Spring News and Notes

Is winter over yet?  I don't know about the rest of you, but it was snowing/sleeting in Harrisburg yesterday, and snowing this morning here in the Philly burbs... on the last day of March... because apparently we didn't get enough of that this year. *sigh*

Thankfully spring is just around the corner, with its warm sunshine and gentle breezes.  More importantly, each year the blooming flowers and frolicking baby animals bring with them one of the best weekends on the calendar: Blue/White!  Now, the sounds of whistles and large men in pads slamming into each other have been echoing throughout Happy Valley for a few weeks already, and all that practicing will culminate on April 12 in James Franklin's first Spring Game as head coach of Penn State.  It may just be a glorified scrimmage, but Penn Staters will take any excuse to tailgate and finally watch some football, especially after the aforementioned winter.  Not to mention, the entire weekend serves as a very welcome reminder that the 2014 football season is getting closer.  

So with that thought, let's get the bad news out of the way first (don't worry, there's plenty of good news to make up for it).  Starting left guard and team funny man, Miles Dieffenbach, will be out the rest of spring and summer drills, and possibly the entire 2014 season, with a torn ACL.  Offensive line was already the thinnest position on the team - although obviously I'm not talking about their physical stature - and this injury could be the most costly Penn State has seen since Michael Mauti went down against Indiana in 2012.  Dieffenbach is a fifth year senior who was a mainstay on Bill O'Brien's lines the last two seasons.  Along with mammoth left tackle Donovan Smith, Dieffenbach was expected to help bring along a small but talented group of linemen with essentially no playing experience at the college level.  The offensive line is now the biggest question mark on the team, but I have confidence in O-line coach, Herb Hand (who, if you're not following on Twitter, you're doing it wrong) and Coach Franklin to figure it out.  They'll most likely have to think twice about redshirting one or more of the incoming offensive line recruits.  That means Noah Beh, Brendan Brosnan, Chance Sorrell, and Chasz Wright had better be quick learners.  This will be a great opportunity for them to earn some quality playing time earlier than anticipated.  In the meantime, get better Miles!  

Now, on to better news!  Spring is a time before teams have to actually prove anything on the field.  Therefore, optimism is at an all time high for just about every fan base across the country.  Still, I get the sense that Penn Staters are feeling even more hopeful than most, and rightfully so.  When James Franklin was hired, I'll admit that I was hooked from his introductory press conference.  He said all the right things, oozed energy and charisma, and had me instantly thinking, "I'm all in!"  But there were skeptics and critics who pondered (quite loudly) whether it was all just an act, and if Franklin could really back up the hype.  Well, although we'll have to wait a little while longer to see if he can actually coach, one area in which Franklin has proved to be worth that $4.25 million per year salary has been recruiting.  I'll start by just leaving this here.

Recruiting update:

When we last left off, James Franklin and Company were sprinting ahead of every other team in the Big Ten, and on pace to compete with the biggest names in college football recruiting.  They had 8 highly touted prospects lined up and were ranked 4th nationally.  Well, apparently that just wasn't good enough for the human can of Red Bull.  This past Tuesday, 4-star WR Brandon Polk (who supposedly runs a mind-boggling 4.36 40-yd dash!) committed to play for the Lions, bringing some of that "SEC speed" we've heard so much about with him.  But Franklin wasn't done.  By Saturday afternoon, 4-star OG Steven Gonzalez, long thought to be an Ohio State lean, surprised everyone by committing to the Lions as well.  And then, in an embarrassing avalanche of riches, on Sunday, 4-star LB Josh Barajas, the #1 ranked player in Indiana, also made his decision to play at Penn State.  The barrage of commitments shot Penn State's 2015 recruiting class up to a staggering #2 in the national rankings.  That's no surprise considering, at a time when most teams are lucky to have 3 commits on board, Penn State has 11, 8 of whom are rated as 4-star!  If James Franklin can coach even half as well as he recruits, all that National Championship talk might not be so far fetched after all.  You can check out a complete list of the entire class here.

