As Penn State and the rest of the Big Ten hit the field this week to begin practice for real, there aren’t a shortage of questions facing any team during an unusual lead-up to an unusual season. Some of them are big picture such as how programs will keep their athletes and coaches from picking up COVID-19, others are far more football specific.
But there are plenty of questions no matter where you turn, and you could pick any out of a hat and they’d be good ones to ask. Here are five to consider.
1. He’s out, right?
One imagines that the absence of Micah Parsons news is the answer to the ongoing question as to whether or not he will be returning to Penn State. It appeared to be a long shot in the first place but vague tweets by Parsons and comments by coach James Franklin certainly seemed to open the door to a possible return.
Parsons falls in the category of player who could get away with showing up late, but it’s hard to picture there being many more days between now and the start of the season when Parsons can’t be on campus and still hit the field in late October. 2020 has been weird, but sooner or later he has to make the call, if he hasn’t already.
In turn Penn State looks to a suddenly new linebacker group with Parsons out of the mix. Once highly-touted prospect Brandon Smith might be the answer, and Jesse Luketa has been poised for a more significant role for a while now. Brent Pry has shown he can take just about anyone and turn them into a good linebacker, but there’s no doubt the loss of a guy like Parsons opens up a larger set of shoes to fill.
2. Catch It If You Can.
Jahan Dotson is the guy, but he will need some help around him to turn Penn State’s pass-catching game back into what it once was. Dotson should be solid, but like everyone else around him, the departure of KJ Hamler means stepping up and becoming more consistent. Daniel George figures to work into the mix and Cam Sullivan-Brown rounds out the group of at least semi-experienced options. Penn State boasts a trio of freshman receivers who all could work their way onto the field, but they’re even more an unknown than some of their more experienced counterparts.
None of this is to say Penn State’s answers at receiver aren’t already on the team, but it’s going to be a seeing-is-believing type season for this group. Going up against Ohio State in Week 2 will be trial by fire in this regard.
3. Who Are You On Offense?
While Penn State might have plenty of questions at receiver, a three-headed monster at running backs brings up a simple question: how much does Penn State’s offense tailor itself to a very obvious strength? Penn State, working under new offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca will undoubtedly have some new looks to work with in 2020, but how much do Ciarrocca and Franklin go away from the passing game and rely more on the ground-and-pound to win games early in the year?
With questions on offense and some on defense, the best way to keep the ball out of Ohio State’s hands might simply be turning into Wisconsin and running it down the Buckeyes’ throats. Easier said than done, and Penn State has yet to really change its overall look on offense for any given opponent -so nobody is saying the passing game has to go on the back burner- but you gotta do what you gotta do.
4. Nobody Home
It stands to reason that over the years Penn State has gotten its fair share of help from the crowd. What happens to the magic of Beaver Stadium when nobody is there to watch the game? It will be very interesting to see how that impacts games for every team in the league, especially some of the heavy hitters that rarely lose at home. Will Ohio State be as dominant when there aren’t 100,000 fans? Will Penn State hold up as well against a Buckeye team when there aren’t 110,000 yelling on defense?
Every team in the Big Ten has made trips to those empty stadiums, and every player has the experience of playing in high school in front of just a few fans. Energy shouldn’t be an issue, but when you really need a stop and the crowd isn’t there, what happens next?
5. Go Deep
The other side of the coin when it comes to Penn State’s ability to throw the ball deep successfully is not so much the receiver as it is the passer. It’s hard to argue with Sean Clifford’s overall production and the season he had in 2019, but it’s also hard to argue that he doesn’t have room to grow. The better he gets the better off everyone around him will be, Clifford might not be Penn State’s biggest question mark in 2020, but his ability to take the next step will go a long way towards Penn State doing the same, be it in 2020 or 2021. Has he taken the next step?
