3 final thoughts from the open Penn State football preseason camp practice

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State football held an open preseason camp practice on Saturday night. It featured camp staples, like position work and special teams action, and also a lengthy scrimmage period. BWI’s Nate Bauer (here) and Thomas Frank Carr (here) have both weighed in with their takeaways from the rainy evening outside of the Lasch Building. Here are my final three thoughts from the event.

1. You can see it in Smolik

First things first: It was not a banner night for the offense. The rain didn’t help. And the eliteness of the Penn State defense only complicates matters. But, after hearing that freshman quarterback Jaxon Smolik is the surprise of camp so far, we got to finally see him in a game-like setting. The first-year Lion made a handful of nice throws and, most importantly, looked like he belonged out there despite being in his inaugural August camp. He threw the only touchdown of the scrimmage, a five-yard strike to classmate and tight end Joey Schlaffer. Smolik won’t be needed this year. But, his future appears to be bright. Saturday backed that up.

2. The tight end rotation looks healthy

One of my big question heading into preseason camp focused on whether or not Penn State had a third tight end it could use behind Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren. The jury is still out on that. But, redshirt sophomore Khalil Dinkins got enough run on Saturday night to make one thing that he’s rounding into form and will be capable of filling that third-team role come the fall. That’s good news, as offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich likes to rotate at that position. It’s not a necessity, but it felt worthy of pointing out.

3. Penns State special teams remain a question mark

By our estimation, Gabe Nwosu seems to have a leg up at punter while Alex Felkins may be leading the kicking battle. But, there is still tons of uncertainty around both key Penn State positions. The punting battle was hard to gauge on Saturday night. But, Felkins and top competitor Sander Sahaydak both booted the ball plenty. Each made more than he missed. But, the misses that were mixed in gave cause for pause. Both spots will be ones that will take some convincing during the season before outside observers can trust it. That was the belief going into camp and it continues to be after Saturday night.

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