Penn State football's spring season: 4 things to accomplish before Blue-White weekend
Frank BodaniPenn State football officially begins its 2024 revamping process this week under a new set of on-field leaders.
Spring practice kicks off Tuesday, which means a month of workouts leading to the annual Blue-White Game in Beaver Stadium on April 13.
How can coach James Franklin and his three new coordinators help the Nittany Lions raise their starry ability on offense and defense and finally progress beyond their tiresome two-loss regular season routine?
Here are four things Penn State must accomplish over the next month:
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New offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, known for his creative playcalling and expert player usage, must quickly build a new foundation with a lot of returning talent that hasn't produced as expected.
This makeover begins and ends at quarterback.
For this offense to rediscover its explosive ways, Kotelnicki − along with grad assistant QB coach Danny O'Brien − help his talented QBs better unlock their potential. For big-armed Drew Allar, that means honing his downfield passing attack that all but disappeared last year. It also means being able to make better use of backup Beau Pribula's unique running/pass skills. He's too valuable not to work into a two-quarterback plan, which just happens to be one of Kotelnicki's strengths.
Julian Fleming, KeAndre Lambert-Smith must lead a receiver recovery
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Penn State, it turns out, owned one of the weakest receiver groups in the nation last season.
The hope for improvement relies on two seniors and, in general, a tweaked system that expects to provide all of them with easier, better opportunities.
The onus is on Ohio State transfer Julian Fleming and KeAndre Lambert-Smith, the Lions' leading 2023 receiver who mysteriously disappeared down the stretch. Both seniors must quickly emerge as trusted leaders and reliable producers to help the others along.
In addition, those like injury-prone Tre Wallace and little-used Omari Evans and Kaden Saunders need boosts of confidence and success. Kotelnicki's opportunistic spread system must begin serving as an elixir by mid-April.
Reloading defensive pressure: Abdul Carter, Tony Rojas
Penn State's pressure defense should be able to reload even after losing two of the nation's top pass rushers and playmakers to the NFL Draft.
That, in large part, will be up to one linebacker emerging and another switching positions.
While the defense returns plenty of depth and experience, its top-10 status should be determined by Abdul Carter's move to defensive end and Tony Rojas filling his spot at outside linebacker.
Both are elite physical talents who didn't produce as hoped last year. Carter finished strong but lacked overall impact as the next-great Penn State playmaker. Rojas, despite an enticing spring debut, couldn't crack the main rotation.
The first keys for new coordinator Tom Allen are getting Carter comfortable (and more productive) as a pass rusher and disruptor off the edge and having Rojas step up to fill the do-everything, alpha outside linebacker role.
Who will fill the big holes at cornerback for Penn State?
Nowhere must Penn State replace more than at cornerback − the increasingly important equalizer to evolving passing attacks.
How much of it can be sorted out in the next month?
The Lions must find three new top performers. How important are they? The Peach Bowl gave a glimpse when young backups Cam Miller and Zion Tracy were dominated by Mississippi, highlighting a dreadful defensive day.
Miller, Tracy and second-year Elliot Washington are still prized talents who should soak in critical experience this spring. They surely will be pushed, and helped, by a couple of big transfer additions − A.J. Harris from Georgia and Jalen Kimber from Florida.
The competition should be fierce, also adding in true freshmen studs Jon Mitchell and Antoine Belgrave-Shorter.
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.