Before heading out for spring break, set for next week at Penn State, the Nittany Lion football program had some business to take care of first.

Wrapping up their eighth week of winter workouts, many players in the program commenced Wednesday afternoon for max-outs on the squat at the Lasch Building. Said by strength coordinator Dwight Galt to be the 22nd lift of the winter, with the 23rd set for Friday, the 108 Nittany Lions participating this offseason - including 11 midsemester enrollees - also have completed 13 of 14 winter workouts, the last set for Thursday at 6:30 a.m.

With 40 sessions in all, the dividends have been to Galt’s liking in this, his seventh winter working in the program.

“The guys look phenomenal,” Galt told reporters following the lift Wednesday afternoon. “You guys know about our three tiers, I think they're more pronounced and different this year than they've been in the past. I really, really like the program that we did.”

Of the 108 participants, Galt identified 23 as now being “tier three,” which is the top level at Penn State.

Let’s take a look at some of the individual news, notes, and observations to emerge from the session and Galt’s interview afterward:

Quarterbacks:

- Sean Clifford appeared at the lift today but did not participate in the max squat, progressing instead through the warm-ups with the rest of the team before breaking off to do arm work and cheer on his teammates completing the testing.

That did not prevent Galt from singing his praises along with Will Levis.

“Both of those two guys are phenomenal,” Galt said. “They're right at the top of any lists we talk about. They tested for the last time in their career this week. I'm done testing them.”

Specifically, that strength has translated to a 340-pound power clean for Levis on Tuesday.

Clifford, meanwhile, benched 350 pounds on Tuesday.

Levis’ number would improve on his own record of 330 in the category set in summer 2019, while Clifford’s bench matches his mark at the top of the QB board in Penn State’s 2018 winter workouts.

“At this point, I've got them exactly where I want them. I think physically, his presence, they do fit that true running back/quarterback model that we really try to produce from that position. They're very well-prepared,” Galt said. “So right now, I'm not going to back off. I'm going to do different stuff.

“Their program, they're two or threes now, but they're going to go to another level. I'm not going to say tier four, but they're going to go to another level because I want to save their shoulders. I mean, they're already so strong. They're very explosive. They keep their leg strength and really focus on speed and movement. And you guys see them running around. I mean, they're both, you know, mid 4.5, low 4.6 guys. So it's great having two guys like that at that position that take the approach and have had the preparation that they've had.”

Running Backs:

- The story of Journey Brown’s ascent continues.

Improving his bench press from 295 pounds upon his arrival into the program in the summer leading into the 2017 season to now hitting 395 this week, Brown remains second to Saquon Barkley’s program-best 455-pound bench but has improved on his own standing.

He also improved his squat to more than 500 pounds this winter.

Comparing Brown’s strength improvements to those of Barkley, who produced immediate results, Galt said that the Meadville, Pa., native has taken the long approach to great success.

“Journey is more old-fashioned. He's just been punching the clock every week, every month for his almost three years here. So it's been much more methodical,” Galt said. “He was not a great squatter before, he didn't have the flexibility or the strength in his legs. So I think that just his patience, his consistency of him coming in every day and working hard, is really starting to pay the dividends for him.”

Brown is said to weigh 211 pounds heading into spring practices.

- Though Galt didn’t get into specifics for the rest of Penn State’s running backs, he did have kind things to say about the room as a whole, noting the continued progressions for Noah Cain, Devyn Ford, and now midsemester enrollee Caziah Holmes.

“That's a great room. And we were really pleased with that room that not only are they all hard workers, they're all very gifted. And they all kind of take that same approach, and that's a little bit of a gift from Saquon,” Galt said. “That was the culture that he tried to provide that room and then Miles did a really, really nice job doing it his one year where he was kind of the guy and now Journey has kind of picked up that mantle. And then you kind of see Noah Cain, Devyn Ford, and Caziah Holmes all kind of taking into this same thing. It's a very blue-collar, hard-working, no mess around type of mentality from that room. That's kind of what you want from running backs. Journey's been great and he's now the leader of the pack in that room.”

Offensive Line:

- Asked to pick a tier-three player who had made great strides through the course of his career at Penn State, Galt picked out offensive lineman Will Fries.

Knocking out three sets at 405 pounds on the squat, his “training weight,” Fries has captured Galt’s attention this winter.

“He's a guy that came in running a 5.5, not very strong,” Galt said. “He’s in his fifth year and has just done a tremendous job building his body up and getting himself in position to be an elite player.”

