Penn State Sunday situation: What did we learn during the Blue-White game?

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State is ready to start a new chapter in the book that will ultimately tell the tale of the 2023 season. The Nittany Lions finished spring practice on Saturday with the Blue-White game. Now, it’s time to move into an all-out blitz focusing on recruiting and the transfer portal.

“Overall, I thought we had a great spring,” head coach James Franklin said. I thought that today was phenomenal. I was a little worried about the weather. Although, I would have come in here and said it was great wet ball work for us. But it cleared up. It was awesome all week long and then we had the rain this morning. I think we would have had a lot more people in the stadium, if the rain didn’t scare some people off.

“But it was great work in the stadium, Beaver Stadium in front of fans, on TV, in a competitive environment. I thought the team was broken up to be competitive and I thought it really was. There was a lot of value in that.”

The Sunday situation covers what we learned during the Blue-White game before we fully move on from spring practice.

Top thing we learned during the Blue-White game: Offense

We’ll have plenty of time to dive fully into this conversation in the days ahead, but let’s do a quick take from the Blue-White game for all three units.

On offense, the biggest thing we learned on Saturday, besides everyone seemingly leaving the contest healthy, is that Drew Allar has all the tools to live up to the hype of his five-star recruitment. The Penn State sophomore was not perfect. He had a few errant throws but finished 19 of 30 (62 percent) for 202 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions. He showcased a stong arm and an ability to quickly make reads and dump the ball off when the pocket collapses. Does he still have work to do? Yes. Is the competition ongoing with Beau Pribula? Of course. But this is Allar’s job to lose, and Saturday showcased why.

What was our biggest takeaway for the Penn State defense?

We could go in a few directions here. But, to me, the safety play stood out the most.

Penn State was without potential starter Jaylen Reed, who sat out for undisclosed reasons. However, the back line of the defense did not miss a beat in his absence. Zakee Wheatley, who started opposite Keaton Ellis on the first-team defense, made a team-high six tackles for the Blue squad. On the White team, KJ Winston netted six stops. And, Ellis has been the talk of spring. Once Reed is back in the mix, position coach Anthony Poindexter will have plenty of options at his disposal to mix and match safeties and keep his players fresh. This room should be a strength again this season.

How about special teams?

James Franklin said after the Blue-White game that his punters must be more consistent. That’s fair after they collectively did not boom the ball down the field despite punting on air. However, the main takeaway is this: Even though competition will surely continue, the pecking order appears to be set across the board. Transfers Alex Felkins and Riley Thompson exit spring as the leaders in the clubhouse for the open place kicker and punting job, respectfully. Thompson is the team’s top holder. And, returner Tyler Duzansky will be the long snapper.

That last job appears to be the only one that is locked up. But, Sander Sahaydak will have a lot of work to do to catch Felkins, even though he may be the kickoff specialist. And, the same goes for Alex Bacchetta and Mitchell Groh at punter.

Final word

Thanks for following about with Blue-White Illustrated all spring long! Be sure to stick with us as the recruiting action picks up in the portal and with the evaluation period as coaches hit the road. Have a great Sunday!

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