What did we learn about Penn State’s defense from practice No. 3?

As part of its preseason media day smorgasbord, Penn State again opened the doors to practice. What’d we see on defense?

Let’s dive right in:

(Missed our Wednesday updates for the first day of camp? Check out the offense and defense notes, here!)

Penn State preseason practice No. 3: Top takeaways on defense

Linebacker depth takes shape

Before heading out from the brief viewing window, the linebackers knocked out a couple of three-wide sets that offered a first window into the shape they might take this season. Though, again, Tom Allen is going to employ a considerable amount of 4-2-5 looks in his defense this season, utilizing a Lion position that looks likely to be filled by a safety.

In any case, the groupings appeared, as expected, as Tony Rojas at Will, Kobe King at the Mike, and Dom Deluca at Sam for the top unit. (And, for what it’s worth, I made note of the significantly changed effect of seeing Dan Connor able to coach now that the analyst rule has changed in college football.) Behind them, Penn State had Kari Jackson (as detailed in my afternoon notebook) with Tyler Elsdon and Ta’Mere Robinson. And, the third group consisted of Winston Yates, Ben Chizmar, and Beckham Dee. True freshman Anthony Speca and Jackson Pryts finished out the rotation as Nittany Lion legend LaVar Arrington looked on from the sidelines.

Strength at safety

Penn State rightfully spend the day on Saturday praising the repeatedly impressive work of Terry Smith in the cornerbacks room, once again delivering a group featuring both depth and talent.

“Terry is the model in terms of recruiting and then in terms of development. You would say, typically, when you have a year where you essentially lost two corners to the NFL that you would feel like that was a big question mark going into the season, and feel like that was an area where maybe you had some concerns,” said Franklin. “But we actually feel like that position from top to bottom could be better this year athletically. They still have to do it on game day, and obviously when you have lost the amount of production that we lost at that position, we understand that.

“But in terms of, I’d say seven guys that went through spring ball and went through summer and now are in training camp, we feel really good about those seven guys, and specifically, six guys, three deep on either side.”

In no manner taking from that reality, Anthony Poindexter’s room isn’t too shabby, either.

On Saturday afternoon inside Holuba, that was on full display.

Working through a hig-point drill in which the entire group of defensive backs needed to race down the field to locate and catch deep passes, the safeties proved particularly impressive. So much so, in fact, that head coach James Franklin at one point exclaimed to Dex that he liked what he was seeing. Among the highlights, Zakee Wheatley drew a “helluva catch” from Franklin for reeling in a ball over his head and to the sideline, making a leaping grab to secure the interception.

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