Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/797655
I t would be reasonable to think that a team that went to the Rose Bowl, claimed a league championship and won 11 games would be forced to go back to the drawing board in the off-season, left to reconfigure a lineup seriously eroded by graduation and early depar- tures for the NFL. But that's not the case with Penn State, a team that exceeded most expectations in 2016 with one of the youngest rosters in the country. The bulk of the roster re- mains intact this spring, while some blue-chip recruits join the mix, and all of them are going to want a piece of the pie. But after only three starters graduated and two more left for the NFL Draft, there are fewer vacancies than there are poten- tial occupants. Filling the five starting spots won't be a quick fix, nor an easy one, and the battles for a few positions will likely extend into preseason. Even then, some positions might rely on more than one solution. In some cases, a combination of athletes might make up one replacement; in oth- ers, one player might be asked to switch to a different variation of his position in order to distribute the talent across the depth chart. One thing that can be counted on is that the battles will be fierce this spring. Here's a look at how those battles are shaping up heading into the Nittany Lions' off-season drills: X - Wide Receiver DEPARTURE Chris Godwin CANDIDATES Saeed Blacknall, Irvin Charles, Juwan Johnson, DeAndre Thompkins VACANCY Penn State is searching for somebody to fill the X-WR spot on its depth chart. With Godwin off to the NFL, what it needs most is a go-to tar- get on the outside for Trace McSorley. For the past two years, Godwin led the team in receiving, and as a junior he more than doubled his touchdown total. But his total yardage took a dip, even with an extra conference game and a 187-yard performance in the Rose Bowl factored into the equation. Part of that decline was due to the emergence of tight end Mike Gesicki and running back Saquon Barkley as major threats in the pass game. The other part was because the Lions' receiver corps was deep, tal- ented and relatively young, and in Joe Moorhead's offensive scheme there were plenty of opportunities to go around. Other than Godwin, all of those players return. DaeSean Hamilton is back in the slot and is the elder statesmen of the group. Heading into his final season, he has proven to be a safety valve for McSor- ley when needed. What the Nittany Lions need now is a reliable big-play threat like Godwin. OUTLOOK The last time we saw Black- nall, he was shredding Wisconsin for 155 S P R I N G P R A C T I C E P R E V I E W | SPRING SPOTLIGHT These five position battles will bear watching in the weeks to come ON THE RISE Blacknall will have a chance to play an ex- panded role this season now that God- win has left for the NFL. Photo by Steve Manuel