Penn State Sports Magazine
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tential. Fellow wideout DaeSean Hamil- ton has described the 6-4, 219-pounder as the team's most physically gifted re- ceiver. "The sky's really the limit for him," Hamilton said. "We all tell him that. I specifically tell him, because I took him under my wing when he got here. I tell him he could probably be one of the best receivers in the nation. All it comes down to is gaining confidence, gaining experi- ence. As long as he believes that and has a chip on his shoulder while he's doing it, I think he'll be able to accomplish that." At defensive end, the Lions will be look- ing for two starters to emerge from a tal- ent pool that includes last year's backups, Torrence Brown and Shareef Miller, as well as redshirt sophomore Ryan Buch- holz and redshirt freshmen Shane Sim- mons and Shaka Toney. Buchholz had three sacks last fall, the highest total among this year's returning defensive ends. Brown and Miller combined for 2.5. Penn State finished second in the Big Ten in sacks with 40 last year, so if it wants to keep the pressure on opposing quarter- backs, somebody is going to have to step up. One other position of need is center. Redshirt freshman Michal Menet will no doubt receive plenty of scrutiny this spring, and Miranda was said to have looked good in winter workouts. There will be a lot of moving parts on the offen- sive line, with the availability of projected starting tackles Brendan Mahon and An- drew Nelson uncertain as they come back from season-ending injuries. But Menet and Miranda both figure to see extensive action. 4 Are there any major posi- tion changes set to take place? Anything's possible, but if you're ex- pecting any dramatic moves like the one that shipped defensive linemen Gaia and Derek Dowrey to the offensive front in Franklin's first season, or the move of Nick Scott from the offensive to the de- fensive backfield last year, you may be underwhelmed by what the coaching staff has in store. Except for the offensive line and the linebacker corps, where as- sistant coaches Matt Limegrover and Brent Pry are likely to do some mixing and matching in the coming weeks, there don't appear to be any headline-worthy changes on tap, nor have there been a lot of rumblings about major moves to come. That's what happens when you have rel- atively few holes to fill. One change has already taken place, as cornerback Garrett Taylor has been moved to safety. That makes a lot of sense given that the Lions have four experi- enced vets at the cornerback spots in Grant Haley, John Reid, Amani Oruwariye and Christian Campbell. Taylor, a 6-0, 193-pound redshirt sophomore, looks to have a much better chance of seeing the field at strong safety, where the Lions have a vacancy with the graduation of Golden. Elsewhere, there's been a lot of specu- lation about sophomore offensive line- man Ryan Bates. Coming off a stellar debut season, Bates could be headed for center, the one position he didn't play last year, but that's only if no one else emerges as a viable starter in the spring. He could also be slated to play tackle again, but that will depend on whether Mahon and Nel- son are on schedule to return in the fall. The most likely scenario? At this point, even Bates isn't sure. "I don't really have a preference," he said in February. "Whatever I can do to make the team bet- ter." 5 Are the Nittany Lions still hungry after last season's success? Franklin sure is. He's said several times that while the season as a whole was a big step forward for Penn State, the Rose Bowl did not feel nearly as exhilarating on the losing sideline as it apparently did in the stands and the broadcast booth and in the living rooms of viewers. The Nittany Lions' matchup with Southern California may have generated boffo ratings and given the Lions a lot of credibility as the kind of team that can compete with just about anyone. But at the end of the day, they lost – and losing is never a satisfying feeling. "I have gone all over the country re- cruiting, doing different speaking en- gagements, and everybody says, 'Coach, that was the best Rose Bowl I ever have seen in my life,' " Franklin said recently. "I was like, 'Well, could have been better.' " It could indeed. And as Moorhead ad- mitted recently to the Allentown Morn- ing Call, the ending of that game, like the ending of the loss to Pitt in week two, gave rise to a few second thoughts. "The ones you obviously look back on and always question whether you could have done better are the calls at the end of the Pitt game and the last call of the Rose Bowl," he said. "You're going to point the thumb at yourself instead of the finger at someone else and ask, 'What could I have done to put the kids in a bet- ter position?' " The loss left players feeling heartsick, so a big part of the job now is to ensure that they put it in the proper context, using it as a lesson and a source of motivation and then moving on to the task at hand. They can't change the past, so the worst out- come would be for Penn State to dwell on its disappointing finish and allow it to be- come the first loss of the 2017 season rather than the historical artifact that it is. The other part of the job is to not get swept up in the excitement over the pro- gram's return to college football's top tier. Franklin has urged players to "remember what got us here." "We've got to [be] a humble, a hard- working, appreciative team with a chip on its shoulder," he told USA Today in Feb- ruary. "We've got to keep that. But on top of that, we've got to use the experience we gained last year." If the Nittany Lions can do that, if they can avoid getting too high or too low, there's every reason to believe that with a wealth of talent returning and the coach- ing staff free from the oppressive specu- lation about its long-term future, the program will be able to maintain its mo- mentum in 2017. ■ P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >>