The wait is just about over for the return of Penn State football.

Winter conditioning led to spring practice, and then summer workouts followed. Now, camp is here and the countdown to kickoff at Wisconsin has ticked under the month-to-go mark.

Head coach James Franklin, his staff, and their players will take the field to start practicing today, and the team's annual media day event will be this weekend.

Then, it will be full speed ahead to Camp Randall and the first Beaver Stadium game with fans since 2019 when Ball State comes to town on Sept. 11.

There are many questions to answer and much to think about between now and then, however, and we tackle the most pressing issues in this installment of Friday's Fifth Quarter notebook.

James Franklin dropped a bombshell on the college football world when he replaced Kirk Ciarrocca with Mike Yurcich on Jan, 8, 2021.

The eighth-year leader of the Lions said he was pursuing the successful play caller for a number of seasons and that it finally worked out. Yurcich brings an offense that matches Franklin from a philosophical standpoint, and he's developed a number of quarterbacks and runs attacks that put up a lot of points while featuring the best players regardless of position.

All of that history is great, but as anyone reading this knows, the track record will be thrown out the window once the ball is in the air on Sept. 4 at Wisconsin. From there, all that will matter is how successful the Lions' offense is and how Sean Clifford looks as its director.

The third-year starting quarterback has no one who can challenge him on the depth chart, and frankly, he took too much of the criticism for last season's 0-5 start, even if he admitted to often not being his best, which of course showed up on the field.

Long story short, fairly or not, there are many things to focus on as camp begins, but no storyline will top this one.

For all the talk of how Yurcich's offense can go up and down the field if Clifford runs it efficiently and without turnovers, there hasn't been as much discussion about who will join Jahan Dotson and Parker Washington on the stat sheet at receiver this fall.

It's true that the running backs will be involved in the passing game, and the talented collection of tight ends under Ty Howle's direction will be, too. But the Lions are also going to need to count on at least a couple of other players to fill a starting spot and backup snaps. While the list of options is long, it's short on in-game production.

One would like to think that Cam Sullivan-Brown or Daniel George is ready to take a big leap as veterans, but they haven't shown the consistency needed to date. KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Norval Black enter year two and could be ready to break out, but we'll need to see it first. Malick Meiga and Jaden Dottin are also in that boat, but hey might not be ready for primetime just yet. Then, there are freshmen Liam Clifford and Harrison Wallace III, who were highly-regarded recruits, yet neither is guaranteed to be ready from game one. Finally, what will Marquis Wilson offer assuming his spring position switch from defense to offense sticks?

Ultimately, it doesn't matter which of the players listed above end up filling the needed roles, but Taylor Stubblefield must ensure at least a couple of them can game in and game out.

Penn State signed arguably its most heralded incoming transfer class in program history ahead of the new slate, and they all look fantastic on paper.

However, the praise must transfer to production on the field, especially because most of them come at key positions of need.

Former Duke defensive tackle Derrick Tangelo and onetime Temple end Arnold Ebiketie are both expected to start and play like All-Big Ten caliber players upfront, while corner Johnny Dixon (South Carolina) and back John Lovett (Baylor) could be first-teamers but definitely will be oft-used reserves at worse. Now that Eric Wilson arrived from Harvard, he'll fight for a spot on the interior of Phil Trautwein's offensive line, and former five-star recruit AJ Lytton, who transferred in after playing defensive back at Florida State, could wind up with playing time as well.

As with backups, transfers are often seen as the surefire quick fix to any problems that starters are having, and that sometimes isn't the case. However, the Lions brought these guys in because they think that can be so, but until they prove it under the bright lights, questions will linger.

Ellis Brooks and Jesse Luketa are still here, will play a lot, and are vocal leaders who also lead by example. All of that is true, but it's also a fact, from our perspective, that Brent Pry's defense will go only as far as two of its youngest linebackers will take it.

Brandon Smith started to play as advertised in 2020 following a four-star recruitment, while Curtis Jacobs, a four-star in the following class, flashed plenty of potential during his freshman season in a larger role than expected in Micah Parsons' absence.

Expectations are sky-high for those two to carry the 'LBU' moniker in the middle of the defense, and they will be tasked with cleaning up whatever might come through the defensive line while also having pass defense responsibilities. They must be ready to answer the bell from the opening snap against the Badgers, whose always potent ground game will put their presnap and post-snap abilities to the test.

Take a look around both Nittany Nation and the outside pool of observers who make season predictions, and you find a lot of 9-3 and 10-2 guesses for the Nittany Lions, who have a win/loss total that sits at 8.5 in Vegas.

Is it too much to expect for a program that goes to Wisconsin and hosts Auburn in September while visiting Iowa and Ohio State later in the year while also facing Indiana and Michigan, albeit at home, before a trip to dreary East Lansing to end the season in late November?

If the Clifford/Yurcich tandem has been the most talked-about team topic this offseason, the schedule has been a clear No. 2, and with good reason, as it's daunting and appears to be as challenging as any Franklin has faced, especially with this many questions to answer.

It's led some to wonder, rightly, if the expectations shouldn't be dialed back a bit off a 4-5 shortened season. We know they won't be lowered anytime soon, but it will be a question that is often revisited during the season.

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