Before Penn State began its spring practices, head coach James Franklin laid out the priorities to be accomplished for the Nittany Lions.
Hoping to again instill a sense of having to earn everything throughout the program, Franklin keyed in on the details, expectations, and standards while hoping to build confidence, chemistry, and leadership.
Defensively, turnovers needed to be created, he said. From a program-wide perspective, situational football had to be understood. And, offensively, Franklin cited the most obvious of the program’s shortcomings and failures from the 2020 season, ball security.
“We got to protect the football on offense,” Franklin said last season. “The ball is the program.”
Through nearly six full weeks of spring practices, the same has remained fundamentally true of the Nittany Lions’ offense.
Returning to Beaver Stadium last Saturday to scrimmage in front of a live audience for the first time since limited spectators were allowed to watch games during the 2020 season, however, new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich witnessed more struggles to that end.
With backup quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson intercepted by Kalen King for a pick-six, a Sean Clifford pass also snatched away by King in red-zone work at the very conclusion, and a fumble in the backfield recovered by Jaquan Brisker, Penn State’s offense fell victim to a ball-hungry defense. The result, according to Yurcich, would be a continued emphasis this week for the offense on ball security as the Nittany Lions round out their spring session with a final practice Friday evening at Beaver Stadium.
“Ball security is the most important thing that we've stressed. And we didn't do a very good job of that today,” Yurcich said. “And so that's going to continue to be pounded always, always.
“If we play smart on offense, and we don't turn it over, we give ourselves a chance. If you turn it over, you have no chance, and we have to take care of the doggone football.”
Last season’s failure to do so proved to be the Nittany Lions’ undoing in many ways.
Charged with 17 turnovers lost in nine games (103rd nationally), with just 10 takeaways (83rd), the Nittany Lions' inability to maintain possession was consistently problematic. That many of those turnovers were also in crucial moments of games, particularly in the 0-5 start to the season, of which opponent touchdowns were also cashed-in on the plays, made Penn State’s challenges that much worse.
Explaining the shared responsibility of those turnovers beyond just the shoulders of quarterback Sean Clifford last season, Franklin made clear what the offense’s objectives would need to be to rectify the issues.
“When you talk about the quarterback position, there's turnovers that you would say were a poor throw. There are turnovers that you would say are poor decisions. There are turnovers that the ball goes off the receiver's hand and gets picked, or a batted-down ball at the line of scrimmage,” Franklin said in November. “So what happens is, when you take those interceptions, you're also kind of dividing it up. Was this purely on the quarterback, or did the pressure cause the interception? Was this purely on the quarterback or did a hit cause that, or a lack of detail in the route? It could be the quarterback being protected, he gets strip-sacked. A fumble because of lack of ball security to me is different from a defender that puts his hand directly on the ball, his head directly on the ball.
“I think it's not strictly just the turnover and who gets that turnover in the stat sheet. Let's make sure that we truly understand the scheme. Let's make sure that we truly understand what's being asked and where does the fault lie, in the coaches in the call, in the detail of the route, in the protection and the decision, and we do that with all of them because again, for you to correct a problem, the first thing you have to do is identify what the issue was.”
Certain to do the same for every turnover instance this spring, even against a Penn State defense firmly intent on improving its takeaway deficiencies from a season ago, the Nittany Lions will continue to harp on the issue as practices come to a close.
“Minimizing the turnovers, winning the turnover battle, always giving the defense a long field, especially our defense here at Penn State,” Yurcich said. “If we can give them a long field every time and never give them a short field, and we just take care of that football, that's a big part of what we'll do from a philosophy and emphasis standpoint on ball security.”
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