Penn State football held its first official practice of the spring on Tuesday. And boy, was it spring. Creeping toward 70, it might have been the nicest day of weather in Happy Valley in 2024. Only 172 days until the season opener at West Virginia.
The sun, it seems, was shining on the Nittany Lions. First days always have a certain sheen to them, anyway. For the Nittany Lions, Day One on the Lasch practice fields had:
• Something old, as James Franklin begins Year 11 as Penn State’s head coach, with an 88-39 overall record and a mark of 21-1 the past two seasons against teams not named Ohio State and Michigan.
• Some things new, in three coordinators — Andy Kotelnicki (offense), Tom Allen (defense) and Justin Lustig (special teams).
• Some things borrowed: PA natives and portal pick-ups Julian Fleming and Nolan Rucci, plus a pair of SEC cornerbacks in Jalen Kimber and A.J. Harris.
• And one coach blue; bad news for RB coach Ja’Juan Seider, who was coaching Tuesday from a scooter.
All were on display at practice during a small window of media availability on Tuesday. Here are 10 prominent names and (both old and new) faces that stood out during Sessions 2, 3 and 4 of Practice 1 of 15. (Franklin’s accompanying comments came at a midday press conference.)
1. TOM ALLEN, the new defensive coordinator who is back coaching position drills after a largely unsuccessful stint as Indiana’s head coach, looked full-on old school football coach. He wore all blue, with a hoodie, and his ballcap had an American flag stitched to the side. He ran from D-group to D-group, and seemed to get a kick out of rapid whistle-blowing during fumble recovery drills.
Franklin: “I know Tom is really, really enjoying being a coordinator again.”
2. ANDY KOTELNICKI, the new offensive coordinator, was a big presence during the offensive drills, in every way possible. Throwing his arms up, playing D-end, shouting, coaching, doing a lot of sprinting from here to there. His predecessor, Mike Yurcich, was a bit of an angry yeller; Kotelnicki, at least for a day, was more boisterous, but without the edge. Under his guidance, the PSU offense did a lot with its short game in practice.
Franklin on Coach K’s offense: “I would say the combination of what (Andy was) able to do at Kansas, what we were able to do the last couple of games, play-action pass specifically, motions, shifts, formations, bunches, stacks, things like that to make it more challenging for people in man coverage. I think those are probably the biggest things that jump out to us.”
3. JULIAN FLEMING, the former Buckeye, kind of blended in with the Nittany Lion wide receiving corps. He has size (6-2, 209), but Malik McClain at 6-4 seemed to tower over him. The few WR drills I watched, Fleming waited his turn in the middle of the pack, and dutifully carried out his fakes, even when the pass didn’t go his way.
Franklin: “I think Julian Fleming, another local guy that we’ve been able to bring back home, he’s brought an element of experience, of maturity that I think has been really good and has approached things really the right way since he stepped on campus”.
4. NOLAN RUCCI looked like one of the bigger guys who was working off in the corner of the practice fields with the offensive line. Because he was.
Franklin: “Being able to go out and bring Rucci back home, which I think was huge for us…. To have him back, he’s already up, I think, to 315 pounds, which has a little bit been his issue. I don’t think he broke 300 pounds the entire time he was at the previous school (Wisconsin) and looks great. …He’s like all of 6-7, if not 6-8, so he is 315 pounds and still looks skinny.”
5. ABDUL CARTER, as Franklin revealed in his press conference, asked — along with his father — to be moved from linebacker to defensive end. Tuesday, Carter still wore the double sticks of LBU’s No. 11 during D-line drills. He looked thick, and bounced around like he was having fun in his new position home. I’m thinking this is his last-ever Day One of spring drills at Penn State (he probably was, too).
Franklin: “He was really kind of on the bubble of struggling I think to keep his weight as a linebacker. Him and Kobe (King, the linebacker). They’ve been right around 250, above or below, for a while. So, I think his body was naturally telling him he could make the move if he needed to and wanted to. And there’s an opportunity there.”
6. DREW ALLAR provided an interesting glimpse into his new life as the No. 1 Penn State quarterback under Coach K. It came in pitch drills, when Kotelnicki played the defensive end and Allar stopped, planted his right foot, and tossed the ball back to his right to a trailing back. From Day One, the new OC is asking the now old(er) QB to try new things.
Franklin: “Drew has had a great offseason. He’s moving better. He looks better. He looks leaner. His weight is still very similar, but I think he’s changed kind of his body composition in a lot of ways.”
7. JA’JUAN SEIDER was riding a scooter, but stayed in the middle of the drills. He had offseason leg surgery — a new knee, per @PSULawnBoyz. The scooter kinda proves that Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen are such a good 1-2 punch, you can coach them sitting down.
Franklin: “It’s an exciting room. Should be a lot of competition. We kind of have an idea of who Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen are, just like you guys do.”
8. FUMI FRANKLIN. The coach’s wife was on the sidelines Tuesday, an unassuming presence watching practice far from the media horde. It’s not a rarity to see her there these days, sans daughters, who are now teenagers, a far cry from the young kids who used to run around at the Penn State practices when the Franklins arrived in 2014.
9. BOOKER BROOKS was also back on the sidelines. The former Penn State wide receivers coach for 11 years in the 1970s and early 80s, has been a regular at practice for many years, with Franklin’s blessing. When Brooks left Penn State in 1984, he went on to coach at Oregon and after a circuitous route, he’s now in his mid-80s and back in State College. I often try to soak up Booker’s football wisdom when he’s at an open practice.
10. “PAT PRINCIPE?” I smiled when I walked into the Beaver Stadium media room on Tuesday. “Didn’t you retire?” The sports broadcasting legend from Lancaster’s WGAL-TV laughed. “Not yet.” But soon, later this spring.
Franklin: I chuckled when Principe asked Franklin a question at the presser. The Penn State head coach, who gave Principe and PennLive.com icon David Jones game balls at the Peach Bowl in recognition of their impending retirements, did a double-take when he saw it was Principe with the mic and the question.
