Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> spots are redshirt junior Torrence Brown and redshirt sophomore Shareef Miller. Also in contention for significant playing time are redshirt sophomore Ryan Buch- holz and three players who will be making their debuts this fall after working with the scout team in 2016: freshmen Shaka Toney, Shane Simmons and Daniel Joseph. As expected, Brown and Miller started the spring game for the Blue, while Toney and Simmons started for the White. Buchholz missed the game for undis- closed reasons, most likely an injury. Miller was impressive working against the White offense, finishing with four unas- sisted tackles including a pair of sacks. The 6-5, 261-pounder may not have locked down a starting spot just yet, but it would be an upset if he's not running with the first team when Penn State opens its season against Akron on Sept. 2. Brown, who is listed at 6-3, 259 pounds, also had a sack. Toney and Simmons didn't have any sacks, but they were working against a pair of experienced tackles in Wright and Bates, so that needs to be taken into account in assessing their performances. Whether Penn State has the manpower to match last season's productivity – it had 40 sacks as a team to rank second in the Big Ten – is an open question at this point. There's a lot of potential here, but as defensive coordinator Brent Pry noted, there are also some big shoes to fill. "Over the last three years, we've had some pretty good end play, not just last year," Pry said. "There's a good group of guys at that position who are competing and battling, so I'm encouraged by the competition and depth we can have there. We still have some work to do to find two guys who can equal the produc- tion that Schwan and Sickels had, that [Carl] Nassib and Sickels had [in 2015] and even back to C.J. Olaniyan and Deion Barnes before that. Torrence Brown is a veteran guy who we're very excited about." The defense looks a bit more solid in the middle, with senior starters Parker Cothren and Curtis Cothran both return- ing. That said, the Lions didn't use a lot of defensive tackles in the spring game, as Robert Windsor, Tyrell Chavis and Elli- son Jordan were held out. It's unclear how long those players will be out of action, but if they're not ready to go in August, Penn State could have to do more search- ing than it had planned. LINEBACKER OBJECTIVES With Brandon Bell de- parting, the coaching staff needed to choose a starter at outside linebacker. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Looks like the Lions found their man. It's Koa Farmer, a redshirt junior who, by all accounts, has found a permanent home after two years as a tweener bouncing back and forth between outside linebacker and safety. Farmer, who started the Rose Bowl last year in place of the suspended Manny Bowen, has embraced his role after initially trying to remain at safety, a wish that Franklin said had Farmer "fighting genetics." He bulked up to about 240 pounds yet still turned in a 4.4-second 40-yard time in winter workouts. "I think Koa Farmer has been a real pleasant surprise for us this spring," Franklin said. "We knew he had it in him. So it was just [a matter of] when that light was going to go on for him, and it has come on. I think he has a very bright fu- ture for us." With Farmer looking like the probable starter at the Sam position, some other pieces began falling into place during spring practice. Bowen appears to have seized the Will OLB spot, with Cam Brown backing him up. Behind Farmer, the Lions will likely feature another converted safety, red- shirt sophomore Jarvis Miller. Listed at 220 pounds on the team's most recent roster, Miller can definitely run, a very important commodity given the prolifer- ation of spread offenses in the Big Ten. Playing for the White defense, he fin- ished with seven tackles in the spring game, tying Brown for the game-high. Franklin said he expects Miller to "con- tinue to grow." The coaches held Jason Cabinda out of the Blue-White Game, a move that was entirely unsurprising given that they DYNAMIC DUO Campbell (1) and Wade exit Beaver Sta- dium follow- ing the Blue-White Game. Photo by Nate Bauer

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