Alright folks, barring another influx of talent to State College, I most likely won't have another post until just before Blue/White.  Maybe I'll even put together something extra special just in time for the big weekend.  Either way, keep it here on the blog all offseason, don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

Spring Practice Update

Well hello everyone!  We're still languishing in the middle of the "silly season" when stories that wouldn't even see the light of day in the fall are headline news.  Yet, we press on.  I hope everyone had a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day, a fitting holiday given that Penn State will open the coming season in Dublin, Ireland against the Golden Knights of Central Florida.  Still, before that can happen, the coaching staff has 15 spring practices to formally meet and evaluate their players, install their offensive and defensive systems/philosophies, and create a roster.  Spring practice will then culminate in the annual Blue/White Game on April 12, which will once again be run like an actual game rather than the offense vs defense approach that Bill O'Brien employed the last 2 seasons, and confused the crap out of most fans.

James Franklin kicked off spring practice yesterday with a press conference where he started by discussing his 4 core principles: positive attitude, unbelievable work ethic, compete in everything you do, and sacrifice (which you can hear in the video here).  He drew a few eye rolls when he mentioned his “tag off” practicing strategy - a glorified version of 2-hand touch that brought back memories of O'Brien's infamous “thud” tackling.  Obviously, this tactic is used to cut back on injuries to an already thin roster, but for some reason it always gets reporters worked up.  He then moved on to talk about the obligatory position changes that always come with spring ball.  Due to various depth concerns, Anthony Zettel will move from DE to DT, while Derek Dowrey and Brian Gaia will move from the D-line to the O-line (most likely OG).  But my favorite moment of the press conference came when James Franklin described the non-stop pace he likes to practice at, saying, “there is no walking on the field ever. I told them the first day if you don't know where you're supposed to go or what you're doing when the horn blows, then sprint in a circle until you figure it out.”

In recruiting news, James Franklin picked up yet another recruit over the weekend, bringing the 2015 class up to 8 commits, and Penn State’s class ranking up to an astounding #4 nationally.  Now it’s still very early, but this is a great sign of what we can expect from Coach Franklin and his staff regarding recruiting.  If they can keep up the pace, Penn State might land their first Top 10 class since 2006!  The new commit is 4-star WR Juwan Johnson from New Jersey.  He joins 7 other future Nittany Lions:

ATH Kamonte Carter – MD (4 stars)

RB Andre Robinson – PA (4 stars)

RB Saquon Barkley – PA (4 stars)

OT Ryan Bates – PA (4 stars)

DE Ryan Buchholz – PA (3 stars)

LB Jake Cooper – PA (3 stars)

S Jarvis Miller – CT (3 stars)

Finally, some of you may be aware that the scoreboards in Beaver Stadium have been under renovation since the end of the season.  Here is an update on that; let’s just say, they look awesome!

Well that’s all for now.  Keep it here on the blog all offseason for the latest news and notes about Penn State football, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

March News and Notes

I have to start today by apologizing to Brian.  I forgot to make his recruiting round-up accessible to the peoples... sorry.  So, for all of you who missed it last time, here it is again: Brian's Big Board

Speaking of recruiting news, when your coach is James Franklin, it's never hard to find!  Since I posted Brian's piece the Nittany Lions already picked up 4-star RB Andre Robinson out of Harrisburg.  That makes 7 commits for the 2015 class, 4 of whom are 4-star recruits and 5 of whom are from Pennsylvania!  Looks likes Coach Franklin is coming through on those recruiting promises he made.  And he didn't stop there.  After Robinson's commitment, the staff offered 3-star DE Jonathan Holland and made some exciting progress with 4-star OT Sterling Jenkins (who, at 6' 8" would become the tallest player on the roster if he committed).  Now some of you may be wondering exactly how Coach Franklin and his staff are managing to put such a stranglehold on PA recruits.  Well, Ben Jones from StateCollege.com breaks down their strategy here.

Still, none of this is particularly surprising given Franklin's recruiting success at Vanderbilt.  In fact, after he convinced a number of his former Vanderbilt recruits to switch over to Penn State, new Vandy head coach, Derek Mason had a message for the head Lion: "anytime, anywhere."  Well, it would appear that James Franklin isn't afraid of that challenge and would actually welcome the Commodores with open arms... provided them come to Beaver Stadium that is.

Meanwhile, the countdown has begun to the Blue/White Game on April 12; and to think, Bill O'Brien actually considered cancelling this because of injury concerns.  Thankfully, only Pitt was stupid enough to actually go through with that idea and instead, we'll get our first glimpse of a James Franklin coached squad.  Mike Poorman sat down with the coach to discuss the game and some of the numbers behind winter workouts.

