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This off season Penn State was hit with more transfers than perhaps any other team in the nation.  They lost an all time great at QB, and the second RB picked in the draft.  Further, their best offensive lineman left early for the NFL.  The schedule is tough, with a night game against Iowa at their house on a "gold out," and a brutal stretch of games right in the middle.  Crossover games against Purdue and Minnesota are no longer easy games.

This SHOULD be a bit of a rebuilding year then.  However, Penn State's situation may not be as challenging as it first appears. 

Special Teams:

Penn State should see some pretty major upgrades here.  Everyone of note returns, they picked up one of the nation's best kickoff specialists from Virginia Tech, and increased depth should allow for stronger special team play.  By all accounts this unit should be improved over last season, and special teams last season were pretty good.

Offense:

Wide receivers- Last year, Penn State's one year experiment with having a RB coach in charge didn't work out.  The deep and senior-laden wide receiving core suddenly became unreliable, and seemed to drop nearly as many passes as they caught.  Franklin fired the guy, and got himself a true wide receiver coach.  Towards the end of the season, the senior wide receivers saw less and less time, eventually supplanted by young guys like KJ Hamler and Jahan Dotson.  This summer, after losing his starting job, Juwan Johnson transferred to Oregon.  He was supposed to be the best wide receiver on the roster just one year ago.  This is a young unit, but should be an improvement over the previous year. 

Tight Ends:

This should be the strength of the offense.  I think everyone knows about freshman All-American Pat Freiermuth by now, but there are VERY good players behind him.  Expect to see a lot of two TE sets.
This will be the best TE unit in the B1G.

Offensive Line: 

The departure of Connor McGovern early to the NFL huts in a big way.  If he had stayed, this would undoubtedly be one of the better lines in the B1G.  Fortunately, Penn State has recruited well over the last few seasons, and, for the first time under Franklin, will have an actual 2 deep across the board.  It's strange to think that the NCAA sanctions effected this unit until 2019, but they did.  Overall, I expect the line to remain middle of the road in the B1G.  I think they take a step back, mostly due to the ability of Trace McSorely to move in the pocket.

QB:

Sean Clifford is a fan favorite, mostly due to his absurd 399.7 QB rating from 2018.  Although he is more of a pocket passer, he also has the ability to run if needed.  Franklin even mentioned that Clifford beat McSorely's 40 time this summer.   Most seem to agree he is a much more accurate passer than Trace, but he doesn't have the pocket presence and awareness that Trace had.  I expect a step back here, but not as much as some think.

Note:  This is technically still an open QB competition with Will Levis, and the BTN guys said that both guys looked good and neither one seemed ahead of the other.  There is a slim possibility that Will Levis will start.  I can't say much about him since he is fairly unknown.  He is a gargantuan man and looks like a linebacker.

Defense will come later...

Penn State has a very good defense.  Clifford is a solid QB but they will miss McSorely's scrambling and make something happen out of a busted play ability and other intangibles such as toughness and fantastic luck.  Penn State should win most of their games.  I mean, they're a bit better than 7-5 I've seen in some pre-season guesstimates.  Looking forward to the rumored white out on October 19th.

Is it rumored? I thought it was announced.

Penn State Running backs:

Penn State will likely split running back duties between:

1.  Ricky Slade, who averaged 5.7 YPC last season and is a smaller, shifty back.
2.  Journey Brown, a speedster who played sparingly last year.
3.  Or two true highly touted freshman.

The running back position should be a strength again for this team, although perhaps not to the level of a Miles Sanders.   As far as quality and depth goes, it is telling that former 4 star and Notre Dame transfer CJ Holmes made the transition to safety this off season.

Cornerbacks:

This unit should also be among the best in the B1G.  It is deep, and it is talented.  John Reid was  honorable All-B1G last season, despite still recovering from a significant injury in 2017.  James Franklin says that he is finally back to his 2016 form.  In fact, Franklin says he looks much better than 2016.

Tariq Castro-Fields actually was the better player last season, but hasn't gotten the accolades John Reid has.  Perhaps it is because teams rarely throw in his direction.

A newcomer to watch is Keaton Ellis.  Apparently he is the best player from Penn State's highly regarded freshman recruiting class.  This unit should be better than the 2018 version.

nice write ups,didn't know PSU lead the Conf. in Sacks

BBTZ, how long do you think Franklin will last: as long as he wants, or less?

If I recall, you are a Michigan fan, so I will put this in a Michigan context.

As far as coaching hot seats go, Franklin's seat is practically frozen compared to Harbaugh.   I think most Michigan fans are happy with Harbaugh.

Franklin is well liked by most people associated with PSU.

It starts with expectations.  You could imagine what would happen to the coach who replaced Saban if the Tide had records of say 10-3, 11-2, 10-3 ....

... if you managed that at Iowa they'd name streets after you.

Mark Richt was 10-3 in his last two seasons.  (One bowl win in that last year is technically not his.)

I think JH needs to make the playoff this season.  If UM doesn't THIS year, when would they in the future?  I suspect expectations at PSU are more rational, they can be 10-3 on average and JF will be in decent shape.

Historically, Penn State has had a big run about every 3 years.  Under Franklin there seems to be more of a consistency from year to year.  Penn State has been ranked for 40 straight weeks, which is something like 5th in the nation.