Penn State football offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki spent two months designing his new offense for the Nittany Lions. Still with three weeks until his group’s biggest exposé of its abilities yet, Kotelnicki has had seven days and four practices to see his vision put into motion.

Kotelnicki, a relatively recent hire from Kansas, was brought into Penn State to reinvent and reinvigorate an offense that kept the Nittany Lions from challenging for a Big Ten title the year prior. After working with Kotelnicki over the team’s early part of the offseason, James Franklin had high praises for Mike Yurcich’s replacement.

“I think the biggest thing is being head coach of the offense… And I think he’s done a really good job of that,” Franklin said after Penn State’s fourth spring practice Tuesday. “Andy’s doing a really good job of explaining the why and teaching football and really getting everybody pulling the rope in the same direction and getting excited about what we’re going to be able to accomplish on offense this year.”

Franklin has preached about finding a “head coach of the offense” since he fired Yurcich after a loss to Michigan. He said the same thing about his hiring of defensive coordinator Tom Allen and special teams coordinator Justin Lustig.

With a former five-star quarterback who underperformed expectations in 2023 and a wide receiver group that often hurt the team more than it helped, Kotelnicki was expected to advance Drew Allar’s development and bring the receivers back to life.

Thus far, Kotelnicki and Franklin have preached success in those areas. Kotelnicki isn’t totally scrapping Penn State’s old formula and dropping a new playbook on the table — he’ll continue to use the same players. This includes backup quarterback Beau Pribula, who the Nittany Lions used as an alternative to Allar frequently in the 2023 season.

However, with the tight end room lacking future NFL draftee Theo Johnson, Kotelnicki will likely have to move his group away from the 12-personnel scheme used last year and lean on the same wide receiver corps that consistently disappointed.

“I think they’re progressing really, really well right now. I’m very pleased with that group,” Kotelnicki said of the wide receivers. “They wear that chip on the shoulder.”

“They have committed themselves to improving daily and it’s very evident. We’ve challenged them physically and mentally more than they have been,” Kotelnicki continued. “And they’re responding super well.”

During his Tuesday availability, Kotelnicki frequently addressed himself as a “teacher” just as often as he referred to himself as a “coach.” He and Franklin both spoke about how the coaching staff is trying to get the team on board with a new program, starting with telling players why they’re doing something in addition to telling them how to do something.

Explaining to players why they’re playing a certain way isn’t a new characteristic for Penn State — its defensive players raved about former defensive coordinator Manny Diaz for the same trait. Franklin and Co. are hoping the success the defense displayed last year will rub off on the other side of the ball.

“It starts with getting them to understand why we’re doing these things,” Kotelnicki said. “There was a lot of consistency when you ask people what it is you want it to look like. [We’re] showing them these are the things you want it to be, so let’s go be these things.”

“You can’t just talk about being enthusiastic. You can’t just talk about being physical. You can’t just talk about trying to be explosive,” Kotelnicki continued. “We’re going to be on the same page on all the things that we said. We have to go out there and do that and be very intentional about doing them.”