- Des Holmes set a new record for power-clean on the offensive line at 375 pounds, passing Evan Galimberti’s mark of 370 set in the summer of 2015.

- Caedan Wallace hit 400 pounds on the bench press, inching closer to Connor McGovern’s third-place mark of 440 set in the summer of 2018.

- Talking about the slow progression that now often takes place for offensive linemen in the weight room, Galt pointed out Bryce Effner’s ascent from 268 pounds upon his arrival to now nearing 300 pounds as he nears the start of his third year on campus.

- Among the midsemester enrollees, Galt picked out offensive lineman and former Rivals.com three-star Nick Dawkins as making an early impression.

“One guy that's been really good, he’s a joy to work with and he just a grinder, is Nick Dawkins. Really done a nice job,” Galt said. “He's a low key guy, but he just brings it every day, every day. Started out with a lot of work to do, and the improvement he's made in seven-and-a-half weeks has been phenomenal. And he's a little bit of the very low key leader of that group. Very mature kid.”

Tight Ends:

- Galt had plenty to say about Pat Freiermuth, but his take on redshirt freshman Brenton Strange was worth noting.

Saying that Strange has put on 35 pounds since his arrival just over a year ago, Galt described his gains - with those of Hakeem Beamon - as “miraculous.”

“Really miraculous gains from a long year to now. Both of them are doing great. We got really high expectations for them in spring ball,” Galt said. “Brenton was 246 today when he weighed in, and yeah, he was like 207-208, something like that.”

- The subject of a long answer about his impact on the program, some of the nuts and bolts of Pat Freiermuth’s gains came to the forefront Wednesday.

Hitting 380 in the bench press, 350 on the power clean, and 540 on the squat, Freiermuth continues to climb nearer to the top of Penn State’s program-bests at the position. In fact, his 350-pound power clean would match his mark set in the summer of 2019 and his 540-pound squat would move him onto the big board into third in the category.

“He's in here every day just grinding,” Galt said. “He's always been driven. He's always wanted to be great. But right now, he kind of tasted that success last year and he's not a guy to be content on his laurels at all.”

Wide Receivers:

- Not much in the way of discussion from Galt regarding Penn State’s wide receivers, as no specific questions were asked of him about the position group, but one of the Nittany Lions’ true freshmen at the position did make the cut.

“KeAndre Lambert's been really good. Not only is he putting up good numbers, he came in and he's benching 230 he just did 280. So he's gone up 45 pounds in seven-and-a-half weeks, which is pretty darn impressive. Really impressed with his movement, very explosive horizontally, vertically,” Galt said. “He’s done a really, really nice job. He's been training with (safety) Enzo Jennings who has also done a nice job as well. Both of them have really adapted well to the weight room.”

Defensive Line:

- Antonio Shelton’s bench press of 465 pounds turned heads this week.

“Saquon's not going to be real happy, but Antonio Shelton took his all-time record down in the bench,” Galt said. “He got 465, so that was impressive to see him do that. Antonio is strong. He's really done a great job, we're really impressed with him.”

According to the team big board, though, Steven Gonzalez holds the all-time record with a bench of 475 pounds set in the summer of 2017.

- Fred Hansard notched 400 pounds on the bench press.

- Adisa Isaac’s physical transformation continues to take shape as he is now up to 257 pounds, up from his arrival at 228 pounds last January. “He looks like a different person,” Galt said.

- Hakeem Beamon posted a 395-pound bench press and “will be a force to be reckoned with.”

- Jayson Oweh “is coming off some shoulder issues, so he was on a separate program” this winter, according to Galt.

“He had a great winter,” Galt said. “He really did a nice job working around it.”

Linebackers:

- Penn State has a new power clean leader at linebacker following Micah Parsons’ 375-pound effort this winter.

“Micah finally got sole possession of the power clean for linebackers, 375,” Galt said. “He went for 385 a couple of times, I thought he had it. So he continues to build on his vertical explosion weight.”

Now considered a tier-three performer, Parsons’ weight workload was ”backed down a little bit” as he transitions into more “velocity-based” workouts.

Secondary:

- Galt pointed to a couple of upperclassman defensive backs as having made strides in leadership among the entirety of the team, noting Tariq Castro-Fields and Jaquan Brisker in particular.

“One guy that's in his third year is Castro-Fields,” Galt said. “He's kind of starting to ascend a little bit. You kind of kind of see that presence with him.”

And of Brisker: “Another guy that has done pretty well is Jaquan Brisker for a new guy, our juco transfer from Lackawanna, incredibly hard worker, very driven to be successful.”

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