And if recruiting, interviews, and starting blood feuds isn't enough, the details for this year's rendition of the Coaches Caravan Tour, starring none other than James Franklin, were released today!  Last year's tour seemed to really take a toll on the more reserved Bill O'Brien.  But I have a feeling that the media-savvy Franklin is going to put on an extravaganza!  I'll be sure to check out at least one of the dates and let you all know how awesome it was.

Finally, in weird news, it looks like freshman QB Michael O'Connor (1 of the 5 early enrollees back in January) wasted no time showing off his Irish heritage by partaking in the student-drinking holiday known as State Patty's Day.  Come on Mike, you've only been there a month!  Hopefully the matter is handled appropriately, he learns his lesson, and we never hear of this again.

Well that's all for now.  Keep it here on the blog all offseason and be sure to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus for all the latest Penn State football news and notes.  And as always, go State!

Recruiting Update 2/25

Is anyone else kind of over this whole winter thing yet?  Crappy weather AND no football?  No thank you!

Moving on...

I'd like to start today by congratulating all of the Penn State students, and especially the 700+ dancers who participated in THON 2014 this past weekend!  This year's total shattered last year's record of $12.3 million by a million dollars, finishing with a whopping $13,343,517.33!!!  And as always, all of it is For The Kids!  So, great job everyone; this is who WE really are! (keeping it football related, here is James Franklin's speech at THON)

Ok, with that out of the way, let's get back to football.  Monday was a big recruiting day for the Nittany Lions as James Franklin and Company played host to a bevy of recruits on campus.  The day ended with 2 more commitments, bringing the 2015 class up to 6 commits.  3-star LB Jake Cooper and 3-star DE Ryan Buchholz both hail from Pennsylvania and both came away from their visits impressed enough to pledge their commitment to Penn State.  4 of the 6 recruits from the 2015 class are from the Keystone State, which already surpasses the number of Pennsylvania kids in the 2014 class (3).  Additionally, half the class is currently ranked as 4-stars or higher.  Looks to me like James Franklin's promise to "dominate the state" wasn't just strong talk, it was a promise.  Penn State is now considered to have the best class in the Big Ten at this still very early stage in the recruiting game.  There's obviously still a long way to go until National Signing Day 2015, but this is arguably the best recruiting start PSU has had in decades!

Now if you just can't get enough recruiting news, then have I got a surprise for you!  Today we're featuring our first ever contributing piece here on the blog.  Friend of the blog, Brian Bender, has graciously offered an in depth analysis of Penn State's recruiting targets for the upcoming class.  You might remember Brian as the winner of my 1st Annual Prime Pick 'Em Bowl Pool, so clearly he knows his stuff.  In fact, considering he gave this to me on Friday, and already the #1 LB and #1 DE on his board have committed, you'd be a fool not to read this!

In other news, as the NFL Combine wrapped up on Monday, I figured I'd give you all some links from our friends over at PennLive so you could see how your favorite former Nittany Lions did:

- Allen Robinson

- DaQuan Jones

- John Urschel... who also wrote a diary about the experience

Finally, it may interest you to know that former defensive coordinator and interim head coach, Tom Bradley, has accepted a position with West Virginia as a defensive assistant.  We wish Coach Bradley nothing but the best in all his future endeavors, besides, we don't play West Virginia, so they're cool in my book.

Ok, that's all for now.  Keep it here all offseason for the latest Penn State football news and notes, don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

February News and Notes

It’s the offseason, so things are already fairly slow in the college football world.  Late February is particularly excruciating.  However, there are a couple of interesting things going on, so I figured I’d get a post in today.

First of all, the NFL Combine officially starts tomorrow (although the media has been doing what they do pretty much all week).  This is an invitation only event in which the best players in the country show off for pro scouts in order to improve their stock for April’s NFL Draft.  Three former Nittany Lions have been invited to the festivities: WR Allen Robinson, DT Da’Quan Jones, and OG John Urschel.  I expect all three to be drafted, with Robinson likely the first one to be picked up late in the 1^st round.  Still, their performances at the Combine will go a long way in determining their final draft position, so good luck gentlemen!  Also of note at the Combine will be former head coach, Bill O’Brien, whose Houston Texans have the first overall pick.

