13. Penn State Nittany Lions |
#3 in Big Ten |
Time to see what you’ve got James. James Franklin’s seat was already hot after just two seasons, when Joe Moorhead and Trace McSorley showed up in his life. Five years in, when he’s had those two guys, he’s gone 22-5, including 16-3 against Big Ten teams, with a Big Ten title, and a 2nd place divisional finish. The three years without both of them? 23-16 overall, 12-13 in the conference, with 6th, 4th and 3rd place divisional finishes. Now, for the first time since 2015 he has neither of them. The recruiting has been very good, but the attrition this offseason has also been unparalleled. While they didn’t have the splash name that got all the attention, the Nittany Lions lost 11 players through the transfer portal, and another three early to the NFL Draft. So why #13? You have to start with the defense, which greatly overachieved last year, and is set up for a really big 2019 with 5 returning all-conference players, at least one at every level. They lost 9 starters from 2017, and still wound up fourth in the Big Ten in yards per play allowed, led by arguably the conference’s best pass defense. Penn State led the Big Ten in yards per attempt allowed, and touchdowns allowed, finishing second to Michigan in total yardage, and completion percentage. Cornerback Amari Oruwariye is off to Sundays, but Penn State still has an All-Big Ten pair in safety Garrett Taylor and cornerback John Reid, who is now a full year removed from a knee injury that cost him all of 2017. The Nittany Lions’ defense is built off the pass rush, and even with the early departure of Shareef Miller, Penn State is well poised to lead the Big Ten in sacks for the third consecutive season, ranking second to only Clemson a year ago in sacks per game. Yetur Gross-Matos, who wasn’t even projected to start going into the fall, benefitted from Miller on the opposite side, and actually led the team in both sacks and tackles for loss, finishing second in the Big Ten in the later. While the loss of Miller will allow for some increased attention, the ability of Robert Windsor to be a dominant pass rusher from the middle of the line helps even that out. While the offense lost a lot, 56% of their production, 15th most in the FBS, it was nearly as much a year ago (49%, 26th most). Last year it was McSorley and a lot of nothing returning. This year, quarterback is a question mark, but the offense around that spot looks more settled. It was expected to be a Tommy Stevens-Sean Clifford battle for the quarterback job through the spring and fall, but after having his weird special plays in the playbook under McSorley, it seems like Stevens wanted a guarantee. He had a nagging injury in the spring, Clifford was impressive, so without a guarantee, Stevens left. Clifford saw action in four games last year, and while 7 pass attempts is nothing to judge off of, he was 5-7 for 195 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Ricky Slade’s usage was very perplexing last year. While he seems to now be the clear starter, it’s unclear why he didn’t get more touches last year. He had some fumble issues, but not enough to give a guy who averaged nearly 6 yards per carry on 25 carries, with 4 touchdowns, in September, 20 carries for the rest of the season. 11 of which came against Maryland. In KJ Hamler, Penn State has a star receiver in the making. He led the Big Ten in yards per catch among qualified players, with 18.0, but he needs to be getting more than 3.2 catches per game. If Justin Shorter, who came in last year as a 5* true freshman, but struggled to prove worthy of burning his redshirt, can live up to his billing, they, along with All-Big Ten tight end Pat Friermuth, should give Clifford plenty of options to work with.
| KEY PLAYERS |
WR | K.J. Hamler, Sophomore |
TE | Pat Friermuth, Sophomore |
G | Steven Gonzalez, Senior |
| . |
DE | Yetur Gross-Matos, Junior |
CB | John Reid, Senior |
S | Garrett Taylor, Senior |