Respect, likability proving potent combo for Trautwein with Lions' OL

Now 18 months into his tenure as Penn State’s offensive line coach, Phil Trautwein’s secret to success has made itself plain to James Franklin.

Having won two national championships at Florida, with all-SEC honors twice, plus an NFL career after have helped. That Trautwein had done so as a relatively unheralded prospect coming out of Eastern Regional in Voorhees Township, N.J., boosted the already compelling nature of his story.

But in an arc that has fully materialized this spring, having finally been granted the opportunity to establish strong, in-person relationships with the offensive linemen under his tutelage, Franklin detailed the element that has become most strikingly clear for Trautwein.

“It is very apparent to me that Phil is a relational guy. His players really like him and respect him,” Franklin told BWI. “You can be successful being respected only. You can be successful being liked only. But when you're liked and respected, it's a really good combination.”

No better example of that combination can be found between Trautwein and his players than in the case of the unit’s top performer, left tackle Rasheed Walker, going into the Nittany Lions’ 2021 season.

Already named a second-team preseason All-American by Lindy’s, with more honors certain to build for the redshirt junior as the season nears, Walker identified his relationship with Trautwein as a major contributor to his decision to return for the 2021 campaign despite an opportunity to go pro this offseason.

“The guy knows what he's talking about,” Walker told reporters this spring. “Being a former NFL offensive tackle, he sees stuff that not everyone else sees. So when I first started working with him, I already thought I was pretty good, but as I worked with him more, he just started to point out a bunch of things that I have to work on to be better.

“As I trusted him and kept on working his techniques and doing drills he had me do, I felt myself getting better, and I felt more confident as an offensive lineman. So I just looked at (my decision to return) as like, I had time. It's only my third year. I can leave, but I also can come back and just invest more in myself by being coached by Coach Traut for another year to give myself a better shot at the next level.”

Some of Penn State’s best performers on the other side of the ball have taken note of the steady evolution to the offensive line this year, too.

Asked this spring how Trautwein’s influence has helped shape the OL through spring practice, presumed starting defensive end Adisa Isaac made clear that the differences have been easily identifiable.

“Even they have told me, they feel like they've gotten better and I can see it in every single one of them. Just the way they use their hands more, they're more handsy. They bring a lot more that they didn't bring last year,” Isaac said. “So I feel like they've improved a lot, especially just the way they're moving, how fluid they are. They've improved a lot.”

For a group determined to bounce back from a season in which it helped to allow the most sacks of any Big Ten team, 28 in all for 170 yards in losses in nine games, expectations internally have grown concurrently to Trautwein’s time with the program.

With Trautwein leading the way, and the most veteran, game-experienced performers buying in fully to his teaching and methodology, it’s a combination of influences Franklin is banking on to produce results for the Nittany Lions this fall. Citing Walker and senior Mike Miranda as “two guys that are leading that unit in a really positive, aggressive way right now,” it’s a picture for the offensive line that Franklin continues to tout as shaping up positively this offseason.

“I just think the O-line, we're in a really good place culturally,” he said. “Their buy-in, their work ethic, all those types of things. I like what Phil's doing with our offensive line.”

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