Blue White Illustrated

C oming o; a 2016 campaign in which it beat Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game and played in the Rose Bowl against Southern Califor- nia, Penn State will enter the 2017 sea- son as a legitimate league title contender and a potential College Football Playo; participant. There seems to be a growing consen- sus that the Nittany Lions have the po- tential to be favored in 11 of their 12 upcoming regular-season games. There are those who believe the Big Ten's East Division champion will be determined when Penn State travels to Columbus on Oct. 28 to face Ohio State. It could be the only game on the schedule that the Nittany Lions won't be favored to win. In most of the early top-25 polls, the Lions are ranked among the top seven teams in the country. Sports Illustrated has Penn State third behind Alabama and Southern Cal, with a number of other publications ranking the Lions seventh or eighth. In a composite poll that includes most of those early top-25 lists, PSU is ranked sixth. There are a host of reasons why the Nittany Lions are so highly regarded. They return 45 lettermen from last year's squad: 18 on o;ense, 24 on de- fense and three on special teams. They return nine starters on o;ense, six on defense and three on special teams. Both Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley are considered legitimate Heisman Trophy candidates. Barkley shared Big Ten Of- fensive Player of the Year honors last year, while McSorley set Penn State sin- gle-season records for passing yards (3,614) and total yardage (3,979). In ad- dition, Mike Gesicki may well be the top returning tight end in the Big Ten and one of the top :ve tight ends in the country. He's coming o; a year in which he set single-season school records for most receptions (48) and receiving yards (679) by a tight end. On special teams, place-kicker Tyler Davis was a :rst-team All-Big Ten se- lection a=er converting 22 of 24 :eld goal attempts and 62 of 62 extra points. Punter Blake Gillikin was named to four Big Ten All-Freshman teams a=er aver- aging 42.8 yards per punt. I could probably :ll the next three pages of this magazine with factual rea- sons why I believe Penn State has the ability to repeat as Big Ten champion and reach the four-team College Foot- ball Playo;. But as we all know, potential doesn't always translate into perform- ance. If you think that another champi- onship is a foregone conclusion, you may be in for a rude awakening. With both Ohio State and Michigan :nishing this past season ranked among the top 10 teams in the country, a claim can be made that the Big Ten's East Di- vision is right up there with the South- eastern Conference's West Division as the nation's toughest. As with Penn State, early polls have both the Buckeyes and Wolverines ranked in their respec- tive top 10s. So, even with a wealth of starters re- turning in all three phases of the game, to reach its goal of playing in the College Football Playo;, Penn State's perform- ance this fall will have to be even better than it was in 2016. Two key players on o;ense who have to be replaced are third-team All-Big Ten wide receiver Chris Godwin and honorable mention All-Big Ten center Brian Gaia. Anyone who tells you Godwin will be easy to replace doesn't know what they're talking about. In his three sea- sons at Penn State, he had 153 receptions for 2,404 yards. He was McSorley's go- to receiver this past year with 59 catches for 982 yards and 11 touchdowns. Gaia, meanwhile, was a leader on the o;ensive line, performing e;ectively at center despite having spent most of his career at guard before switching posi- tions during the 2016 o;-season. On defense, Penn State's losses include both starting ends, Garrett Sickels and Evan Schwan, outside linebacker Bran- don Bell and strong safety Malik Golden. Sickels led the Lions with 12.5 tackles for loss and six sacks in what would turn out to be his :nal season. Schwan was sec- ond with 8.5 tackles for loss and tied Sickels for the team lead with six sacks. Bell, despite playing in only 10 games be- cause of a series of injuries, still :nished the season as Penn State's second-lead- ing tackler with 88 stops. Golden had a very e;ective senior season, :nishing as the Lions' fourth-leading tackler with 75 stops. PSU may also have to replace John Reid for some or all of the upcoming sea- son a=er the junior cornerback su;ered a leg injury in spring practice. If Penn State hopes to put itself in po- sition to repeat as Big Ten champion, a number of returning players need to step forward by the end of spring practice and show that they are prepared to match or exceed the performances of the six players listed above. Nothing less will su

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