Nittany Line: Penn State's Amos turns corner

STATE COLLEGE - Entering his third season as an instrumental piece of Penn State's secondary, Adrian Amos found himself feeling like a freshman again.

Amos, a junior, played in all 25 games of his first two campaigns, but did so at cornerback. With depth issues facing the Nittany Lion defense, the coaching staff asked Amos to shift to safety, and he started there for the first seven games of the season. But last Saturday, Amos returned to cornerback and had what coach Bill O'Brien called his best game of the season.

At his natural position, Amos had eight tackles and was a key component of the play that made Penn State an overtime winner against Illinois. Amos deflected a pass Nathan Scheelhaase threw to the end zone, and the ball ended up in the hands of Lions' safety Ryan Keiser for a walk-off interception.

"He did a nice job coming up and made two or three tackles out there in the flat that were important," O'Brien said. "Obviously, broke up the pass at the end. I just think that's a good spot for him. He's at home there. We're going to keep him there as long as we can. Injuries occur, and we may have to move him back. But hopefully we can keep him at corner."

Amos moved to safety before the season, while sophomores Jordan Lucas and Trevor Williams assumed the starting cornerback roles. There were some growing pains not just for the two young corners, but also for Amos - who said he did not have much game experience at safety prior to this season.

"Learning the different techniques and what to do in certain situations - just getting a feel for it [was the most difficult part]," Amos said of the transition. "You know, switching back and forth, that was my first couple games playing safety. I'm starting to get better and getting more used to it. Even now I'm still getting better at safety learning how to play naturally. The moves and stuff are easy. It's just learning within the scheme work of our defense."

Amos would occasionally line up at corner in the first seven games, but was primarily helping over the top. In the season's first seven games, Amos made 23 tackles, had one interception and broke up three passes, but he was not making quite the impact he did when he started 12 games at cornerback in 2012 and had 44 tackles, some of which were crushing hits.

Amos stands at 6-foot, but is 215 pounds and said he thinks his physicality is one aspect of his game that allows him to thrive at cornerback.

"He's just a great player wherever he's at on the field," said Keiser. "He's always making plays on the ball, wherever he's at, he'll make an impact on the game. He's done a great job."

Keiser, along with Jesse Della Valle and Malcolm Willis shared reps at safety last week, while Williams has lost his starting spot for the time being.

The Penn State defense and first-year coordinator John Butler have been learning on the fly this season, and its pass defense ranks seventh in the Big Ten at 238.5 yards per game.

The Lions' next test comes tomorrow at Minnesota against a run-heavy offense. So, while he may not get too many passes in his direction, Amos is hoping he continues to draw praise from O'Brien.

"I'm trying to get better every week, so hopefully [tomorrow] will be my best game to date," Amos said. "Then the week after that will be better than that."

Who: Penn State (5-3, 2-2 Big Ten) at Minnesota (7-2, 3-2)

When: Tomorrow, noon

Where: TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis

TV: ESPN2

Radio: WNTP (990-AM), WNPV (1440-AM)

3 things to watch:

1. A Minnesota team with momentum: In the Big Ten this season, many teams have underperformed. It's quite the opposite for the Golden Gophers. Despite starting the B1G slate with two losses, Minnesota has rattled off three straight victories against Northwestern, Nebraska and an Indiana team that beat Penn State by 20 points. Every week is a new week, yes, but the Gophers are riding high and have their eyes set on a New Year's Day bowl game.

2. Continued Penn State road struggles: It's hard to pin the reason on one thing in particular, but Penn State has been downright lousy in its two true road games this season. The Lions saw Indiana pull away from them in Bloomington and were shellacked on national TV by Ohio State 2 weeks ago in Columbus. It's a small sample size, but Penn State has allowed an average of 53.5 points and 586 yards in those two losses away from Beaver Stadium. If Minnesota can jump on the Lions early, this trend could continue.

3. Philip Nelson with a quietly effective performance: The Gophers' bread and butter is the running game, and it's been good (221.1 yards per game), so good it has opened up some plays for quarterback Philip Nelson. The signal-caller has less than 1,000 passing yards this season, but broke out last week against the Hoosiers with 298 yards and four touchdowns. He shared co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors with Lions' running back Bill Belton, and with Penn State having to think about stopping the run, especially on first and second downs, expect Nelson to make some big throws in play-action situations.

Prediction: Minnesota 31, Penn State 27: It has been a long while since Penn State was considered an underdog against Minnesota, and for good reason. Minnesota is playing some good football, while Penn State is coming off a less-than-impressive victory against Illinois. If this game was at Beaver Stadium, it's probably a different outcome. But at home, Minnesota should be able to keep freshman quarterback Christian Hackenberg in check. If the Gophers can establish an early lead and make Penn State play catch-up the rest of the contest, they'll be on their way to a fourth straight win.

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