PSU Spring Practice Notebook: First Scrimmage, Wide Receivers, AD Search
With another Wednesday practice in the books, James Franklin and the Penn State football program are inching closer to its annual Blue-White game next Saturday.
There were a number of different topics the Nittany Lions head coach brought up that pertained to how the team has been doing through about a month of spring ball.
Here is what Franklin had to say regarding his team and the program as of mid-April.
FIRST SCRIMMAGE
Last week, Franklin mentioned that Penn State would have its first scrimmage of the spring on Friday.
While the ninth-year head coach did not provide the most detailed update of what happened inside the Lasch facility, he did say that things went very well from what he saw despite the known depth issues on the offensive line.
There's a number of guys I could mention but overall I was happy with the work that we got done,” Franklin said. “I've mentioned to you guys before that we are thin on the O-Line. So we had to be creative. Usually you go ones and then twos and then threes. Really we've got one line right now.”
An interesting note that Franklin did mention is that there has been a competition within the kicking room.
With Jordan Stout seemingly headed to the NFL, the competition seems most likely between former starter Jake Pinegar and former 5-star kicking recruit Sander Sahaydak.
One may end up taking kickoff duties while the other is the primary field goal kicker but it should be intriguing to see how the competition between a veteran and inexperienced player works itself out.
“We’ve got some pretty good competition going on right now at the kicking spots.”
WIDE RECEIVERS
With Jahan Dotson no longer being the Nittany Lions No. 1 pass target, the rest of the Penn State receiving core is being asked to take a step up from last season.
While Parker Washington is someone who the offense has been able to depend on, it would be extremely beneficial for KeAndre Lambert-Smith to take the next step in year two of starting and become a more consistent player, something Franklin said he’s shown this spring.
I'm proud of KeAndre, he's always been a really talented guy, very prideful,” Franklin said. “I have found that prideful coaches and prideful players are usually so prideful because they care so much and they're invested. But that also can make it challenging sometimes, when they don't have the success that they want or are getting some criticism [...] I think that is where he has grown as much as anything used to be.”
“I've just seen him be more consistent.”
Another guy that has flashed his consistency in camp thus far is Western Kentucky transfer Mitchell Tinsley.
Tinsely is someone who Franklin likes to refer to as “Steady Eddie” as his max effort and receiving traits have made him quite popular among the coaching staff.
“His maturity stands out,” Franklin said. “He's refined in terms of how to run routes. Very consistent in catching the ball. He's Steady Eddie.”
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SEARCH
After the many changes that have happened within Penn State’s football program and athletic department over the past couple of years, the biggest one of all may be coming shortly.
Following Sandy Barbour’s retirement announcement last month, the search is on for a new athletic director.
Franklin was asked what he would like in a new AD and gave off a checklist of traits that he thought would make a strong candidate in regards to football.
Two of the adjectives he used: Bold and aggressive
“Bold and aggressive is something that I think is really important. I can only speak for football but just a really good understanding about what we're truly competing against week in and week out.”
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