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Winter Workouts and Spring Practice progress and reports thread

TheWizardofCamelot said:
Apparently Luketa has been hurt and limited in participation - probably why he packed on pounds. Not a good thing either, as I can't see added weight boosting his play from last year.

Really interested to see what happens at LB because both Ellis/Luketa were pretty terrible. I'm hoping Smith/Jacobs lock down two spots and one of Katshir, Elsdon, King surprise this spring/fall and can be key contributors.

Any of the football experts on the board have insights/opinions on Smith playing in the middle? Does that make sense, or is he more suited on the outside? Ellis/Luketa struggle in traffic, but they also lack speed/quickness to keep up/wrap up in the open field...I'm not sure I can watch another season of those two.
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Yep, if Luketa and Brooks (i.e. Ellis Brooks) end up as 2 of the 3 starting LB's for 2021 it seems that the potential for improvement will be limited. One of the reasons I was hoping Luketa would balloon up to a DE.

Brooks seems like a somewhat better tackler than Luketa, but on way too many plays stepped up into a hole that was not really there and took himself out of the play that was his responsibility to make. But given that bothe are upper classmen it also seems like the best we can hope for to start the season would be for Smith and Jacobs winning starting jobs and Luketa and Brooks being "OR'd" at the MLB spot.

Regarding Smith, I believe he played the outside LB spot that Brown played before him, the open field LB. So if Smith moved to Parson's old spot, where Luketa started in 2020, he will be moving more to the middle, and that would allow the super athletic Jacobs to play more in space.

Brooks was a poster child (in multiple pictures) in the S&C workout pictures recently released by PSU so I'm hoping that his experience and potentially increased strength and quickness will lead to a noticeable improvement in his play at MLB next Fall.

Other than that we have to hope that the next great PSU LB that we haven't seen will be on campus (Elsdon, King,...) or that Katshir makes a big leap in performance, to add a new name moving up the depth chart to improve the overall performance of the LB's in 2021.....
 
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Ian said:
Love Galt and his workout formulas and positive attitude but it’s pretty much the same rhetoric every year but with new names. Whatever happened last year started with the LOS and those players conditioning. It was subpar and I’ll give them the COVID pass. Their priority, rightfully so, was the safety of the players, coaches, etc... they were successful. Wins and losses were secondary. Not in 2021.
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I think last year's team, especially the leaders, failed to overcome the disappointments-the uncertainty due to Covid and the Big's decisions and delays, loss of key personnel (Parsons), and the disappointing start. For whatever reason, even with the level of talent on this team, they do not seem to prepare well by practicing against each other. I can't envision the memorable Poz vs Michael Robinson bloody competition scenario happening with this team, players or coaches. Unfortunately, they lack the level of testing their abilities for the most part until they are in real games against the better competition, 3 or 4 games into the season. For all the above unique situations, it happened on the first game of the season, and it took them a few more games to get back on track.
I'm hoping more than one player and coach learned something significant from last year.
 
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MacNit07 said:
No - that was not the reason for the finish,
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We lost to a #3 Bama early, played no ranked team until the final 4 games when we were sitting at an 8-1 record. Then we lost to #19 Nebraska, #15 Wiscy, and #20 Houston. We lost to ever ranked opponent we played that year. And yes we played an easy schedule the first 2/3rds of our schedule, Bama being the only exception and we lost to them.
 
HartfordLlion said:
We lost to a #3 Bama early, played no ranked team until the final 4 games when we were sitting at an 8-1 record. Then we lost to #19 Nebraska, #15 Wiscy, and #20 Houston. We lost to ever ranked opponent we played that year. And yes we played an easy schedule the first 2/3rds of our schedule, Bama being the only exception and we lost to them.
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Nothing else happened the last part of that season?? Besides was there a new head coach for those games?
 
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HartfordLlion said:
We lost to a #3 Bama early, played no ranked team until the final 4 games when we were sitting at an 8-1 record. Then we lost to #19 Nebraska, #15 Wiscy, and #20 Houston. We lost to ever ranked opponent we played that year. And yes we played an easy schedule the first 2/3rds of our schedule, Bama being the only exception and we lost to them.
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None of us will ever know what happens vs Nebraska and Wisky under normal circumstances. Honestly not sure we lose both, perhaps neither.
 
