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Penn State Football Spring Position Battles To Watch

by Matthew Fox and Hayden Christ

James Franklin is facing perhaps the biggest turnover in his career so far at Penn State this offseason. Gone are Saquon Barkley, Mike Gesicki, DaeSean Hamilton, Jason Cabinda, Marcus Allen, and other key contributors from previous seasons.

Franklin has recruited extremely well since he was hired in 2014. Those recruiting dividends should help smooth the transition, as a host of players who have played sparingly or not at all will be asked to step up and take larger roles this season.

That said, there remain a couple of question marks across the roster. We highlighted a few of the key position battles playing out this spring.

Running Back

There’s no overstating how crucial Saquon Barkley was to the Nittany Lions during his three seasons with the program. But now with Barkley foregoing his senior season to enter the NFL Draft, Franklin must find a way to replace his best player.

Barkley is a once-in-a-generation athlete, whose character off the field exceeds his ability on it. In a sense, there is no “replacing” Saquon Barkley. However, the Nittany Lions have as capable an heir to Barkley’s former position as they could hope for in Miles Sanders.

Sanders is a former five-star recruit who was the No. 1-ranked running back in the country coming out of high school. He’s spent the last two seasons biding his time behind Barkley and appears to be ready to make the running back position his own this fall.

“You look at the model that the Packers were able to use when I was there, and you had Brett Favre and you draft a quarterback in the first round and you allow him to sit there and learn,” Franklin said. “So to me, that’s the right model. I mean, I can’t imagine that there is a better player for Miles to come up under than Saquon Barkley.”

If everything goes to plan, Sanders will get a majority of the touches out of the backfield this fall, but who his primary backup will be this season is yet to be determined. Veterans Mark Allen and Jonathan Thomas return along with redshirt freshman Journey Brown. Franklin will also get to add blue chip prospect Ricky Slade to the group this summer.

Allen is probably the current favorite to fill the lead backup role, as he’s by far the most experienced running back on the roster behind Sanders. But, that might depend on how quickly Slade can acclimate himself to Penn State’s offense and the collegiate level.

Slade was an electric playmaker at the high school level and has proven to be a capable pass catcher out of the backfield. How his unique skill set is utilized by new offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne will be something for fans to watch out for next season.

Tight End

The battle for the tight end position vacated by Mike Gesicki is currently wide open, as replacing the lengthy red zone threat will be high on Franklin’s priority list this offseason. Currently on the roster as potential candidates to fill the gap are Nick Bowers, Jonathan Holland, and sDanny Dalton. So far Franklin has been happy with what he’s seen from the group so far.

“You’ve got [Nick] Bowers and you’ve got [Danny] Dalton and you have [Jonathan] Holland. You have all these guys that have been able to kind of marinate in the fridge and grow and get stronger and kind of watch Mike’s successes and learn from them,” Franklin said. “I’m excited about the group.”

The Nittany Lions will also get the benefit of adding Pat Freiermuth and Zack Kuntz to the tight end position this summer. Both players were highly touted four-star prospects coming out of high school and were recruited by programs across the nation.

Franklin hasn’t ruled out giving early playing time to either of the two freshmen, saying, “We’ve got two guys coming in and they are going to help that group as well, and we’ve got to get everybody here and we’ve got to get everybody competing.”

It probably won’t be until later this summer before one or more players from the tight end group begin to separate themselves from the rest.

Linebacker

Penn State football’s defense has some big shoes to fill this year at the middle linebacker position. Some key players to look at in this position are Koa Farmer, Cam Brown, Jarvis Miller, and Dae’Lun Darien. Franklin feels these guys are ready to take the next step and become those role players.

“So we’ve got some really good body types and options to work with,” Franklin said. “We’ve just got to find the guys.”

Another name  thrown around in the middle linebacker position is Micah Parsons, who hasn’t ever played the position, but is more than versatile enough to be there. Other young players in the race for the spot include Nick Tarburton and Jesse Luketa.

Franklin expects folks like Jake Cooper and Jan Johnson to become significant role players at the middle linebacker spot as well, even if they’renot competing for the starting job this fall.

Defensive Tackle

As far as defensive tackles go, there’s plenty of competition behind Robert Windsor and Kevin Givens. Antonio Shelton appears ready to take over some time on the field, and is bringing a lot of excitement to the defensive tackle area.

“[Shelton]’s big and he’s strong and he’s smart,” Franklin said. “He’s closed the gap.”

Some other potential players who could make an impact at this position are Ellison Jordan, Fred Hansard, and Damion Barber. All of those guys have the athletic, big body that could help provide depth for the Nittany Lions’ defensive line.

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