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in a press conference shortly before the start of spring practice, coach James Franklin suggested that such speculation was o6-base. Franklin said the coaches' goal in the spring would be to get as many returning starters on the 5eld as possible, even if it required a position change. "The best way to do that is by moving a guy like Connor McGovern in there at center," Franklin said. "Bates is a guy who could do that as well. But the way we're looking at this right now, for the start of spring ball, is to have McGovern [and Zach] Simpson at center. They are both guys who have done it before in practice, and we feel like we can get out and practice well right from day one with those guys. And then also we've got Menet in there rotating and [January en- rollee Mike] Miranda being able to rotate as well. "So those guys will be playing guard and center, but what we didn't want is to have some guys at center the 5rst couple of days of practice who hadn't done it in practice before, and now our practice has become sloppy and messy." Franklin also made it plain in March that McGovern won't necessarily have to be the starter at center when the season begins against Akron on Sept. 2. Even if McGovern or Bates has to handle the po- sition at the start of the year, that shouldn't create any insurmountable di7culties, he said, because centers and guards are supposed to be able to play multiple positions. "We have been forced in the past to be interchangeable just based on numbers, where now we're doing it just to make sure that we can get the best 5ve players on the 5eld or have the best 10 in a two- deep situation," Franklin said. "So that's how we're going to select spring ball, but I'm not sure we'll necessarily 5nish that way. We'll just kind of see." The position battle at center will help determine how the interior of Penn State's o6ensive line looks on opening day. I believe McGovern and Menet have the best chance of starting at center, with the 5rst-team guards being any combination of Bates, McGovern, Menet and Steven Gonzalez. WIDE RECEIVER It will almost cer- tainly take more than one player to re- place Godwin at the X wide receiver position. At the beginning of spring practice, senior Saeed Blacknall was considered the leading candidate for that role, hav- ing shown his potential by catching six passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns in the Big Ten Championship Game. But Blacknall su6ered some sort of leg injury in March, and as of this writing it ap- peared that he could be out of action for the rest of spring practice. At 6-foot-3, 212 pounds, and with sub-4.4-second 40-yard speed, Blacknall seems like he could give McSorley the kind of down- 5eld target he will frequently be looking for this fall in Penn State's big-play of- fense. But Blacknall didn't have Godwin's job 100 percent locked up going into spring drills. Even before his injury, no one ex- pected him to replace Godwin by himself – not with redshirt sophomores Juwan Johnson and Irvin Charles also vying for signi5cant playing time. "Juwan and Irvin are quality athletes in their own right," receivers coach Josh Gattis said in December prior to the Rose Bowl. "They have the size and speed to create large mismatch problems with opponents' cornerbacks. All they need now is to develop some consistency with the way they catch the football and run their pass routes." DEFENSIVE END The three leading contenders to replace Sickels and Schwan are redshirt junior Torrence Brown and redshirt sophomores Shareef Miller and Ryan Buchholz. Brown, Miller and Buchholz were all part of Penn State's 5ve-man rotation at defensive end last year. Brown totaled 33 tackles, six tackles for loss and an assisted sack. Miller had 22 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and two sacks, while Buchholz totaled 16 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. I believe Miller has put himself in posi- tion to start at strongside defensive end and possibly have a breakout season this coming fall. Brown is ticketed for the weakside spot. Buchholz, however, is a wildcard here. He played behind Schwan last season, but on third-and-long situations, he moved inside to the three-technique de- fensive tackle spot. The 6-6, 280-pound Buchholz said he expects to have a similar role this com- ing year. "They want me to keep my SEIZE THE DAY Charles had only two receptions last season, but with Godwin moving on to the NFL, the Lions are look- ing for someone to step up at the X wide receiver postion. The 6-4 sophomore will have an oppor- tunity to play a much bigger role in 2017. Photo by Steve Manuel

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