Penn State Football: Franklin Looking for Leaders to Step Up

Wednesday was the first media opportunity of the first open practice of the first public look at the 2016 Nittany Lions.

And head coach James Franklin put DaeSean Hamilton and Jason Cabinda front and center.

Hamilton and Cabinda were the two players who met with the media scrum of 25 or so after Penn State’s Spring Practice No. 4. It was Franklin’s decision to have them meet with the assembled group as the faces and voices of the newest round of Nittany Lions.

No surprise there.

Both are talented on the field, quotable off of it, team guys, very charismatic. Very.

They are the first line of defense of Penn State’s leadership gap. Or opportunity. Depends on how you look at it.

In Franklin’s first two seasons as Penn State’s head coach, he has had a dozen team captains. Entering Year 3 in this, the first full week of the Nittany Lions’ 2016 spring practice, only one of that group remains: senior linebacker and special teams ace Von Walker.

But it wasn’t Walker – a former walk-on and die-hard, gung-ho Penn Stater-since-birth — who Franklin offered to the media on Wednesday. It was Hamilton and Cabinda.

When given an opportunity, the head coach has put Cabinda in a position to be the team spokesman, at least from the players’ POV. He’s safe, quotable, sure to stay on message. Hamilton is a year older, entering his senior season but only his third eligibility-wise. Although he sat out the 2013 season with wrist surgery complications, Hamilton is still of the O’Brien Penn State – a dwindling group. (Only 15 of Bill O’Brien’s Signing Day 36 from 2012-13 remain on Penn State’s roster.)

Together, they represent a good portion of the team leadership. Good, as in players. Good, as in espousing the team message. Good, as in leaders.

They are two of a small core of leaders for the 2016 Nittany Lions. It is a team in transition – not only among its players, but among its staff.

STAFF INJECTION

Gone are Franklin’s offensive and defensive coordinators. In their stead are new O-coordinator Joe Moorhead and Brent Pry, who has moved up from co-defensive coordinator to The Guy – defensive coordinator.

Franklin couldn’t be happier with how the coaches have stepped up through the offseason and into the first four official spring practices.

“I feel really good about (offensive line coach Matt) Limegrover,” Franklin said after practice on Wednesday. “I feel really good about Moorhead. I feel really good about (co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach) Tim Banks. I think all those guys — not only from a football perspective but also culturally here in State College and also fit on our staff — have done extremely well.”

Cabinda, a rising junior who has played linebacker the past two seasons under Pry (who doubles as linebackers coach), on Wednesday said the transition from Bob Shoop – now at Tennessee – to Pry has been relatively seamless.

“There are some wrinkles,” Cabinda said of Pry’s new leadership role. “It’s been a very smooth transition with coach Pry. I think that he was already here helps a ton. That trust had already been built. Guys have really bought into him.”

Moorhead, who came to Penn State in December after a four-year stint as head coach at Fordham, is the Nittany Lions’ new offensive coordinator, replacing John Donovan – who was fired after the 2015 season and was recently added to the staff of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. Moorhead is also PSU’s quarterback coach, replacing Ricky Rahne, who remained on staff but has shifted to tight ends coach.

Hamilton, a veteran receiver who has 127 catches for 1,479 yards over the past two seasons (team career-highs among current Nittany Lions), says Moorhead has had a strong hand in installing the coach’s up-tempo offense.

“Coach Moorhead has quotations for every days,” Hamilton said. “He has a lot of anecdotes and metaphors. He’s the same – it’s verbatim, whether it’s in the meeting room or out here on the field. He’s a vocal leader for us in there or on the field. He’s always going to have our backs and makes sure we give 100% all the time.”

PLAYERS AS LEADERS

There’s no doubt that Franklin sees Hamilton and Cabinda as team leaders. But who do the players themselves see as the team leaders?

Cabinda mentioned defenders like senior linebacker Brandon Bell and fifth-year linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White, coming off ACL surgery, as well as senior defensive end Garrett Sickels, the sole survivor from a 2015 front four that dominated on defense.

“People have left and moved on,” Cabinda said. “Guys are really stepping up. Especially younger guys. (Defensive tackle Robert) Windsor is looking great. (Defensive tackle) Kevin Givens has done a helluva job. Garrett Sickels is obviously doing a good job. We need guys like (defensive tackle) Antoine White, who is going to have to grow up quick.”

On defense, the Nittany Lions lose five of their top 10 tacklers from last season – NFL-bound Austin Johnson (No. 3, 78 tackles); Troy Reeder (No. 4, 65), who transferred to Delaware; and Nos. 6-8 Jordan Lucas (56 tackles), Anthony Zettel (47) and Carl Nassib (46) — all soon-to-be-pros. They took 32.5 sacks with them as well. Look for fifth-year safety Malik Golden (PSU’s 10th-leading tackler in 2015, with 40), and secondary mates Grant Haley (No. 9, 42) and Marcus Allen (No. 2, 81) to also lead the Nittany Lions. Golden is a grizzled, non-nonsense vet, Haley is a quiet, cerebral type and Allen is full of peaks and valleys.

“Nyeem is still doing a good job being a leader even though he’s not really out there and is limited” in practice time as he continues to rehab, Cabinda said. “We have a lot of guys who are stepping up into those roles. A lot of guys want to be that (leader) and that’s what you want. There are a lot of guys who want to be in that position.”

Does that include Cabinda? He did, after all, lead Penn State in tackles in 2015, with an even 100.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Cabinda said. “That’s something I take pride in. Being somebody who has played for two years now, I think it is necessary. There are a lot of young guys coming up now and I’m a guy who’s been here a couple of years and can show the ropes to the younger guys and lead these young linebackers.”

NAMING NAMES, TO START

Offensively, look for the receiving duo of Hamilton and Godwin to be big-time leaders. Hamilton is smart and saucy, while Godwin can be quiet but firm. Saaed Blacknall has quietly grown into a junior from whom much is expected. Across the offensive line, senior Brian Gaia is a known leader, as is offensive tackle Andrew Nelson, now both healthy and wise. Says Cabinda: “Brian Gaia is doing a good job along the offensive side of the ball.”

Leadership-wise, starts and playing time buy credibility. In that regard, career Penn State starts among the older players stack up this way: Fifth-year seniors – Gaia (25), Wartman-White (21), offensive lineman Wendy Laurent (8), suspended tight end Brent Wilkerson (7), offensive lineman Derek Dowrey (6) and Golden (4). Fourth-year seniors – Hamilton (25), Bell (22), Nelson (21), offensive lineman Brendan Mahon (20) and Sickels (12).

Hamilton offers this assessment of team leadership among the squad:

“Saquon (Barkley, a sophomore in the fall) surprisingly is becoming a big player leader too, despite how young he is,” Hamilton said. “Brian Gaia and Andrew Nelson have been bringing up a lot of the young guys. Chris Godwin, Saaed – as they’ve been learning the offense themselves they’ve been helping the other guys learn the offense and get adjusted. There are a bunch of names. I could go on and on.”

QB TOO

Which leads us to the quarterbacks. Junior Trace McSorley has the respect of his teammates on both sides of the ball, while sophomore Tommy Stevens is making rapid strides in that direction as the two of them alternate first-team reps in practice.

Cabinda: “You have guys at the quarterback position trying to take over. Trace and Tommy are really doing a good job on the offensive side of the ball. Trace and Tommy are doing a lot of stuff with their legs right now. There are a lot of guys, a lot of play-makers.”

Hamilton: “(Trace) has shown he can be a leader by his actions on the field…Trace has been a player leader.”