Advertisement

Kicking 'still a concern' as Penn State emphasizes special teams improvement

By Audrey Snyder/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8 years ago

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Sorting out Penn State’s specialists will continue to be a point of emphasis as the Sept. 5 season opener against Temple nears.

“I think it’s still a concern for us,” James Franklin said Wednesday following the team’s practice. “I think place kicking and punter is still a concern. We knew that going into the offseason.”

Penn State typically releases a depth chart by Tuesday afternoon of game week, though we’ve all grown accustomed to the “OR” listed after players’ names in the past so until the game there’s really no way of telling, right?

Franklin said that Joey Julius has an edge in the kicking competition against Tyler Davis, though the coach acknowledged it isn’t by much. Punter Daniel Pasquariello also is a bit ahead of Chris Gulla, who Franklin said came on strong within the last week. Consistency is key for all of them.

Both Julius and Davis kicked off with Koa Farmer back deep to return during the final 10 minutes of practice that was open to the media. With the whole team in helmets and shorts, running backs Nick Scott and Saquon Barkley were behind Farmer and are also kick return options, Franklin said.

“The returners, it’s just different,” Franklin said, adding that the team practiced in Beaver Stadium Tuesday night because he wanted it to experience playing under the lights prior to being in their for a night game. “Last year we went with a situation where reliable guys, guys that were going to be safe in terms of fielding the punts and making great decisions.

“This year we’re in a position where we feel confident with those guys fielding the balls and communicating and also have the ability to make some plays.”

Among the punt returners Franklin mentioned are running back Mark Allen, receiver DeAndre Thompkins and receiver Brandon Polk. Franklin said the team will emphasize special teams during the rest of the practices leading up to the opener. How soon they settle on returners sounds just like the specialists and any other position where if one player is struggling another will be given an opportunity.

“It might be a situation where we rotate those guys every kick until somebody separates themselves from the pack,” Franklin said of his returners. “All of them are catching the ball really well right now, but we’ve only done so many reps of live special teams so seeing what those guys are going to do in live situations with lights on it may take us a couple weeks to figure that out.”

When the team did go live on special teams a couple weeks ago it was Farmer who returned a kick 100 yards for a touchdown. For now it would seem like that’s a pretty nice clip for his highlights, though the entire body of work always has to be taken into account.

At 5-foot-9, 163 pounds Polk’s speed turned heads during camp so much so that Franklin mentioned the receiver among the four players who are in the “green category” for freshmen. Penn State breaks their freshmen down into red, yellow and green, with the greens being the ones who are going to see the field this season. Polk’s work on special teams could be part of the reason he’s in that green category.

I made my redshirt predictions on Monday and based off what Franklin Wednesday cornerback John Reid, receiver Juwan Johnson and running back Saquon Barkley join Polk in the green category. For now those are the four freshmen that Franklin said are slated to play this season though there are 12-14 players who he said are in the yellow,  or maybe, category.

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