On the recruiting front, James Franklin is wasting absolutely no time in putting together another great recruiting class for next year.  He’s already picked up four commitments, three of which are 4-star players.  As it stands, Penn State’s 2015 class includes 4-star OL Ryan Bates, 4-star ATH Kamonte Carter, 4-star RB Saquon Barkley (who decommitted from Rutgers), and 2-star DB Jarvis Miller.  During the most recent Junior Day, Franklin also handed out offers to 5-star DE CeCe Jefferson, 4-star DE Keisean South, and 3-star LB Josh Barajas.  Looking good Coach Franklin, keep it up!!!

Finally, in case you live under a rock, this weekend is THON weekend (short for Dance Marathon) at Penn State.  Nearly 15,000 student volunteers and over 700 dancers will rock the BJC from now until 4:00 pm on Sunday in the fight to find a cure for pediatric cancer.  For more information about this incredible charity, or to make a donation, check out www.thon.org or watch all the action live via the THON webcast at www.thon.org/Webcast.  Hopefully we can break last year's record of more than $12.3 million!

That's all for now.  Keep it here on the blog all offseason for updates on everything Penn State football.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus.  And in honor of THON, go State, beat cancer!!!

National Signing Day

Sorry for the late post.  Although I was not one of the people who lost power due to the snow/ice storm on Tuesday night, I was preoccupied and couldn't get around to posting until today.  Hopefully the below post makes up for it.

With that out of the way... WOW, what an exciting day yesterday was!  It is now official, Penn State's 2014 recruiting class is in the books!  On one hand, National Signing Day came with few surprises.  Lloyd Tubman did in fact decommit as expected and ended up at the University of Kentucky, in his home state.  This allowed the Lions to pick up Torrence Brown, just as I predicted.  On the other hand, the approach that James Franklin and his staff took towards National Signing Day could not have been more different than his two predecessors and was a big surprise, even shock, to many fans.  The "war room," as it came to be called, was absolutely electric from 6am all the way through to the 6pm Signature Event at the BJC.  There were balloons, flatscreens showing highlights from all the recruits, and even an omelet station for breakfast.  On hand were cheerleaders, the Nittany Lion, the Blue Band trumpets, equipment manager "Spider" Caldwell, former player Michael Mauti, and Coach Franklin's daughters.  Each got a turn to help announce the name of recruits, in the style of the NFL draft, as their letters of intent came in hot off the fax machine.  Unfortunately, I couldn't be there to see and document everything first hand.  However, thanks in large part to Franklin's open door policy with the media, plenty of other reporters were there.  So instead of boring you with my hackneyed regurgitation of what everybody else posted, I'm just going to leave these links here and you can peruse them at your leisure.  Enjoy the awesomeness that was National Signing Day!

Here's the official GoPSUSports NSD blog, featuring player bios and plenty of videos and pictures from throughout the day.

PennLive's Audrey Snyder had full access and provided all kinds of great material:
- James Franklin's NSD press conference (VIDEO)
- Michael Mauti and LaVar Arrington address the crowd at the Signature Event... and Mauti makes a bold prediction (VIDEO)
- A look back at past 3-star recruits, plus a NSD photo gallery
- The Signature Event, a photo gallery

As always, Onward State was also on hand to cover the action:
- James Franklin's "War Room"
- The sights and sounds of NSD (VIDEO)
- Meet the 2014 recruits! (VIDEOS)

Finally, ESPN sat down for a Q&A with James Franklin.

So what can we take away from National Signing Day 2014?  Well, the most notable observation had to be the never ending energy coming from Coach Franklin.  Sure, we already knew he had plenty of energy, but this was ridiculous!  He managed to handle all the formalities of National Signing Day, take care of his two adorable daughters, give media interviews to ESPN, CBS Sports, Big Ten Network, and others, and still had enough left in the tank to put on what looked like a fantastic show at the Signature Event.  Another thing I noticed was that, while Bill O'Brien made it very clear that he didn't put much stock in recruiting rankings and star rankings, James Franklin seems to fully embrace them.  In the press conference video above, he is visibly disappointed that Penn State had the 3rd best class in the Big Ten and vowed to change that very soon.  He was also disappointed in the lack of PA kids (only 3) in this class, and more specifically that Penn State did not land even 1 of the top 10 players from within the state.  Yet, this class is still ranked in the top 25 by every major recruiting service and that's with 5 fewer scholarships than every other school can give out!  Recruiting is a HUGE deal in college football these days.  Just look at Alabama, who pulled in the unanimous #1 ranked class for the past 3 years... while also winning 3 National Championships in 4 years.  If Franklin can continue to pull in "blue chip" recruits, especially as the sanctions come to an end, Penn State could very well be in the National Championship hunt in no time.  That's not hyperbole people, this guy is for real!

