Everyone wants to know if the offensive line will be better this year. Everyone wants to know if Christian Hackenberg is going to be able to play up to his potential. Will the offense look better? Will the defense find a new Mike Hull?
They’re fair questions to ask, but they’re questions that have been asked over and over again since the season ended. They’re important questions to know the answer to but they’re questions that can’t truly be answered until the Nittany Lions hit the field again for a game that matters.
And so, trying to think outside the box and away from the beaten horses, here are a few questions less frequently asked. With Penn State’s media day coming up on Thursday, maybe a few of these will slip into the conversation.
What is Joe Julius’ kicking range anyway?
The assumption at this point is that Julius is the heir to the Sam Ficken’s throne with kicking duties this season. The question though really is how far can he kick from.
At the Blue White game, Julius wow’d the crowd with 55+ yard field goals, but there was no offensive or defensive line in the way. While there is little doubt he has the leg send the ball a significant distance, his trajectory is a question mark for the time being. For as impressive as those kicks were, not having two dozen players in front of him may have helped his cause. This is particularly meaningful considering that Ficken’s only missed kicks last year came at the hands of a low trajectory.
And it’s one thing to have the leg, it’s another to know where on the field James Franklin will consider Julius as a viable option come 4th down. An honorable mention to this question; are the punters better at punting.
What exactly is Jim Haslett going to do on a daily basis?
Not intended to be nearly blunt as it sounds, Haslett has been with the staff for a while but has yet to be seen actually doing anything with the team. Add in the fact that will probably miss most of Penn State’s actual games to see his son play in his own, and maybe the Haslett hire is more of a sounding board than anything hands on. If that’s what Franklin wants then he’s clearly getting that because it doesn’t look like Haslett is going to be a very visible fixture around the program.
Running back by committee or by audition?
Aside from Akeel Lynch, Penn State’s running back group is a collection of players who probably can get the job done but remain unproven. It will be interesting to see if Franklin opts with whoever has the best summer to back up Lynch or if he’s going to give everyone some touches early in the season and go from there. One would imagine having three viable backs is a good thing it just remains to be seen how Franklin goes about finding all three. Given that Lynch only ever hit the field last year hanks to a Zach Zwinak injury and maybe trial by fire isn’t what Franklin wants right now.
Are the receivers older and wiser?
There is a certain assumption that simply being around for a while makes you better by default. While that’s largely true it’s not an automatic indicator for success. That’s not to say that Penn State’s receivers are experienced at being bad, but rather they have to prove they’ve grown since last season. Chances are that they have, but nobody knows just yet how much better they really are. Equally true, how much a summer working with Hackenberg in a familiar system has helped as well. At this point the question is consistency rather than skill, and there is only one way to find out if that has changed.
Wildcat dead or just hibernating?
For as much as fans disliked the wildcat it was statistically one of Penn State’s better options on offense. At the same time, Bill Belton may have been the best back for the job and his graduation opens up the door for whoever fits that mold in 2015. It will be interesting to see if Penn State has a player to run the wildcat well or if the Nittany Lions force it to work with the best “okay” option at at that position. Either way, its success and need to be used will be a byproduct of the offensive line, something we won’t talk about here.
