Notes and observations from Penn State’s open practice on offense

Penn State opened its doors for practice on a beautiful, albeit breezy, Tuesday afternoon. The Nittany Lions have just two more practices before they wrap up spring on Saturday for the Blue-White Game.

Here are some observations from the short open session.

Notes and Observations from open practice

– Despite the wind, the Nittany Lions’ three quarterbacks opened it up a bit and threw a bunch of routes to receivers all over the field. There was red zone work to start before the group started pushing the ball downfield. This was my first time focusing on the quarterbacks this spring, as I’ve spent most of my time with the defense over the last month. There’s no denying that Drew Allar can push it down the field on another level than we are used to seeing. He threw a couple dimes into the wind with KeAndre Lambert-Smith on the other end. Ball placement was good on the shorter throws as well, especially up the sideline. The biggest surprise I took away from the quarterbacks was that Jaxon Smolik’s deep ball is cleaner than anticipated, at least when I was watching. A source pointed that out to me this week and in watching, Smolik has a nice release when going down the field. Overall, the accuracy of the three was pretty solid, although there were a few sprayed thanks to the wind when throwing left to right from the Lasch Building. It was throwing on air, but it was a good session for the arms. Mike Yurcich was once again very detail-oriented with the groups, focusing on footwork and quick decision-making. 

– In the two Red Zone plays we got to see, Chop Robinson blew up a read option play and Beau Pribula kept one for a rushing score. Not much to take away there, but it was some good-on-good work. 

– There’s notable progress from wide receiver Tre Wallace through the first few weeks of spring ball. He looks smoother and is running crisper routes than we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. He’s right up there in the top tier with KeAndre Lambert-Smith, who looked smooth catching the ball and getting upfield in drills. Omari Evans has pushed his way up toward that group recently in practice, but beyond that, the Nittany Lions still have questions beyond the first two or three. Once again, Marques Hagans had his group working on a different drill this week the receiver practiced catching an out-breaking route at the end zone and then getting square to fall forwards through the pads into the end zone. 

– Penn State’s offensive line was pretty standard, although we did see JB Nelson playing guard and tackle. He’s shared duties this spring, and though Penn State sees him on the guard side of the swing, he can help out at tackle when necessary. On the flip side, Drew Shelton was taking reps with the tackles during live action, but he also worked at guard during drills. Penn State is cross-training a few guys this spring in order to get ready for the inevitable mixing and matching that happens during the season. Vega Ioane was working at left guard (we didn’t see Landon Tengwall out there) and he got some drill work in at center as well. Nick Dawkins was the second team center during live work. Freshman J’Ven Williams is getting a bunch of reps at left tackle as Penn State limits Olu Fashanu’s live work this spring. 

– Penn State continues to rotate its young tight ends without Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren this spring. Khalil Dinkins and freshman Joey Schlaffer were each part of the live red zone work that the Nittany Lions put in on Tuesday. Dinkins has had a good spring, while the younger tight ends are a bit behind at this point. 

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