Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> A trainer with 16 years of profes- sional experience, most recently at Washington State, Andy Mutnan has joined Penn State as head athletic trainer for football. Mutnan spent the past five seasons at Washington State as head football ath- letic trainer. He pre- viously served as associate director and head football athletic trainer at Nevada. "I am thrilled to have Andy join our sports medicine team as the head athletic trainer for football," said Charmelle Green, senior associate athletic director for student- athlete performance, health and wel- fare. "Andy's education along with his vast experience with working with football will greatly contribute to our commitment to deliver comprehensive and optimal care for student-ath- letes." In his role at Washington State, Mutnan was responsible for daily medical coverage and training room operations. He also developed and oversaw rehabilitation and recondi- tioning protocols and collaborated with the strength and conditioning staff to help student-athletes main- tain and reach optimal performance. "I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to work with such a dy- namic group of coaches and tremen- dously skilled players," Mutnan said. "I am looking forward to adding to the growing list of highly qualified med- ical professionals at Penn State and continue the high-quality care our student-athletes receive." While at Nevada, Mutnan worked closely with student-athletes as the primary trainer for football and golf. He was also the creator of the "Pro- tecting the Pack" booster club, which raised close to $10,000 for the sports medicine program on a yearly basis. Mutnan also served as an assistant athletic trainer (2004-08) and gradu- ate assistant at the University of Min- nesota. He spent the 2002-03 season at the University of Colorado as an athletic training professional intern. A native of Arvada, Colo., Mutnan earned his bachelor's degree in ath- letic training with a minor in psychol- ogy from the University of North Dakota in 2002 and his master's de- gree in sports administration from the University of Minnesota in 2005. Mut- nan is a member of and has his certifi- cation from the National Athletic Training Association and the Wash- ington Department of Health. He and his wife, Amy, have two sons, Xander and Gavin, and a daughter, Sylvie. ■ 211 on Penn State's most recent roster and has 8 percent body fat. The rising junior said he ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash during winter testing, a personal best at his present weight. That's a pretty good way to start the off-season. Fans are on the lookout for the Next Big Thing now that Barkley is off to the NFL, so the backfield is going to come under heavy scrutiny in the Blue-White Game. Whether Sanders gets a chance to allay some of those concerns in Penn State's spring practice finale is an open question. It's just as likely that the coaches will want to give the lions' share of the carries to Thomas, a veteran who has paid his dues and is bucking for more playing time in his final season, and Brown, a redshirt freshman who will be making his Beaver Stadium debut. It also bears mentioning that the Lions aren't really all that deep at running back, as Barkley monopolized the posi- tion the past two-plus seasons. So for purely precautionary reasons, Sanders might see limited action. RECEIVER/TIGHT END NEWS The Lions continue to work on finding replacements for Hamilton and Gesicki. FRANKLIN SAYS "[K.J. Hamler] is just so quick and so fast. Usually you get a guy who's really fast or really quick, and he's both. He's still not as efficient with his movement as he heeds to be, but he's an exciting prospect." ANALYSIS The tight end competition is going to continue for a while. Two contenders for significant playing time – Jonathan Holland and Nick Bowers – appear to have been slowed this spring by injuries, while another –freshman re- cruit Pat Freiermuth – is not yet on campus. That leaves two other scholar- ship tight ends: Danny Dalton and early enrollee Zack Kuntz. Together, the three scholarship returnees have combined for four career catches. To put that in per- spective, Gesicki averaged 3.9 catches per game his last two seasons. But Bowers, Dalton and Holland have all been in the program for at least two years, and that helps, even if they didn't play much as backups to Gesicki. "You have all these guys who have been able to kind of marinate in the fridge and grow and get stronger and watch Mike's successes and learn from them," Franklin said. "As a coach, that's the model that you would prefer to have. I think those guys are ready to take the next step, just like Mike." The big decisions at tight end will have Mutnan hired as head athletic trainer for football MUTNAN

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