9/9/2023 football Edit

Grading every position group from Penn State versus Delaware

Marty Leap • Happy Valley Insider

Staff Writer

Staff writer for Happy Valley Insider

In a game that played out just about perfectly, the 7th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions overwhelmed FCS Delaware by a score of 63-7 on Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium. As one would expect in a 63-7 victory most position groups performed well, so let's hand out some position grades.

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Quarterbacks: A

The Drew Allar Show continues. In his second career start, Allar was 22/26 for 204 yards and a touchdown. A terrific play by a Delaware linebacker to get his hand on a dart that was ticketed for an open Malik McClain cost Allar another huge play as well.

What was most impressive about Allar's day was his ability with pre-snap reads/checks. Facing a 3-3-5 defense, something that can often confuse young QBs, multiple times Allar made great checks pre-snap that helped fuel positive plays. Allar also did a nice job with his legs, stepping up in the pocket, moving around to keep plays alive, and he rushed for 27 yards and a score.

Beau Pribula also looked good while playing the majority of the second half. Pribula was 3/5 for 22 yards and his first career touchdown pass, while rushing for 46 yards and a score.

Running Backs: A

Kaytron Allen got the start on Saturday and the majority of the carries. Allen carried the ball 19 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. He also reminded everyone that his jump cuts are a thing of beauty.

Nicholas Singleton had just 12 carries but scored 3 touchdowns. Trey Potts averaged 8.4 yards per carry while rushing for 59 yards. Tank Smith even averaged nearly 5 yards per carry in garbage time.

It was a good day at the office for the Lawn Boyz.

Wide Receivers: A

After a few minor issues with drops against West Virginia, the wide receiver room cleaned that up on Saturday afternoon. This led to a great day from the Nittany Lion wideouts in their romp of Delaware.

KeAndre Lambert-Smith led the way with 6 receptions for 74 yards. Dante Cephas, Tre Wallace, Cristian Driver, Malik McClain, Omari Evans, and Liam Clifford all had at least one reception as well. After missing the West Virginia game, Evans hauled in a touchdown on his first reception of the season.

Tight Ends: A

After playing almost no role in the offense in week one, Mike Yurcich wasted no time getting the tight ends involved on Saturday afternoon. Allar's first pass of the game was a completion to Theo Johnson who finished the game with 2 catches for 14 yards.

Tyler Warren tied Lambert-Smith for the team lead in receptions with 6, totaling 37 yards and a touchdown. Johnson, Warren, and Kahlil Dinkins all had big games as blockers as well.

Offensive Line: A

There was not much pressure in the face of Allar, or Pribula, on Saturday afternoon. The offensive line also helped pave the way for 315 yards rushing while Penn State averaged a healthy 5.3 yards per carry.

It was very clear early on that Penn State's offensive line could overmatch and overpower Delaware's defensive front. Overpowering is exactly what the offensive line did throughout the game.

Defensive Line: A

After some hiccups against West Virginia, a West Virginia offensive line that is probably the best Penn State will play this season other than Michigan, the defensive line bounced back against an inferior Delaware offensive line. Which is exactly what you wanted to see.

Zane Durant was disruptive and popped with regularity. Hakeem Beamon and Jordan van den Berg had strong games as well. Adisa Isaac was regularly in the backfield, Zuriah Fisher had a sack, and Dani Dennis-Sutton regularly flashed why he was a five-star recruit.

Let's not overlook true freshman defensive end Jameial Lyons, either. Lyons has now played in both games this season and recorded his first career sack on Saturday. He looked fast, physical, and violent against the Blue Hens. Could Lyons be playing his way into getting a green light?

Linebackers: B

Not every position group can get an A, right?

Well, the lone points of the day for Delaware, and nearly half their yards, came from a really, really poor play by Tyler Elsdon. Elsdon failed to fill the hole on a running play which turned what should have been a short gain by Marcus Yarns into a 66-yard touchdown run.

Dom DeLuca dropped a would-be pick-6 but redeemed himself with a pick-6. Abdul Carter had just 4 tackles but was all over the field and consistently causing havoc. Curtis Jacobs flew all around the field again, Kobe King was sturdy, and Tony Rojas flashed some really good things with his reps. It went overlooked, but Keon Wylie looked good with a lot of second half reps as well.

Secondary: A

It's difficult to grade the performance of Penn State's secondary on Saturday afternoon. Delaware attempted just 17 passes and many of the passes they attempted came with their quarterbacks being pressured/flushed out of the pocket by Penn State's pass rush.

That said, Delaware quarterbacks were just 6/17 on the day for 34 yards. No matter what the other factors and variables are, a secondary that holds opposing quarterbacks to 6/17 for 34 yards gets an A.

Special Teams: A

Saturday was uneventful for Penn State's special teams units. Following the West Virginia game and with the amount of question marks the group has, uneventful is perfectly fine.

Alex Felkins was 8/8 on PAT attempts while Sander Sahaydak added a 9th. Riley Thompson punted just twice, averaging 45.5 yards per punt. Gabe Nwosu booted all but two of his kick offs for touchbacks, and one of the two that wasn't was a pooch kick before the half.