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The new normal? Penn State secures special teams commitment

Audrey Snyder/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8 years ago

Last November Charles Huff said Penn State had to decide which leaks to plug first when there were so many needs to fill and not enough scholarships to go around. 

The Penn State special teams coordinator wants scholarship specialists, but the scholarship limitations from the NCAA sanctions left James Franklin and his staff with bigger needs to fill when they took over in 2014. With the Lions allowed to have the full allotment of 85 scholarships this season — a number the team should be close to by my calculations— the depth chart is becoming more balanced with scholarship players across the board. It’ll take years for the scholarships to be balanced per class, but for now they continue to fill needs.  

A lack of scholarship linebackers, one Bill O’Brien cited numerous times during his tenure, is now turned around with 11 scholarship ‘backers once the freshman class enrolls next week. The offensive line secured 13 commitments since Franklin took over, helping fill his top need, though the program still needs time to develop the young linemen. Penn State has verbal commitments from four offensive linemen in the 2016 class. 

Sunday afternoon Penn State took another step forward in returning to creating a balanced roster as 2016 punter Blake Gillikin gave the program his verbal commitment.

Gillikin, one of the top punters in the class, chose Penn State over scholarship offers from Northwestern and the in-state Georgia Bulldogs. He’s the 11th verbal commitment in a class that includes some elite offensive linemen, also helping round out another big need need. 

Gillikin is the first scholarship punter to be recruited to Penn State in some time. Anthony Fera, who left the program in 2012 after the sanctions were announced, was a scholarship specialist who could handle both kicking and punting duties, but he was brought in as a kicker. Fera’s departure thrust Sam Ficken into kicking duties while Alex Butterworth handled punting duties. Last season Ficken, who has since graduated, was the Lions’ lone scholarship specialist.  

Penn State has zero scholarship specialists on the roster headed into this season. 

Penn State previously extended a scholarship to 2016 kicker Quinn Nordin. Nordin visited for the Blue-White Game and has yet to decide on a school. 

Using a scholarship on a specialist is high risk-high reward. Franklin mentioned during spring practice that while he wants scholarship specialists on his roster and that Penn State needs them, ultimately if they miss on a specialist where do they put them? Unlike other positions where an oversized  wide receiver could move to tight end, a quicker receiver could transition into a defensive back or a linebacker to safety, etc. there are few options with specialists. 

Penn State searched the globe last year looking for a punter, before settling on a timeshare between kicker-turned punter Chris Gulla and Australian-born punter Daniel Pasquariello. It’s safe to say it didn’t go as well as they hoped as both struggled with consistency. There were numerous walk-on specialists in camp this spring because Penn State was looking for stability at punter and kicker, two areas that will be open competitions when the team opens camp in August. 

With the verbal pledge from Gillikin Penn State’s run of walk-on specialists could come to an end following this season. If it does, the focus will then shift to how quickly the staff can develop some of the top talents and whether or not the scholarships are used on players who can be difference makers. 

Audrey Snyder: asnyder@post-gazette.com and Twitter: @audsnyder4