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marshall23 said:
Coaches who coach here.....well, come on I don't call it the McAndrew BWI firing squad for nothing. Galt, Franklin, Pry and Smith are all on the hotseat!
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When do the McA board "coaches" see the hot seat??? Then again it is hard to be wrong when you judge the game plan and results after the fact ..... LOL
 
TheWizardofCamelot said:
Crazy what a couple months in the S&C program did for some of those kids. The lineman especially looked like they have transformed their bodies.

Mostella has a long way to go though.
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Yep, Mostella looks pretty thin, especially at 6'7". The physical part is only part of getting on the field, but from what the pictures show McGraw may have a better chance to get in the DE rotation this season. If any of the front line DE's (Isaac, Ebiketie, or Tarburton) they both may have to play a role each game.

Here's how I see thing shaking out in the post Spring depth chart at DE:

1st Isaac Tarburton
2nd Ebiketie Fisher
3rd Vilbert McGraw/Mostella

With Townley showing up this Summer. Townley was listed at 6'6", 220 as a recruit, and not being on campus for the Winter S&C he is likely destined to only get a few snaps in a few games - hopefully there are some blowouts for the good guys .....

Edit: Just looked and PSU listed Mostella at 241 on last Spring's (2020) depth chart, and now at 236 on the current Spring roster. Must have had to turn some flab into muscle, but still has a long way to go to get a YGM body.....
 
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83wuzme said:
Beamon at 269 ? Move to DE ?
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Yep, Beamon at 269 was a big surprise to me as well. I just did a search for his previous weight and last year's Spring depth chart listed him a 286 or 288. I believe he's a 3 tech DT which are typically a little lighter and quicker but 269 sure does seem more typical of a stout DE.

Last season Beamon was touted as being a very quick and active DT, already having added weight in the S&C program, so it is hard to believe he lost that weight to re-sculpt his body. Possibly he was recently sick and lost weight due to it, or maybe he is getting a try at DE........
 
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It seems that Beamon may be looking to become one of those "swing" guys that jump inside and out. Will definitely help with the depth at DE.
 
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PSU_Chicago said:
When do the McA board "coaches" see the hot seat??? Then again it is hard to be wrong when you judge the game plan and results after the fact ..... LOL
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I have been told that there are more than 2 dozen accomplished coaches and athletic administrators who post here. They are omnipotent and omniscient.
 
TheWizardofCamelot said:
It seems that Beamon may be looking to become one of those "swing" guys that jump inside and out. Will definitely help with the depth at DE.
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It seems that the preferred "size" for a 3 tech DT has been around 280-290. But maybe after getting up to that weight last Spring and Summer Beamon just didn't feel comfortable and asked the coaches if he could drop back down to regain some quickness. Who know. But from what I see of the roster and DL depth I'd love to see Beamon out there at DE.......
 
HartfordLlion said:
We lost to a #3 Bama early, played no ranked team until the final 4 games when we were sitting at an 8-1 record. Then we lost to #19 Nebraska, #15 Wiscy, and #20 Houston. We lost to ever ranked opponent we played that year. And yes we played an easy schedule the first 2/3rds of our schedule, Bama being the only exception and we lost to them.
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Would have likely beaten Nebraska and I was at the Houston game.....I doubt Moxie gets punched out and all that shit goes down, if not for crap city. Team didn't want to go to a bowl game....voted that way and damn near got Joyner killed.... They'd have won at least 9 and likely 10.
 
Pretty extensive review of the DT roster and the players likely to end up with playing time....

news.yahoo.com

Breaking down the Penn State spring roster: Defensive tackles

Mar. 20—As Penn State kicks off spring football practice, there's no better time than the usual time to take our first look of the year at Penn State's full roster. Today, we take a deep dive into the defensive tackles. No. Player HT WT ELIG 27 Aeneas Hawkins 6'2" 295 So. 44 Joseph Appiah-Darkwa...
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com
 
83wuzme said:
Strange has done nothing but impress me since he started at PSU. I think he could flourish in Yurcich’s offense along with Johnson.
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Agreed - he is darn good and getting better. A good catch by the coaches
 
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