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Penn State football practice observations

By Audrey Snyder/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8 years ago

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State hit the practice field Wednesday afternoon and will do so again Wednesday evening.

The Lions worked on situational drills toward the end of practice where the final 10 minutes or so was open to the media. Coach James Franklin barked out game situations to the first-team offense, like one where the Nittany Lions tried to move the ball against the first-team defense. This situation was one Penn State faced last year in the season opener against UCF where the Lions had 1:08 left on the clock, had three timeouts and needed a field goal to win. Last year it resulted in a 36-yard field goal from Sam Ficken for the win. With Ficken gone this time around the results were a bit different.

For this particular sequence quarterback Christian Hackenberg and the first-team offense were on the field, with an offensive line that included: left tackle Paris Palmer, left guard Brendan Mahon, center Angelo Mangiro, right guard Brian Gaia and right tackle Andrew Nelson. Wide receivers DaeSean Hamilton, DeAndre Thompkins and Saeed Blacknall were on the field, along with running back Akeel Lynch and tight end Mike Gesikci.

The first-team defense for this sequence showed their nickel defense, which for today looked like this: Defensive ends: Garrett Sickles, Curtis Cothran. Tackles: Anthony Zettel, Austin Johnson. Linebackers: Brandon Bell, Nyeem Wartman-White. Safeties: Marcus Allen, Malik Golden. Cornerbacks: Grant Haley, Trevor Williams. Starting safety Jordan Lucas stayed on the field as well.

Linebacker Jason Cabinda checked in later on and continues putting together what teammates said has been an impressive camp. Cabinda let out a smile after practice and said he picked off Hackenberg during the team’s scrimmage last Saturday. Running back Akeel Lynch was quick to point out that Cabinda has made several interceptions throughout camp.

Anyhow, Wednesday there was no sign of starting defensive end Carl Nassib who reportedly also missed practice last week due to injury. Curtis Cothran stepped in with the first-team defense in his place. 

The highlight of the brief period of practice that was open to the media came during Penn State’s attempt to mimic the UCF scenario. After short passes to Gesicki and Hamilton, Hackenberg unleashed a deep ball down the far sideline to Blacknall who hauled it in between Lucas and Golden.

While it was a positive for the Penn State offense that they were able to move the ball, kicker Joey Julius came on to attempt about a 44 yard field goal –which would give Penn State the win in the mock scenario.

The walk-on redshirt freshman missed it wide right. Julius then attempted another one from about the same distance and also missed wide right. He stayed after practice to get in some more kicks in off the tee and I saw him miss another one, this time wide left.

This was by far the most erratic we’ve seen Julius, but like special teams coach Charles Huff said before camp started, every practice is evaluated so while Julius looked shaky during this brief portion today, he’s been better than this at least from what we’ve seen at previous practices. It’s all taken into account when they try to determine if Julius or fellow walk-on Tyler Davis earn the spot.  

Additional observations:

-Redshirt freshman running back Nick Scott tried to haul in a short underneath pass from Hackenberg, on what looked like a catchable ball, but dropped it.

-Offensive lineman Wendy Laurent, who Franklin praised last week for his performance and his push for a starting job, took some reps at right guard when Trace McSorley went in at quarterback and running back Mark Allen was next to him. Angelo Mangiro held down his duties at center during this part of the practice.

-Trace McSorley was picked off by Golden on a pass that appeared to hit off the hands of freshman wide receiver Juwan Johnson.

-With McSorley under center Penn State also showed off part of a mix of starters and reserves, including Albert Hall at left tackle, Kevin Reihner at left guard, Derek Dowrey at center, Brian Gaia at right guard and Noah Beh at right tackle.

-Freshman receiver Brandon Polk, the one who Franklin said last week has showed off his speed, did so on an end around. McSorley sold the fake hand off to Mark Allen well and Polk had a large hole on the left side to run through. On the left side freshman tight end Jonathan Holland sustained his block on redshirt freshman linebacker Troy Reeder.

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