For a team that finished last season ranked first nationally in rush defense (84.8 yards per game) along with 87 tackles for loss and 30 sacks, both top-30 marks nationally, the goal for 2015 will be to maintain that high level of production. For Penn State’s defense, that starts with the big guys up front.
Spring football is well underway in Happy Valley, and we're just three weeks -- 21 days -- away from the Blue-White Game. With that in mind, it's time to begin our position previews with Penn State football's special teams unit before diving into the defense and then finishing with the offense. While there are punters and kick/punt returners to worry about, the most noteworthy battle within the special teams unit falls on one big question: Who can fill Sam Ficken's big shoes?
James Franklin DM’s at 4:57. As in 4:57 a.m. He flies to Boston and back. In an afternoon. He drives to the Lehigh Valley for a Sunday afternoon football banquet and back. In a day. In a snowstorm. For five hours. One way. (Although I’m not sure how much of it was uphill.) Time waits for no man. But it does allow James to ride shotgun.
After a brief hiatus in 2013, the player autograph session will return to Beaver Stadium for the second consecutive year to highlight a jam-packed weekend of activities for Penn State's annual Blue-White scrimmage on April 18.
Penn State football lost DB Kasey Gaines, but the departure proved that this team is past depth issues.
Kasey Gaines, a former three-star recruit part of Bill O'Brien's final recruiting class in 2013, is no longer with the Penn State football program.