Football Camps Show Off Arms of Former QBs on Penn State Coaching Staff

Penn State’s “Friday Night Lights” high school football camp had to bring back memories for offensive coordinator John Donovan.

Same goes for head coach James Franklin – just as last week’s camp no doubt did for defensive Bob Shoop.

The reason?

Penn State’s coaching Big Three were throwing the football left (by Shoop) and right (by Donovan and his boss) by the dozens. And some times intentionally not right on, either.

When Franklin pulled aside a studly camper to throw some passes to on Friday, the coach wasn’t always on target. On purpose, with purpose.

Franklin wanted to check out the kid’s ability to catch over his shoulder, turning back, grabbing low and catching across his body. They went east to west, then north to south. So Franklin threw every which way but loose.

Franklin, who passed for over 4,500 yards, with 33 touchdown passes, as a two-year starter at East Stroudsburg University in 1993-94, still has an arm. He throws a tight ball, accurately, with touch but speed. He also ran for 938 yards those two seasons, but his foot speed now? Well, at 43 he ain’t a 4.3.

Donovan, meanwhile, in high school was an all-league quarterback and kicker – are you listening, Charles Huff? – at River Dell (N.J.), but switched to cornerback at Johns Hopkins. On Friday night, Donovan was intensely firing the ball to a trio of campers. He held nothing back, rifling the ball, especially on out routes. 

At last week’s camp, Shoop tossed downfield pass after downfield pass to a long line of high school defensive backs. At the camp, Shoop was master of the double-pump, selling the toss with a deep shoulder fake. The next day, he said he paid the price for all the throws.

Shoop certainly had an arm as a high schooler from Oakmont. He was a three-sport star at Riverview High and was the winning pitcher for the Raiders’ PIAA championship baseball team in 1983. Shoop was the starting quarterback at Riverview during his sophomore and junior seasons, before moving to wide receiver as a senior. That’s where he stayed at Yale, where he started at wideout for two seasons. Shoop’s younger brother, John, now the offensive coordinator at Purdue, was also a quarterback.

HEAD COACHES, PAST AND PRESENT

Penn State can’t seem never have too many (former) quarterbacks and ex-head coaches.

In all, the Nittany Lions’ staff is comprised of six coaches who played quarterback in the high school and/or college ranks. In addition to Franklin and his two coordinators, there’s cornerback coach Terry Smith, quarterback coach Ricky Rahne and newly-hired consultant Jim Haslett.

And again counting Franklin, the staff has four coaches who’ve been a head football coach at the high school (Smith), college (Franklin, Shoop) or professional (Jim Haslett) levels. Before going 7-6 at Penn State last season, Franklin was 24-15 as head coach at Vanderbilt.

In the Big Ten’s East division, only Ohio State can come close to that number. The Buckeyes’ head coach, Urban Meyer, is in charge of his fourth program (Bowling Green, Utah and Florida before OSU), while his assistant, Luke Fickell was OSU’s head coach in 2011. In addition, Ohio State has four assistants who were high school head coaches. Michigan and Maryland each have two head coaches on their staffs (counting their current head coaches), and Rutgers has three. Both Michigan State and Indiana have only one head coach past or present on their staffs – the current bosses.

QB’s and HC’s typically have a lot in common: They’re smart, football-savvy, are born or made leaders, and have a disproportionate effect on the game.

So, it’s no surprise that all four one-time head coaches on the 2015 Penn State staff all played quarterback at some level of football. That includes Haslett, who spent his entire college career as a four-time Little All-American at Indiana (Pa.) and seven-year career with the Buffalo Bills all at linebacker. As a head coach, Haslett was 45-51 with New Orleans (2000-05) in the NFL and led the Saints to the 2000 NFC West Championship, while earning AP Coach of the Year honors. He was 2-10 in a stint as interim head coach of the St. Louis Rams.

Shoop had the unenviable task of being a head coach at Columbia, where he went 7-23. As the head coach at his alma mater, Gateway High School, Smith  was 101-30 from 2002-12, with four WPIAL AAAA runner-up finishes. As a quarterback at Gateway, Smith was the WPIAL AAA Eastern Player of the Year in 1986, leading Gateway to the league title. He was 24-1-1 in his high school career.

RAHNE AND THE BIG RED

For his part, Rahne was a three-year starting quarterback at Cornell in in the Ivy League, where he threw for 7,710 yards with 54 TD passes and 32 interceptions.

Prior to Penn State, Rahne coached at Holy Cross (assistant D-line), Cornell (running backs), Kansas State (tight ends, running backs) and three seasons (2011-13) at vanderbilt as quarterback coach under Franklin. From 2011-13 under Rahne, the Commodores’ passing game averaged, per season, 210 of 357 (58.8%) for 2,667 yards, with 15.7 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions.

When Franklin brought him along from Vandy prior to the 2014 season, Rahne stated his goals in developing Nittany Lion quarterback Christian Hackenberg, who was coming off a stellar freshman season. “My job is to make sure he gets better fundamentally and keeps getting better mentally,” Rahne said. “And his goal is the same.”

As it happened, Hackenberg went through a rough patch midway through last season with an inexperienced line. In a six-game stretch (a 2-4 record), Hackenberg threw nine interceptions and just three TDs, while completing 52% of his passes and averaging 176 passing yards per game.

Hackenberg says an offseason of coaching by a staff of former quarterbacks has worked wonders. 

“That relationship has been awesome,” Hackenberg said of his O-coordinator and position coach this spring. “I love everything that they’re doing. I love their mindset, I love their approach to the game and I love working with them. They’re guys that make me excited about stepping in that building every day because I know that there’s a focus and there’s a sincere and genuine care for us to be the best that we can be.

“And with Coach Rahne in the quarterback room and Coach Donovan for the entire offense, with those guys leading the charge, you have to feel pretty confident in what they’re doing and how we’re attacking defenses each week.”

SHOOP THERE HE IS

Shoop, too, has had an influence on Hackenberg.

“He and I have a great relationship,” Shoop told the Big Ten Network last month. “I was actually the GA at Virginia when his dad (Erick) was the quarterback, so I’ve known who Christian Hackenberg was for a long time.

“Christian and I have become very close. This summer, we started to watch film together, just to go over what you’re looking for here and what you can do against this defense. As good of a player he is, he’s a better person.”