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F A S T F O R W A R D >> A N E A R L Y L O O K are just a lot of really positive things going on." Here's a position-by-position look at where the Nittany Lions stand now that the off-season is under way: QUARTERBACK KEY RETURNEES Sean Clifford, Trace McSorley, Tommy Stevens, Jake Zem- biec KEY LOSSES None NEWCOMER Will Levis OUTLOOK When McSorley won the starting job prior to the 2016 season, there was some skepticism as to whether the Nittany Lions would be able to keep the 6-foot-0, 195-pound quarterback healthy, given that their new-look of- fense was going to call on him to run the ball far more than his predecessors ever did. But those fears turned out to be un- warranted. McSorley started all of Penn State's 27 games over the past two sea- sons and absorbed his share of punish- ment, including a brutal hit while sliding to the turf against Washington in the Fi- esta Bowl. Through it all, he barely missed a snap. As teammate Mike Gesicki said recently, "He's tough as nails. He takes shots and gets right back up." This past season, he finished first in the Big Ten in passing yards per game. He improved his completion percentage from 57.9 as a redshirt sophomore to 66.5 as a junior. Penn State wasn't in go-for- broke mode as often this past season as it was in 2016, and that trend no doubt boosted McSorley's accuracy. But it also led to a decline in his yards per comple- tion. After leading the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2016 with a 16.13-yard average, he was 50th in 2017 with a 12.57- yard mark. McSorley will be the top returning quarterback in the Big Ten next season T here was a time when Barry Sanders was just a guy with big shoes to fill at Oklahoma State, so it's not as if having an All-America prede- cessor – Thurman Thomas in Sanders' case – necessarily means that you're going to suffer in comparison. The Thomas-to-Sanders transition went pretty smoothly for all concerned. But as Penn State prepares to re- arrange its backfield following Saquon Barkley's exit, it's only natural that some concerns would surface. The focus in 2018 will be on a differ- ent Sanders: rising junior Miles Sanders, no relation to the Pro Football Hall of Famer with whom he shares a surname. Sanders gained only 375 yards in his first two seasons at Penn State, finding little opportunity as Barkley monopolized the ball-carrying duties. He had arrived at University Park as a four-star prospect, earning recognition from Rivals.com as the na- tion's top all-purpose running back, but he doesn't yet have a substantial body of work upon which to base pred- ications about how he might fare as a starter. What is it that assures James Franklin that Sanders is ready for the job? "I don't know if anything assures you," Franklin said. But the veteran coach is hopeful, in part because he has been through these sorts of transitions before, both at the college and pro levels. He has seen players rise to the occasion, and the one example he likes to cite is from his time as an assistant coach with the Green Bay Packers. Brett Favre had just completed his 14th NFL season when the Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers out of California, intending to groom him as Favre's eventual replacement. "Aaron was able to come there and sit behind Brett for a couple of years and learn and take it all in," Franklin recalled. "How many times do you see in that league, guys get drafted in the first round and they're forced to play, and sometimes they're not ready? "I look at that a little bit like with Miles. He's been fortunate to sit be- hind a great player and a great person and a great leader and learn from him and allow himself to evolve into the job." Sanders has shown flashes of poten- tial on the 56 carries he received dur- ing his first two seasons. He bolted 29 yards for a touchdown against Georgia State during the 2017 nonconference season and averaged 7.7 yards on six carries against Rutgers and Nebraska late in the year. Sanders got six carries in the Fiesta Bowl against Washington, rushing for 15 yards and a touchdown. The coach- ing staff had gone into the game look- ing to create a more equitable workload in order to protect Barkley on the eve of his departure for the NFL. But Barkley still got three times as many carries as Sanders, and when he shot through the Washington defense for a 92-yard touchdown in the second quarter, he gave Penn State fans a re- minder of what they're going to be missing. What made Barkley so unique and at times unstoppable was his combina- TRANSITION GAME Rising junior Miles Sanders looks to spearhead the Nittany Lions' rushing attack in 2018 | EDITOR'S NOTE Newcomers listed here include only incoming freshmen. Mem- bers of Penn State's 2017 recruiting class who redshirted last season are listed among the key returnees.

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