Penn State Football: Busy Summer Leads to Early Start in Fall

Memorial Day kicks off the summer season.

Same, in some ways, for the 2017 Penn State football season.

Most veteran Nittany Lion football players will be into their second week of summer classes on Tuesday.

And by this time next week, head coach James Franklin and his assistants will have three summer football camps under their belts.

They will be at a camp at Mercer College in Macon, Ga., this Friday and another one next Sunday at Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Sandwiched between those two next Saturday afternoon will be the first of eight football camps held on the Penn State campus — and the first three ‘elite’ PSU camps. A full schedule and registration info for the Penn State camps can be found here.

In all, Franklin and his staff will hit the ground hard, early and often in June, taking part in nine camps — five at PSU, four on the road — in 15 days.

EARLY FALL

And on top of it all, the summer of 2017 will end especially early this year for Penn State’s coaches and players alike.

In April, the NCAA eliminated two-a-day practices in college football’s preseason, effective immediately. To compensate, and still allow time for teams to get in their officially allowed 29 summer practices before they begin playing games, the NCAA will permit teams to start practice a week earlier than usual. Which means a longer preseason camp.

Or, in the words of the NCAA: ‘Two-a-day practices are not recommended. A second session of no helmet/pad activity may include walk-throughs or meetings; conditioning in the second session of activity is not allowed.

‘The preseason may be extended by one week in the calendar year to accommodate the lost practice from elimination of two-a-days, and to help ensure that players obtain the necessary skill set for competitive play.’

Penn State opens the 2017 season on Sept. 2 against Akron in Beaver Stadium. What the new rule means is that Penn State could begin official summer drills around July 27 or 28. Here’s how Franklin set up the start of summer practices in his first three seasons at Penn State:

2016 — first practice: Thursday, Aug. 4, with season opener on Sept. 3; 2015 — First practice: Thursday, Aug. 6, with season opener on Sept. 5; 2014 — first practice, Monday, Aug. 4, with season opener in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 30.

With the enlongated practice schedule, Penn State’s players will be attending classes for all but 10 days out of possibly five weeks of official summer practice. Penn State’s second six-week summer semester ends on Wednesday, Aug. 9, with finals on Friday, Aug. 11. Penn State’s fall semester officially begins on Monday, Aug. 22.

Here’s a look at some other key dates and events for Penn State football this summer:

FOOTBALL CAMPS ON THE PENN STATE CAMPUS

Elite Camp I — Saturday, June 3 (3 p.m.-7:30 p.m.)

Future Lion Camp — Wednesday, June 7 (4 p.m.-7:30 p.m.)

Elite Camp II — Sunday, June 11 (noon-4:30 p.m.)

Elite Camp II — Friday, June 16 ( 5 p.m.-9:30 p.m.)

Big Man Camp, Lions Strong 7-on-7 — Saturday, June 17 (all day)

Underclass Showcase — Sunday, July 16 (noon-4:30 p.m.)

Specialist Camp — Sunday, July 16 (9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.)

PENN STATE COACHES AT OFF-CAMPUS CAMPS — Mercer (Macon, Ga.), Friday, June 2; Middle Tennessee State (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), Sunday, June 4; Old Dominion (Norfolk, Va.), Friday, June 9; and Northern Illinois (DeKalb, Ill.), Wednesday, June 14.

FRESHMAN CLASS ARRIVES — Typically, save for the early enrollees who start in January, the Nittany Lions’ freshman class will arrive a few days before the start of PSU’s second of two six-week summer semesters. Classes for that begin on Wednesday, June 28, so figure on the incoming freshman class arriving on around June 24. (Early enrollees who arrived in January are cornerback Lamont Wade, wide receiver/returner KJ Hamler, offensive lineman Mike Miranda and linebacker Brelin Faison-Walden.)

LASCH BASH BBQ — The annual get-together for top prospects and Class of 2018 verbal commitments — who can now sign on Dec. 20-22) — will be held at football’s Lasch Bulding on Saturday, July 15. This is a signature recruiting event for Franklin and his staff.

LIFT FOR LIFE — The huge fundraiser to help fight rare diseases reaches a big milestone this summer. It is Year No. 15 for the charity, founded by former Nittany Lion Scott Shirley. The Uplifting Athletes organization now has several chapters nationwide, but its roots are at Penn State. The event, run by current Penn State players each summer, has raised $1.2 million to date. Click here for more info and to make a pledge.

The 2017 version of Lift for Life, which features a variety of competitive events and a clinic for kids, will be held on Saturday, July 15. Penn State chapter leadership in 2017 includes co-presidents quarterback Trace McSorley and linebacker Jason Cabinda, who are also Nittany Lion co-captains; vice president: offensive lineman Andrew Nelson; and secretary: offensive lineman Ryan Bates. With Penn State’s lacrosse facility — the event site the past several years — under construction, the location for LFL will be moved to Holuba Hall and will start at 11 a.m.

PENN STATE COACHES RETREAT — Dating back to the days at his previous institution, Franklin has taken his assistant coaches and key staffers on a planning and bonding retreat. In his initial three summers at Penn State, they have traveled to Harrisburg (2016), Philadelphia (2015) and Pittsburgh (2014). In his final season at Vanderbilt, Franklin’s staff went to Chattanooga, Tenn. There, Franklin led the group in some cliff jumping into Chickamauga Lake. Filmed by director of player personnel Andy Frank, there’s a 49-second video of the #awesome lap, narrated by wide receivers Josh Gattis. Both Frank and Gattis hold the same jobs at Penn State. (Watch it here.)

BIG TEN MEDIA DAYS — The Big Ten Conference usually holds its two-day preseason event of media days and a preseason Kickoff Luncheon a week before summer drills officially start. In 2016, that meant July 25-26. Things will be tighter in 2017, as the two days of festivities in Chicago are slated for July 24-25.

Often, fairly big news comes out of these Big Ten media ops. Last year, the storyline with Penn State was the issue of negative recruiting directed at PSU by fellow conference members. Lost amid the shuffle, though, was the prediction by Penn State veterans Nyeem Wartman White, Brandon Bell and Brian Gaia that the Nittany Lions would win a Big Ten title. (Read about it here.)

Advance storylines for the 2017 media session are Penn State’s bid to repeat as conference champ; massive hype over Saquon Barkley; and the introduction of three new head coaches to the Big Ten — Indiana’s Tom Allen, Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck and Purdue’s Jeff Brohm.

PLAYER-RUN PRACTICES — Last and far from least, is that much of Penn State’s success in 2017 will be predicated on hard its players work over the summer. Other than strength and conditioning sessions run by Dwight Galt and his staff, and an NCAA-allotted eight hours a week spent with coaches and staff, the bulk of the players’ June and July will spent under their own direction.

This is critical. As Franklin said after the 2017 Blue-White Game: ‘…right now it’s time for our players to focus on their academics, finish strong academically and then go into the summer on a mission.’

Veteran wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton said it best last summer, when talking about how the team’s fate is in the hands of its leaders — and followers. “We realized the past two or three years that guys were not taking that kind of stuff seriously,” Hamilton said last July. “For some people, they thought the summer didn’t matter because they could turn it on when camp came around. That’s not the type of mindset we need. We want to take it seriously.

“The workouts can get drawn-out throughout the whole summer. We want guys to stay intense and not lose interest while we’re out there trying to get better. It’s up to us to make sure they stay attentive and take it seriously and stay on the same page.”