Three under-the-radar position battles in Penn State camp
Earlier this week, Blue-White Illustrated dove into key position battles that Penn State will be monitoring in camp. Some were obvious, while others could be a bit underrated for one reason or another. Now it’s time to take an even deeper dive down the depth chart to analyze some jousting that may not always show up on game days.
Every player on the roster is fighting some sort of battle. The outcome, whether it comes with Saturday snaps or not, will be meaningful for the player’s future. It can also mean the difference between making the travel squad or spending chunks of time on the scout team in practice this fall.
Here’s a look at three battles currently off the radar that will provide some intrigue this month. Keep in mind that the Nittany Lions are three days into preseason practice and the pads have yet to come on. They were off on Friday and are back on the practice field on Saturday. We won’t see movement in these spots until Penn State gets some scrimmage time under their collective belts.
Penn State’s third running back battle
Penn State went to the Transfer Portal this spring to bring in local product Trey Potts, who spent the last few years at Minnesota. The Nittany Lions went through spring ball with two scholarship running backs and that’s something they would rather not do again. For that reason, I think Penn State leans heavily on its backups for the duration of camp. Everyone knows what Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen are capable of, but those guys behind them need to get up to speed.
It seemed like a foregone conclusion that Potts would settle into the No. 3 role. He’s physically mature, he’s been around the block with the Gophers and he’s been productive at times. He’s also not really a threat to take away carries from the guys ahead of him, making him a pretty ideal addition to the room. Potts can catch the ball out of the backfield and at 5-9, 218, he can hold up in pass protection as well. Penn State’s third-down backs are the starters, but if you needed someone in that stereotypical role, Potts could handle it.
Having said that, and while admitting that Potts should be the favorite for the No. 3 job going into camp, Cam Wallace will have something to say about that. The build is different. He’s also 5-9, but right around 185 pounds right now. He’s put together, but it will be interesting to see how that 35-pound difference plays out in pass protection. Wallace has impressed since stepping on campus. He tested very well and caught the ball well in informal work this summer. It will be interesting to see how Penn State tries to use him in different ways than Potts, too. He’s quicker and more explosive.
Freshman London Montgomery is getting back into it after tearing his ACL at this time last year. He’s shown good movement skills in coming back and has a high football IQ. He will need more full-speed reps to get back and comfortable with his skill set.
Backing up Curtis Jacobs at Sam
This battle will actually end up playing out on the field. Curtis Jacobs is entrenched as the starter at Sam, and Penn State has two quality options behind him. Dom Deluca backed up the position last year and more than held his own. He was sixth among Penn State linebackers in snaps with 189 in the regular season last year. He finished with 29 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. It’s worth noting that a bunch of those tackles came on special teams, where he figures to be one of the Nittany Lions’ most valuable coverage players this season.
Deluca did miss the spring, however, and that opened the door for Tony Rojas to come crashing through it. Rojas was very good in the spring, all the while adjusting to the 30 or so pounds that he added since arriving in January. Sources indicated in the spring that Rojas would give Deluca all he could handle for this role and that he would definitely see the field right off the bat.
This battle seems like a productive one for the Nittany Lions. Linebacker depth has steadily improved over the last few years and a walk-on find like Deluca is a pleasant surprise. These guys could also get some cross-training time in and help the Nittany Lions’ overall linebackers room out in the process. It also is a boost to Penn State’s special teams. We think both will see the field in a few different ways this year.
Penn State’s fourth tight end job
We’ve hit hard on the distinctive tiers that Penn State is working with at tight end. That doesn’t mean the guys down the board can’t play. The standard since 2018 has gone way up in that room and the expectations are high once again for the 2023 season. Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren are the starters, then Khalil Dinkins has pushed his way up toward, but not in that realm.
So what happens in the next tier? Why does that matter? Well, the possibility remains that one or both of Johnson and Warren will move on next season and that’s potentially a lot of turnover for a position with relatively small numbers. With Dinkins solidly No. 3, this battle will fall on the shoulders of redshirt freshman Jerry Cross and true freshman Andrew Rappleyea. Both are talented, so that’s a plus. Cross hasn’t played a lot of football in the last few years, missing a season due to Covid and then dealing with injuries as a senior and then again last year as a freshman. He’s not out of place athletically in the room, just a little behind in terms of the finer points in the position. There’s still plenty of potential to be tapped there.
Rappleyea, on the other hand, is an exciting prospect who just got here in the summer. He arrived ready to go and the Nittany Lions think he can play right away. His floor is high and, like Cross, he has the potential to keep the level of the room up through the next few years. He’ll charge hard in August. The layer here is that Cross has already burned his redshirt and Rappleyea, while talented, has not. Will the Nittany Lions play the song and dance to keep that extra year or will the staff push him right through that threshold? We’ll know more in a month.
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