Penn State report card: Grading the Nittany Lions at every position

Penn State will return to the practice field later today as the Nittany Lions prepare to start the second half of the 2021 college football season against Illinois this Saturday at Beaver Stadium.

With that in mind, it's time to take one final look at the first half of the season by giving a letter grade to each position group following a 5-1 start.

Here is the Penn State football first half report card.

We're grading on a bit of a unique scale to start things off here, as we have to account for five games and a quarter plus slightly more of Sean Clifford in addition to Ta'Quqan Roberson's work during both mop-up time and at Iowa.

This year, Clifford has been effective as both a passer and a runner, and his completion percentage is better than it was a year ago. And, even if he is fourth in the Big Ten with five interceptions, his 11-to-5 TD-to-INT ratio has made up for it, and that's not to mention the two rushing scores.

As for Roberson, he was put into an impossible situation against the Hawkeyes but still looked ill-prepared, and the attack wasn't exactly stellar against other teams' backups earlier in the year, even if he did throw his first career touchdown pass in September.

Put it all together, and that's how we settled on the grade we did.

This is a group that was an A+ on paper going into the season, but it hasn't performed up to those lofty expectations so far.

Noah Cain has been playing through something that seemingly has him a step behind where he was in 2019, Keyvone Lee is probably the most effective runner but has had ball security and blocking challenges, and both Devyn Ford and John Lovett have flashed, but not consistently enough to take a larger chunk of the reps. And, now, both of those guys are also banged up and may miss time.

This position has every reason to raise its grade in the second half, but it has been only average out of the gate, and even that could be argued with.

The only negative thing about this group is that only four players take a majority of the reps, but is that really a bad thing when you have Jahan Dotson, Parker Washington, the emerging KeAndre Lambert-Smith, and a reliable veteran in Cam Sullivan-Brown?

Our answer is no.

Dotson has been bottled up some as opponents aim to take the team's best playmaker away, but that's opened things up for everyone else, and Clifford has not struggled to find those guys often. In totality, it's been a really nice job by all of the aforementioned players, sometimes used reserves Marquis Wilson and Winston Eubanks, and of course position coach Taylor Stubblefield.

Penn State fans and observers of the team have been spoiled by watching Mike Gesicki and then Pat Freiermuth over the last few years, and Nick Bowers was a tremendous asset, as well.

It's part of the reason why super-high expectations were set for Brenton Strange, Theo Johnson, and Tyler Warren, and like the backs, they just haven't met them.

Drops have been a problem and blocking even more so. Have there been some positives? Certainly, especially in the Auburn game, but this position room has a ways to go before it matches what most thought it could be, especially because these guys are playing a lot.

This is easily the hardest position group to grade on offense, because Phil Trautwein's unit has only allowed nine sacks and yet they really haven't performed well enough in the ground game, although it's fair to say that no one on the offense has, either.

I know some will argue for something lower than a C+ here, and it's easy to understand why, but I can't help but wonder if the line's run blocking would be better if they got more help from the receivers and tight ends while the backs did a better job of being explosive and hitting the right holes while also breaking tackles. Thus, I landed on here with obvious room for improvement in the second half.

There were legitimate worries regarding how this group would play in 2021, but it has been stellar through six games. Arnold Ebiketie, Jesse Luketa, and Nick Tarburton have done a fine job forcing pressure from the end spots, and Smith Vilbert has flashed a bit too. Inside, the loss of PJ Mustipher is crushing, but he was having a stellar season prior to Iowa, while Derrick Tangelo has eaten up space and D'Von Ellies and Coziah Izzard have looked good in both expanded action and just as rotational pieces. Really impressed by how this unit has performed so far. The minus part of this grade really is just because of the depth, which is rather limited as was always going to be the case.

Ellis Brooks is maybe the most overlooked player on the defense. It was no secret that he would have to take a big step forward in 2021 for the defense to do the same, and he absolutely has. Brandon Smith and Curtis Jacobs have been great in their own right, with Jacobs having perhaps a breakout performance against the Hawkeyes. You could nitpick some things here, but a grade lower than this just feels wrong.

It's hard to knock this group, albeit a small deduction due to some missed tackles in crucial spots feels warranted. Penn State has not faced a killer quarterback to date, but it certainly has taken care of the ones it has, by and large, by being ferocious when attacking the ball and like glue in most coverage situations. That's especially true about Daequan Hardy, who has been targeted lots, and Joey Porter Jr., has frequently used his long arms to breakup what appear to be sure completions. Tariq Castro-Fields certainly looks more like the guy we've come to know him as, and Johnny Dixon has even played well with limited reps.

It feels fair to say that, unlike in years past, you don't get the sense that opposing teams feel like they can pick on the Lions' last line of defense with big plays over the top. Outside of a perfect play call in the Iowa game that led to the game-winning score, Jaquan Brisker and Ji'Ayir Brown have often been in the right place at the right time in both pass and run coverage, and Jonathan Sutherland and Keaton Ellis haven't let the standard drop when they've had to come in.

We can't completely forget about Jordan Stout's missed field goals and extra points earlier in the year, and Penn State hasn't done much in the return game that's worth speaking of, but those are the only two things keeping this from an A+. Stout has been a weapon for the Lions as a punter, because he routinely pins the opposing offenses in brutal spots, and he almost always kicks touchbacks which, when combined, takes the return game almost completely out of play. But, when it has been needed, the coverage and gunner teams have been sound.

This is a 5-1 football team that it's safe to say would be 6-0 if Sean Clifford didn't exit the game in the second quarter at Kinnick Stadium, but there are obvious areas that the Lions need to correct coming out of the bye week while keeping the baseline or even exploding passed it in others.

Enjoy the second half of the year.

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