I hope you enjoyed National Signing Day as much as I did.  Keep checking back here on the blog throughout the offseason for all the latest news and notes about Penn State football.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

National Signing Day Eve

I’d like to start today’s post by congratulating former Nittany Lions, Michael Robinson and Jordan Hill on their fancy new rings.  Both men play for the Seattle Seahawks, who embarrassed the Denver Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII this past Sunday.  To date, at least one former Lion has played in 43 of the 48 Super Bowls played and there are now 37 former Lions with a combined 53 Super Bowl rings.  Congrats on the fresh bling gentlemen!

Now, on to the main topic of today’s post.  National Signing Day is tomorrow, which means it is the first day that recruits can officially sign their National Letter of Intent, solidifying their choice of school.  Up to this point in the recruiting process, all commitments were verbal and non-binding.  ESPNU (as well as the WatchESPN mobile app if you can’t get to a TV because of some pesky job) will have essentially wall to wall coverage all day as the fax machines begin to whirl in every head coach’s office around the country.  If you’re super into recruiting, this is the biggest day of the year for you; but for most of us, it feels a little blow out of proportion.  Regardless, here’s where Penn State finds itself on the eve of NSD…

Since my last post, 4-star DE Lloyd Tubman has reopened his recruitment, and this past weekend he took visits to a couple of schools including Kentucky and Big Ten rival Nebraska.  He will make his final decision at 9am tomorrow, but considering he took down everything Penn State-related from his Twitter page, it’s starting to look very unlikely that he will be wearing the Blue and White next year.  Still, that hasn't seemed to slow down James Franklin, who took the opportunity to reel in commitments from a pair of 3-star DBs: Amani Oruiwariye (FL) and Christian Campbell (AL).  That makes 5 DBs in this recruiting class, and as friend of the blog (and Bowl Pick Em Champion) Brian Bender pointed out, it’s becoming obvious that Coach Franklin doesn't like what he sees out of Penn State’s secondary right now.  If Tubman does in fact go to another school, it will free up one last scholarship in this class.  That scholarship could go to Torrence Brown, a 3-star athlete from Alabama.  I usually hate the term "athlete," but in this case, it’s very fitting.  The 6-4, 228 lb recruit played RB, LB, DE, TE, and WR in high school… now that’s versatility!  The only safe guess at this point is that he’ll end up playing somewhere on the defensive side of the ball.  Given Penn State’s lack of depth at LB, he’ll most likely end up in that unit with the possibility of lining up at DE if he can put on some weight.

In other recruiting news, after the commitment of walk-on kicker Jorge Powell last week, PSU picked up commitments from 3 (yes 3!) additional walk-on kickers this week: Nick Boumerhi, Troy Stivason, and Joe Julius, who turned down a full soccer scholarship at Southern Illinois to walk-on for the Nittany Lions.  The special teams blitz continued with the commitment of walk-on long snapper Kyle Vasey.  Considering there are only 2 scholarship kickers (Sam Ficken and Chris Gulla) currently on the roster, and 0 scholarship punters, it’s pretty clear that special teams is a major position of need for the coaching staff, and it’s impressive to see that they've been able to fill that need so well without using up precious scholarships.  It should also be pointed out that some of these guys can punt if needed, so they could potentially earn a scholarship that way if they play their cards right.

Oh, and don't forget that this is a thing.  Coach Franklin's "Signature Event" will now feature guest appearances by Michael Mauti and LaVar Arrington!  Should be a good time.

On the coaching front, former linebackers coach and Penn State legend, Ron Vanderlinden, has accepted a position with the Air Force Academy.  I still think it would have been amazing if James Franklin had managed to bring Vanderlinden back to the Penn State staff, but since that didn't happen I will instead wish Coach Vanderlinden the best of luck in his new role.  You’re a true Penn Stater and you will be missed.  Besides, at least he didn't go to Ohio State like some people!

Well, that will do it for today.  Have a great NSD everyone!  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus for all the latest news and notes on Penn State football, and as always, go State!