7/23/2024 football Edit

Big Ten Media Days: Three questions for Penn State

Dylan Callaghan-Croley | Marty Leap

Happy Valley Insider

In one step closer to the return of college football, the Big Ten's annual media days are set to take place this week in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium over the course of three days. James Franklin and Penn State will be taking part in the second day of the media days on Wednesday, alongside the likes of Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, UCLA, and USC.

James Franklin and the Nittany Lions are coming off a 10-3 season that saw the program make a New Year's Six bowl game for the second straight season and for the fifth time under Franklin's leadership.

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However, despite their second straight 10-win season, there was plenty of uncertainty surrounding the program entering the offseason and some of those questions remain heading into the 2024 season.

Penn State will look to make the College Football Playoffs for the first time in program this upcoming season, albeit in the expanded format, but if the Nittany Lions are going to do so, they'll have to answer these three questions.

1. Mike Yurcich to Andy Kotelnicki: How will Penn State's offense in 2024 focus more on putting players in a position to succeed rather than fitting into the system?

At times last season, it appeared that Mike Yurcich was too often attempting to take the square peg in a round hole approach with the Penn State offense. There was too much trying to force players into the system instead of building the system around the skill set of those players.

There may not have been a player who exemplified this more than Omari Evans. Possibly the fastest player on Penn State's roster, Evans was not used enough to stretch the field in the Yurcich offense. That was not seen from Evans until the deep ball he caught in the regular season finale against Michigan State.

One of the many traits of an Andy Kotelnicki offense is building it around the personnel that Kotelnicki has at his disposal. This should lead to positive and welcome changes to the Penn State offense this fall.

However, the question remains: how will Kotelnicki utilize the tools he now has in his Nittany Lion toolbox?

While trying to build an offense around what he wants to do and incorporate what James Franklin will still want to keep in the offense, how will Kotelnick put his players in the best position possible to succeed? Will there be two running back sets? Assuming there will be a lot of 12 personnel when Penn State does look to spread the defense out in a 10 personnel look will it be a true 10 personnel? Or will a tight end such as Kahlil Dinkins flex out into the slot? Will Evans' speed be utilized to stretch the field? Is there a potential Swiss Army Knife type of role for Quinton Martin?

We will find out this fall.

2. How has Penn State's wide receiver room improved since last season?

The Penn State wide receiver room last year was one that received a lot of attention, mostly for the wrong reasons. Under first year wide receivers coach Marques Hagans, the Nittany Lions wide receiver room struggled on the field, especially when it came to getting open, providing quarterback Drew Allar with reliable targets.

This offseason, Hagans ability on the recruiting trail has been under scrutiny, only adding additional pressure to second-year receivers coach entering this season.

If Penn State's offense is going to take a step forward in 2024, the wide receiver room will have to be arguably the biggest part of that improvement. They'll have to do it without their top two performers from last season (as based on receptions and yards) in KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Dante Cephas.

Lambert-Smith is now with the Auburn Tigers while Cephas has chosen to continue his career at Kansas State after one season with the Nittany Lions, a rather disappointing one all things considered.

Entering this season, the Nittany Lions receiver core will be led by the likes of Ohio State transfer Julian Fleming as well as Harrison Wallace III, Kaden Saunders, Omari Evans, and Liam Clifford.

However, one could also easily argue that none of those wide receivers are sure things for the Nittany Lions. Fleming, comes to Penn State after a solid career at Ohio State but never reached the levels many expected coming out of Southern Columbia (PA) as a five-star prospect, Wallace III has struggled to stay healthy, while Saunders and Evans both haven't had overly strong starts to their careers.

Liam Clifford, is perhaps the most "sure thing" for the Nittany Lions but ultimately provides more of a possession receiver and safety valve target for Drew Allar in the slot than being a potential game breaker at the position.

This fall, there will be no position group for Penn State under a closer watch than the wide receiver room and the performance of the group this fall will likely decide Marques Hagans future in Happy Valley beyond the upcoming season.

3. How will Penn State's defense perform in 2024 under Tom Allen?

This upcoming fall will be the first in Happy Valley for Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen. There are high expectations for the former Indiana head coach. He will take over a Nittany Lions' defense that was one of the best in program history, allowing just 13.5 points and 247.6 yards per game.

For some coaches, it could have been an intimidating job to take despite the success, a challenge that Penn State head coach James Franklin acknowledged during the early days of the defensive coordinator search.

"Being able to hire somebody that's not intimidated to walk into that room with the No. 1 defense in the country," Franklin said in mid-December "A lot of times you're taking over a job, and you say, ‘my job is to improve the defense’. That's going to be hard to do statistically, right?"

Following a search that lasted just under two weeks, Franklin tabbed former Indiana head coach Tom Allen.

Allen brings 32 years of total coaching experience to Penn State including 10 years as a defensive coordinator at either the high school or collegiate level including notable stops at Lambuth (Division II), Drake (FCS), South Florida, and Indiana. He also spent time at Arkansas State and Ole Miss as an assistant coach.

During his most recent FBS stops at South Florida and Indiana, Allen oversaw vast improvements. In his lone season at USF, the Bulls defense which allowed 27.0 points and over 400 total yards per game in 2014 to a defense that allowed 22.9 points and 380 yards per game in 2015. Three Bulls also would earn All-AAC honors following that season.

At Indiana, Allen saw the improvement of a defense that allowed over 37 points per game in 2015. In his only season as the defensive coordinator, that number improved to 27.2. Following the 2016 season, he was hired as the head coach of the Hoosiers but still oversaw much of the development for the Hoosiers defense.

The Hoosiers defense would continue to improve allowing 25.3 points in 2017, 24.4 points in 2019 and a career best 20.2 in the shortened 2020 season.

Additionally, Allen also had a hand in developing four defensive All-Americans (three of which being linebackers) between 2017 and 2023, six first-team All-Big Ten selections, and 35 All-Big Ten selections.

That being said, Allen during his coaching career, especially as a defensive coordinator never had the resources nor talent that will be at his disposal with Penn State. While he's had great success with less talented rosters at both USF and Indiana, it's fair to speculate that his best work as a defensive coordinator could be just in front of him with the Nittany Lions.