This Wednesday James Franklin and his staff will meet for the media as the summer slowly rolls along and training camp starts to show its head over the horizon. While the Nittany Lions have managed to avoid any major news items so far since the end of spring practice, that doesn’t mean Penn State isn’t without its fair share of questions heading into the 2022 campaign. Here are the biggest questions or challenges facing each coach ahead of camp.
James Franklin: Steady The Ship
You could write a pretty long list of reasons why Penn State’s past two seasons have gone the way they have. Some of those reasons are out of Franklin’s hands, other aren’t. Whatever the distribution actually is, Franklin’s job is to win and win a lot. One might argue about how reasonable that is any given season, but the job is the job. This year is a chance to right the ship, albeit in the face of a difficult schedule and a roster sorta stuck between two eras. Can he do it?
Manny Diaz: Same But Different [Diaz won’t be at Wednesday’s media session.]
The nice thing for Manny Diaz is that he doesn’t have to overhaul Penn State’s defense to find success. The bad news for Manny Diaz is that Brent Pry’s group had been so good for so long that anything less than that will feel sort of obvious. Diaz was a great hire on paper so this shouldn’t be an issue, all the same change brings about at least some degree of uncertainty. The challenge this year is making a Manny Diaz defense look like nothing changed – at least not when it comes to overall dominance. Can Diaz improve Penn State’s defense in some areas while mostly finding the same success Pry did?
Mike Yurcich: Year 2
Mike Yurcich was the guy every Penn State fan wanted and certainly the guy James Franklin did, and yet Year 1 was a bit of a mess at times. In fairness to Yurcich, this had a lot to do with Sean Clifford getting hurt and the Nittany Lions looked good against Ohio State so its not as though this group was completely lost in the woods. All the same Yurcich will need to kick Penn State’s offense into a higher gear this season and will probably do just that assuming that Clifford can stay healthy and the Nittany Lions can run the ball a bit better in 2022. Those might be two big presumptions though. Does Yurcich’s offense take the next step in Year 2?
Stacy Collins: Kicking It
Collins doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel here but he does need to figure out his kicking situation. Jake Pinegar ought to provide Collins with a good place to start, but punting and Pinegar’s own consistency with field goals will be two big question marks facing this group. Every team wants to field good returners, but that’ll have as much to do with the actual players as it will anything Collins draws up in the huddle.
Terry Smith: Keep It Going
Smith has been around forever and his corners have followed suit with solid play along the way. Not having Tariq Castro-Fields will be a change of pace but plenty of younger names and the return of Joey Porter Jr should give Smith plenty to work with. Porter Jr taking the next step will be key for Penn State’s defense, but that’s a pretty low-stress problem to solve compared to others.
Ty Howle: Potential
Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson don’t lack for skill but the 2021 season seemed to be not the step forward everyone was expecting from this group. Some of that had to do with how they were used, but Strange and Johnson seemed too good to be left at the wayside for long stretches. Getting the most out of this duo isn’t exactly all on Howle, but the better this bunch practices the harder it will be to ignore them. Can Strange and Johnson live up to the hype?
Anthony Poindexter: Don’t Lose A Step
Penn State’s safeties have been dynamite the past few seasons and this year will be a bit of a test of Poindexter as he looks to work in guys around returning starter Ji’Ayir Brown. This group looks like it has the horses to find all the answers that it will need, but the loss of Jaquan Brisker will certainly be felt, especially early on in the season. The nice thing for Penn State’s defense is that most of its biggest questions have fairly straightforward answers. That’s less of the case on the offensive side of the ball.
John Scott Jr: New And Old
The return of Adisa Isaac and PJ Mustipher will give Penn State a good starting point on the defensive front this year but not without questions about the health and the pieces around the them. It has been a long time since Penn State has struggled in the trenches on the defensive side of the ball and it stands to reason this year won’t be any different. Nevertheless bringing back two injured players is always a challenge and working in a new guy like Dani Dennis-Sutton at defensive end could provide the group with a spark as well. Don’t forget Coziah Izzard either. This group has choices, question will be how Scott Jr figures out his rotations.
Ja’Juan Seider: Bounce Back
On paper this running back group should be led by Keyvone Lee who has done everything he can at this point in his career to prove his worth as a starter. Question will be if everyone in the run game can get those extra yards. Penn State struggled on the ground in 2021 – which wasn’t all on the running backs – but this group could have been better than it was. Seider has been a valuable asset to Penn State during his time on campus, but he’ll have to prove his worth a bit this summer as the Nittany Lions look to bounce back on the ground – especially if Yurcich continues to be more of a pass-first minded coordinator.
Taylor Stubblefield: No Jahan
Penn State has the options at receiver to be perfectly fine – especially with Mitchell Tinsley joining the fold – but nothing about losing Jahan Dotson is easy. Stubblefield has done just fine in his role as receivers’ coach so there’s no reason to think this group will struggle in 2022 but filling the shoes of one of the nation’s top receivers is always a challenge.
Phil Trautwein: Can It Get Better?
If James Franklin could flip a switch and make any one thing on his team better it would be the offensive line. This group hasn’t lived up to the standard it needs to and Penn State has suffered for it. Landon Tengwall provided an interesting spark last year but the Nittany Lions will need more than a spark to get this group going. They’ll also need their fair share of luck too – this group will have to stay healthy to make up for a lack of depth. Trautwein is in a tough spot no matter how you slice it.
