James Franklin says Penn State had a ‘great’ spring but the work to improve continues
The Nittany Lions ended their spring practice Friday night at Beaver Stadium. Their coach will meet individually with players to go over what they need to work on this summer.
Penn State head coach James Franklin summed up the Nittany Lions’ 2021 spring football practice period as “great,” but made sure that his players know the work doesn’t stop before the entire team reconvenes in late July for the start of training camp.
“I thought we got a lot out of spring ball,” Franklin said Friday night after spring practice concluded with a scrimmage under the lights at Beaver Stadium. “We’ll do player evaluations now. I’ll meet with every single player on the team as well as their position coaches, give them the feedback that they need and the things that they need to work on between now and training camp and go from there.
“We stayed for the most part pretty healthy, which was important, and identified some strengths and weaknesses moving into the summer. I thought we had a great spring.”
There is some urgency on multiple fronts to make sure the Lions come into camp ready to go. They want to erase the sting of last season’s 0-5 start which led to the program’s first losing record (4-5) in 16 years. And with a difficult season opener on the road Sept. 4 against Big Ten rival Wisconsin, the challenge to achieve a 1-0 start is heightened.
One of the main tasks during the spring was to install a new up-tempo offense brought in by offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, who has 15 years of experience in that role, including last year at Texas. For incumbent starter Sean Clifford, Yurcich is the fourth offensive coordinator he has worked under, but he is enthusiastic about what the offense brings.
“Coach Yurcich pushes us to another level,” Clifford said after last Saturday’s scrimmage. “I looked at everything one way and Coach Yurcich has brought another level of competition and focus to me and showed me a different side. So I’m excited about it and excited to see how the offense grows from here.”
Clifford looked more comfortable in Friday night’s scrimmage than he did last week. Early in the session, he connected with Jahan Dotson on a 64-yard touchdown pass.
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However, the one issue for the Nittany Lions at quarterback is the lack of an experienced backup. Redshirt freshman Ta’Quon Roberson has taken only a few game snaps in garbage time, and Christian Veilleux enrolled as a freshman only three months ago.
“I’ve been pleased with Sean this spring and I’ve been pleased with Ta’Quon and Christian as well,” Franklin said. “But between now and camp, there’s a lot that needs to get worked on.
“The work that those guys do between now and Game 1 is going to be really important and we’d like for that gap to be closed between our ones and our twos.”
Running back is another area to watch once the Lions return to organized practice. Freshman Keyvone Lee appeared to end the spring at the No. 1 spot. Noah Cain, who won the job in 2020 training camp but missed nearly all of the season with an injury, received some practice reps but was not “full go,” according to Franklin.
Another running back in the mix is senior John Lovett, a former Cherokee (N.J.) High School star who transferred from Baylor.
“It’s obvious you’ve got a veteran guy who’s been around, he’s played a lot of football, was very respected at the place he came from,” Franklin said of Lovett. “So he’s kind of what we thought. He can run. He’s got the ability to make people miss. He’s got that extra gear that we need, a guy that we think can be a home-run threat for us.”
One question on the defensive side of the ball is at linebacker, where sophomore Brandon Smith and freshman Curtis Jacobs appear to have the inside track on the starting outside ‘backer positions. That leaves one spot open for redshirt junior Ellis Brooks and junior Jesse Luketa, who finished 1-2 on the team in tackles last season.
Franklin referenced the possibility of the 6-3, 255-pound Luketa switching positions, but did not specify where.
“They will both be starters for us at the linebacker position, whether that’s [middle] linebacker or one of the outside linebacker positions,” he said. “I think there’s also some discussions that we’ve had with Jesse about playing some other positions as well that we think he has the ability to play, which I think is not only going to help our defense but is also going to help Jesse and his future at the next level.”