Penn State’s Blue-White takeaways: First look at the Matt Campbell era, Rocco Becht shines, and more

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A sense of relaxation surrounded Beaver Stadium as Penn State arrived for its annual Blue-White spring practice on Saturday.

There were no more “Fire Franklin!” chants from disgruntled fans who hadn’t forgotten the team’s shortcomings in big games. Absent was the nervous energy entering another make-or-break season.

This time, led by first-year head coach Matt Campbell on a rainy April afternoon, the Nittany Lions were greeted by hopeful fans eager to kickstart a new era of Penn State football.

“It [was] a downpour today. And to see this crowd and the amount of people that came out to support our football program — I just [enjoy] every opportunity to show our young men how special it is to play here at Penn State,” Campbell said. “It’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than our players, what we get to represent, and what we are training to be able to represent every fall.”

Penn State opened Saturday’s practice with 30 minutes of dynamic stretching and positional drills before switching to live reps for the final hour. Here are a few noteworthy moments from the team’s annual spring practice.

Rocco Becht, Penn State’s starting quarterback, looked comfortable as he tossed passes amid a constant drizzle.

In December, the Iowa State transfer underwent surgery to repair a partially torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder. Becht’s injury, which he played through for most of last season, sidelined him to open spring ball.

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But he quickly progressed to 7-on-7 drills, a feat Campbell called “remarkable” as the 22-year-old QB nears a return to full participation.

“I felt good,” Becht said. “I think the chemistry has been able to build over the past couple of weeks, with me just getting into 7-on-7. We’ve been able to get really good reps, so I’m happy with what we’ve been able to do.”

Becht connected multiple times with Koby Howard, Penn State’s talented sophomore wide receiver, before tossing a 2-yard touchdown to Zay Robinson to cap his lone 7-on-7 drive. Connor Barry, a 6-foot-1 transfer quarterback from Christopher Newport, found Brian Kortovich across the middle for a touchdown during second-team reps.

“It was huge that [Becht] was able to get the reps he had,” Campbell said. “... I think he’s [gotten] quality reps. To be able to work with our receivers, to have Chase [Sowell] and Brett [Eskildsen] back in some limited form and fashion throughout the spring, I think it was really big for that group.”

Becht still hasn’t progressed to 11-on-11, so Barry took those first-team reps. James Peoples and Carson Hansen, the team’s running back duo, split the bulk of the carries. Peoples, an Ohio State transfer, broke a 30-yard run behind a shifty jump cut at the line of scrimmage.

Audavion Collins, Zion Tracy, Daryus Dixson, Marcus Neal Jr., and Jamison Patton lined the first-team secondary, while Kooper Ebel and Caleb Bacon served as the linebacker tandem with Tony Rojas still sidelined. Dixson, a sophomore cornerback who tallied six pass breakups last season, undercut one of Barry’s throws for the defense’s first interception of the session.

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While the top defensive unit forced an early turnover, it was Josiah Zayas, a freshman defensive back, who made the practice’s best play when he jumped Peyton Falzone’s pass and sprinted 70 yards for a pick-six.

Zayas’ teammates raced toward the end zone to mob him as if he had just iced the game during one of Penn State’s annual White Out spectacles. Only this time, it was in front of just a few thousand fans during an otherwise typical practice session.

The reaction may appear overkill to some, but not to Kooper Ebel, who raved about the bond his teammates have made since January.

“I think that really shows the team that we have — the character, the love that we have for one another,” Ebel, an Iowa State transfer, said. “The biggest thing that builds relationships is going through hard things together. Going through hard workouts, having opportunities to correct one another, hold each other accountable. Everyone’s done a great job building those relationships.”

Cooper Cousins, an imposing offensive lineman who returned to Penn State for his junior season, said the first few weeks of winter workouts were “standoffish” between the returnees and the transfers. But once winter conditioning began and players woke up at 4:30 a.m. to battle through grueling workouts together, everyone gelled.

“We just created such a bond. We’re just one big family,” Cousins said. “Everybody in that building is so close, and everybody in that building is so together … This has probably been one of the closest teams I’ve been a part of.”

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