconceptions about how the battle is likely to play out. "There won't be a No. 1 quarterback listed at the beginning of spring practice," he said. "It will be a com- pletely open competition." O'Brien confirmed Fisher's assess- ment when he met with the media March 14, pointing out that the Nit- tany Lions now have six quarter- backs on their roster: McGloin, Bolden, Jones and three walk-ons. "They're all great guys," he said. "They're working really hard, and I'm enjoying being around them. We'll see how it goes in the spring and then make a determination." The good news at this position, O'Brien said, is that Jones is aca- demically eligible after missing all of last season, including the TicketCity Bowl. "As of right now, he is [eligible]," O'Brien said, "As of today, as we stand here today. "So we'll make our determination, and we'll do a good job as coaches communicating to them through not just our evaluation of them on film but also through statistics. "There will be a lot of different things we do to evaluate the quar- terback position throughout the 15 practices that we have." That's probably the best news O'Brien and Fisher could have got- ten with respect to the quarterback position going into spring practice. If Penn State really wants to be a sur- prise factor in the Big Ten race this fall, McGloin, Bolden or Jones must step forward and become a consis- tent and viable Football Bowl Subdi- vision quarterback. At tight end, there is a game-expe- rience problem. The candidates for the starting job are redshirt junior Garry Gilliam, junior Kevin Haplea, redshirt freshman Kyle Carter and January enrollee Jesse James. Red- shirt freshman Jordan Kerner will miss spring practice while recover- ing from an ACL injury. Haplea is the only tight end with any substantial experience. If Penn State wants to a have a legitimate threat at the position this fall, it ap- pears that a healthy Gilliam will be the key. Two years ago, Gilliam suffered a serious knee injury against Iowa in Penn State's Big Ten opener. His ACL surgery had to be delayed after he developed an infection following surgery to repair his MCL, and he ended up missing the 2011 season. A healthy Gilliam is critical at the tight end position for Penn State. He is 6-foot-6, 265 pounds, and he's the best pure athlete of the four tight ends on the spring roster. Not only does Gilliam have the right size for the position, he has the speed necessary to stretch oppo- nents' defenses vertically. He'll give Penn State a great option at tight end. Along the offensive line, one would think that junior-eligible players like Mark Arcidiacono, Nate Cado- gan, Frank Figueroa, Adam Gress and Eric Shrive would be the lead- ing candidates to replace tackles Chima Okoli and Quinn Barham and guards Johnny Troutman and De'Ontae Pannell. But that might not be the case. In fact, if those players aren't able to make an impact this year, there may be some question as to whether they 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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