There was a dress rehearsal the day before Penn State played Kent State. Tom Allen, the team’s defensive coordinator, went to the coaches’ box. Dan Connor, the program’s all-time leading tackler and now a defensive analyst, put on the headset and manned the sideline. It was a shift that proved successful the next day, two weeks after an ugly win over Bowling Green.
Allen’s voice is raspy, which made it difficult for him to relay his play calls to linebacker Kobe King, the designated starting helmet communicator. That was one of a handful of problems the Nittany Lions’ defense faced in its victory over the Falcons. With Allen in the booth and Connor’s clearer voice in the mic against the Golden Flashes, it was resolved.
Whether Allen will call Saturday’s game in the booth rather than the sideline remains a “week-to-week” decision, James Franklin said. But he’d sure like his defensive coordinator to stay put upstairs, especially given the unit’s success in a 56-0 shutout last weekend.
“I think the best place to call from is the booth,” Franklin said. “You can lay out all your call sheets. Makes it easy to kind of write down and take notes. Makes it easy to be focused on the game and not dealing with the fans and not dealing with the emotions of the players on the sideline, and not dealing with weather.”
Allen’s decision to turn the headset over to Connor should also make it easier for King to understand what plays are being called.
King’s job is difficult. He’s the quarterback of the defense, who now not only has to know his role but make sure every defensive player knows theirs too. Without a huddle, this can be a real challenge for a defense. That means King is tasked with directing the defensive line, the linebackers next to him and the defensive backs behind him all at the same time.
It’s essential that King can ascertain what plays are being called, so he can pass that along in a nimble manner.
“Him not being on the mic, Dan Connor having the mic and it being a different voice that is more understandable, not saying that Coach Allen wasn’t understandable, but (Connor’s) a younger guy. He gets us more,” King said after practice on Wednesday.
It wasn’t just Allen’s voice that was a problem, it was his voice among a noisy Beaver Stadium crowd that made it a consistent struggle for King against Kent State. Penn State has called for “White Out energy” in its night game debut against the Fighting Illini, making crowd noise all the more impactful this weekend.
“That’s why yesterday and today we had the defense in here with the crowd noise going and obviously we have cleaned some things up, as well, with just how we’re operating, and how dependent we are on the headset communication and how much we’re not using the headset communication,” Franklin said. “We’re kind of working through some of the kinks.”
There’s a widespread trust among the defense, from players to coach, in Connor. That’s part of the reason Allen has felt comfortable handing him the headset. The Nittany Lions’ defensive helmet communication is not a small issue. It’s the relaying of plays used to win games, and Connor has been trusted to be the middleman.
Connor has only wowed fellow staffers, like longtime cornerbacks coach Terry Smith, who believes his coaching career has only just begun.
“Dan is as amazing a coach as he was a player,” Smith said. “He’s very dynamic. He doesn’t talk a lot, but when he talks, there’s such great substance behind it. He’s a great leader. He’s very insightful. You can see all the reasons why he was a great player, why he is Penn State’s all-time leading tackler, and he just passes that on to the linebacker crew.”
