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...