Penn State follows coach’s lead with high-energy approach
Penn State coach James Franklin runs one of the team’s practices as the Lions prepare for their season opener in Dublin, Ireland.
Penn State head coach James Franklin, second from left, poses for a selfie with, from left, running back Bill Belton, kicker Sam Ficken and linebacker Mike Hull in July at the Big Ten media days in Chicago.
UNIVERSITY PARK – Coach James Franklin is a high-energy guy, and based on his preseason banter, that same energy should be reflected in Penn State’s play on both sides of the ball this football season.
Offensively, it will start with Christian Hackenberg, last year’s freshman phenom who quickly began to develop into a first-rate quarterback. Hackenberg, who enrolled at Penn State in June 2013, was thrown into the fray when Steven Bench, the front-runner to succeed Matt McGloin, transferred to South Florida.
Hackenberg has lost some key weapons in his arsenal, most notably his top two receivers: the acrobatic Allen Robinson, who led the Big Ten with 97 receptions for 1,432 yards, and Brandon Felder, who had 28 catches for 312 yards.
But Franklin, who was hired in January to replace Bill O’Brien, believes he has a solid game plan that will play to Hackenberg’s strengths.
“I think when you have a quarterback like Christian, you say, ‘Well, let’s just throw the ball,’ but you have to be careful because over time, you become predictable, and you have to be careful,” Franklin said. “We are going to have to commit to the running game and stick to the running game no matter what.
“I actually think that Christian is a lot more mobile and a lot more athletic than people realize, but he has not been asked or used that way, and I think that probably makes a whole lot of sense. It’s not like we are going to be running quarterback powers and read options and things like that with him.”
Hackenberg passed for 2,955 yards and 20 touchdowns last year and finished the season with a 134.0 quarterback rating. During the off-season, he worked out in the weight room to get stronger and faster, saying that last year, he was hurting after every game.
“I’m not trying to be Johnny Football or Cam Newton,” he said. “I’ve been putting more mass on my shoulders, chest and back. I’m trying to get in top shape. I’m just trying to be the guy the team can lean on when they need me and when I’m asked to make the play, and sort of help everyone else develop.”
The same can be said of his counterpart on defense: Canon-McMillan High School graduate Mike Hull, who was moved back to inside linebacker after spending the 2013 season outside. The fifth-year senior will be more vocal on the field and will be responsible for setting the defenses.
“We have seven guys back, and we have a lot of good chemistry,” Hull said. “We’re definitely going to have an aggressive attack. I’d rather get off the field and keep the offense on the field.”
Franklin and offensive coordinator John Donovan believe the tight ends might shoulder much of the burden in the passing game early in the season. Junior Jesse James may be the main target – and a large one at that, standing 6 feet 7 inches tall. Last year, he caught 25 passes for 333 yards.
“He’s the prototypical guy you think of when you hear tight end,” Donovan said. “He’s tall, he’s big, he’s massive, he’s strong, he can run, and he’s smart. So he’s definitely got everything you want. … He needs to be dominant.”
James is joined at tight end by redshirt junior Kyle Carter and sophomore Adam Breneman. The trio was among the top six receivers last season.
“I actually think where a lot of the makeup for the production that we lost will come from is the tight end position,” Franklin said. “That’s where we have the most experience and depth.”
The Lions aren’t at a loss for depth in the running game either. The top two rushers return in Zach Zwinak and Bill Belton, with a talented supporting cast awaiting their shot. Zwinak had 210 carries for 989 yards last year, and Belton carried the ball 157 times for 803 yards. However, both had trouble holding on to the ball, especially in critical situations.
“If you look across the country in college and the NFL, you really need three running backs for a whole season,” Franklin said. “You need to keep those guys healthy and fresh and rotate them so that you have a chance to dictate the terms of the game and force your will on your opponent in the fourth quarter.”
Of course, the productivity of any one of these Lions could hinge on the effectiveness of the offensive line, which lacks depth and flexibility. The depth chart shows redshirt junior Angelo Mangiro at center, with redshirt senior Miles Dieffenbach and redshirt sophomore Derek Dowrey at right and left guard, respectively. Manning the tackle positions are redshirt freshman Andrew Nelson and redshirt junior Donovan Smith.
Franklin, however, isn’t too worried. Since the Blue-White game in the spring, some of the players have gotten bigger and stronger, and they’ve been going up against a defensive line that Franklin believes is top-notch.
“I do think the fact we have a defensive line that we have a lot of confidence in is going to be helpful,” Franklin said, “because iron sharpens iron, and the fact that they are going to be out there at practice every single day going at what we feel is a quality defensive line … I do feel really good about what we’re going to do in terms of calling the offense to help with that.”
The defensive line will be led by senior C.J. Olaniyan and redshirt junior Deion Barnes, who will be manning the ends, and redshirt sophomore Austin Johnson and redshirt junior Anthony Zettel inside. Plus, the Lions have depth at end, with a healthy Brad Bars back in uniform, plus Carl Nassib and Garrett Sickels.
“I’m really excited about our defensive ends. I think between Barnes and C.J., we have as good a one-two punch as there is in the league,” defensive coordinator Bob Shoop said.
And Zettel, he said, is no slouch, either.
“He was arguably one of our top players in the spring,” Shoop said. “He’s a little bit like what we are looking for. We’ll take a little undersized guy at that particular position as long as he’s got what we call twitch movement. We are not going to really be static in our alignment a lot. We’ll do a lot of movement and things like that, and Anthony provides a lot of what we are looking for.”
Olaniyan led the 2013 squad in sacks with five, and Zettel had four.
In addition to Hull, the Lions return three other scholarship players at linebacker: sophomore Brandon Bell and redshirt sophomores Nyeem Wartman and Gary Wooten. Bell and Wartman both saw considerable action last year, with Bell and Wartman each starting one game.
But the Lions did lose Ben Kline, who suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the spring after shoulder and chest injuries slowed him down early last year. He made two starts last season.
“We’re going to play more zone pressures and blitzes. I think that plays to our team strengths right now,” said Hull, who finished only behind Glenn Carson in total tackles last year with 78. “Coach Shoop does a really good job fitting the scheme to the players, not the players to the scheme. It will really benefit us the things he does.”
The Lions may be strongest in the secondary, where senior safeties Ryan Keiser and Adrian Amos reside.
“I think Adrian Amos, and I’ve said this a hundred times now, has as good a skill set as anybody I’ve ever been around,” Shoop said. “Adrian has a safety’s body and corner’s skill set. You’ll find him all over the field. He and I have as good a relationship as any player I’ve ever coached.”
Jordan Lucas and Trevor Williams round out the secondary. Last year, Lucas was third on the team in tackles with 65 and recorded one sack.
Regardless of who is playing defense, Franklin wants to hear as much chatter as possible among Hull, the other linebackers and the secondary.
“The reality is you want to be right 100 percent of the time, but the truth is, you can still be successful if you are wrong, but you’re all wrong, if that makes sense,” Franklin said. “I’ve seen that over and over. As coaches, you’re watching something, and when they didn’t get the check, the coaches go, ‘no, no, no.’ Then ‘yes, yes, yes,’ because the players ended up executing a different call, but they executed it together, and that’s the important thing. It’s not always about making the perfect call.”