Nittany Lion Tight Ends Continue Push As Offensive Asset
According to tight ends coach Tyler Bowen, the Nittany Lions traveled with four or five players at the position each game last season, always prepared for their usage.
The measure proved necessary through the course of the 2018 season as the likes of Jonathan Holland, Pat Freiermuth, and Nick Bowers each appeared in at least seven games. Were it not for an injury cutting his season short, Danny Dalton also saw action in two games, which proved to be the same fate for walk-on Joe Arcangelo and true freshman Zack Kuntz.
Though the roster has seen ample turnover since last season at the position, Holland, Dalton, and Arcangelo all having moved on from the program while adding Brenton Strange in the spring and, more recently, freshman walk-on Tommy Friberg joining fellow walk-ons Grayson Kline and Trevor Baker.
Through the first few weeks of Penn State’s preseason camp, Freiermuth and Bowers represented the top two tight ends being used. The pair will likely have an opportunity to see the field at the same time this season, building on what Bowen described as a 7-10 percent usage of two-tight end sets in the final four games of 2018.
“I think we're going to look at it the same way on offense, regardless of what personnel grouping it is. If it gives us an advantage in a game, we're going to use it. If it doesn't, we're not,” said Bowen. “We're not going to try to fit a square peg into a round hole. But if that gives us an advantage for a week, then we can get into two tight-end sets. If four-wide receiver sets give us an advantage for a week, then that gives us an advantage. We're just going to look at it like a blank slate, and whatever helps us win, we're going to do that.”
Regardless of the rate of frequency for two-tight end sets in Penn State’s offense for the upcoming season, the Nittany Lions appear poised to continue to use four or five players at the position again this year.
Below, Bowen offers some of his impressions of the four scholarship tight ends through the first few weeks of preseason camp.
“I think the biggest thing, obviously people are going to know who he is based on the number of touchdowns he scored last year, but the biggest thing for him this offseason is just getting better technically. Even if people are game-planning for him, technique is going to win.
“I think the biggest thing he's focused on in the offseason is understanding why things happen, where he fits in the scheme, and then obviously the how-to part, really getting better technically. I think that's going to take his game to the next level, regardless of how people plan against him.”
“It's been great to see Nick healthy. Really, up until this year… he hadn't played a lot of football. So it's great to kind of see him come on down the backstretch of last year, and now having a full year healthy and a full offseason healthy, it's been exciting to watch him grow and develop. I'm very pleased with where Nick is.
“He's so much more mature, just being in the system for an entire year, being in the program for an entire year. Obviously, you see him physically, what he's been able to do. But just maturity-wise, he's really starting to come into his own. You see the confidence growing with him every day and I expect that to continue through camp. He's doing some nice things.
“Brenton has done well. He's come in and done some nice things as well in the weight room and the offseason program. That was a big area that he needed to improve, and so far, he's been able to hold his own. I've been very pleased with him. Obviously, he's a first training camp guy, but I've been very pleased with him going through camp for a first-timer.”
So how will the pecking order work out for the season itself?
With Freiermuth and Bowers leading the way, the media has also seen second- and third-team reps going to Kuntz, followed by Strange.
But as Bowen would go on to say, he’s keeping an open mind as to how the players in his position group will be used on a weekly basis.
“It's going to be based on how we practice week-to-week. I always tell those guys there's an open competition every week,” said Bowen. “There's an open competition in training camp right now. So Zack is doing good things, Nick is doing good things, Pat is doing good things, Brenton is doing good things.
“So it's kind of, where do they fit within a plan? We really haven't gotten that far yet.”