Beginning now through its season-opener on the month’s final day, Penn State football will strive for an August that matches its Merriam-Webster definition: “Marked by majestic dignity or grandeur.”
The publicity could be that good. A win over Syracuse would mean that much.
And nearly all of it would be free of charge, especially important now that Penn State is in a marketing hole. PSU is without its associate athletic director for marketing and communications, while at its very thinnest at selling football since the pre-Guido D’Elia days of 2003.
Still, OB says he is Ready for Year 2.
“I am excited to get started on Monday,” second-year head coach Bill O’Brien said via a Penn State news release. “We have a fantastic group of players and it’s a team that has good chemistry. … We have a tough, resilient group of players who have had a great summer and everyone can’t wait to get training camp started.”
This could very well be the busiest month of 2013 for Penn State football – and its fans and the media on the Penn State beat. On and off the field. Let us count the ways:
The Meeting: O’Brien welcomes his entire squad back Sunday with the 2013 team’s first official team meeting, to be held in the 150-seat plus classroom on the first floor of Lasch Building. Figure that 2012 will get its final R.I.P.
The Practices: Twenty-nine official workouts are allotted by the NCAA over the 26 days from Monday through Aug. 30, ensuring more than a few two-a-day workouts sprinkled amongst a small handful of off-days. (The days sans practice will be key. O’Brien admits to a rookie-mistake when he misjudged things last August. The team hit its stride mid-training camp and came out against Ohio with dead legs and too-alive emotion.)
The Players: 105 in camp (about 40 of them walk-ons), now through the first day of classes on Aug. 26, when the floodgates for even more non-scholarship players opens the BYOT (Bring Your Own Tuition) floodgates even further.
The Battle: The fight for the starting quarterback job, between freshmen phenom Christian Hackenberg and juco transfer Tyler Ferguson, who spent part of the summer back home in California, will grab plenty of headlines and internal attention. The winner must not only gain the No. 1 spot on the depth chart, but – just as important – the faith and respect of a very veteran offense.
The Media Darlings: Although the Nittany Lions lost 32 seniors, many were practice players who never saw the light of Beaver Stadium’s day. Still, marquee players like Mauti, Zordich, McGloin, Hodges and Hill will be nay impossible to replace. Among the 25 returnees with starting experience, the following will move squarely into the spotlight, if they haven’t already: WR Allen Robinson, QB Christian Hackenberg, RB Zack Zwinak, TE Kyle Carter, G John Urschel, DT DaQuan Jones, LB Glenn Carson, DE Deion Barnes and DB Adrian Amos.
The Classes, Summer: The majority of the Penn State players took one class or two during the second six-week summer session. The last classes of the session will be held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday is a study day, while finals will be held on Friday.
The Classes, Fall: Fall semester starts on Monday, Aug. 26 (for me, they begin at 9:05 a.m. with my Comm 170 “Introduction to the Sports Industry” in Carnegie Cinema; population: 108), and run through Friday, Aug. 30. No classes on Labor Day.
The WWL’s ESPN All-Access: This from ESPN.com blogger extraordinaire, Adam Rittenberg: “Penn State Training Days” will go behind the scenes in State College as Penn State kicks off training camp on Monday. The show will feature team meetings, on-field and off-field activities and player/coach features. Ohio State was the subject of ESPN’s “Training Days” program last summer, and Alabama and Oklahoma also have been featured.
Clips of the program will appear on College Football Live, SportsCenter and ESPNU shows beginning Friday, Aug. 16, and a five-part series consisting of 30-minute specials will debut on ESPNU on Wednesday, Aug. 21 at 6 p.m. There will be a one-hour special on ESPN or ESPN2 on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m.
As for me, I’m hoping the sometimes-salty O’Brien gets off an on-camera bon mot along the lines of the New York Jets’ Rex Ryan a few years ago, when during HBO’s “Hard Knocks” he uttered these famous football reality show words: “Let’s go get a g-d d–m snack.”
The Media Blitzkrieg: Penn State will hold its annual media day on Thursday. Expect hundreds of writers, broadcasters, bloggers, videographers and hangers-on from near and far. Penn State remains a national story. It begins with a 9:45 a.m. O’Brien press conference in the Beaver Stadium media room, followed by a team photo and player interview sessions inside the stadium. Practice that afternoon will be open to the media for the first 25 minutes or so.
The result? Wall-to-wall mostly positive coverage for Penn State 24/7 for several weeks, as days like this one have legs that last and last.
The Big Ten Network Bus Tour: As part if its annual summer sojourn that features stops at all of the conference’s training camps, the Big Ten Network will come to Penn State’s practice on Thursday. The ensuing Penn State preview show will air at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 14. Making the trip will be Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo, Howard Griffith and Tom Dienhart.
The Scrimmages: With a limited roster of front-line scholarship players and depth-defying injuries a concern, Penn State’s practices will feature less hitting and full-contact than usual. Still, figure the Nittany Lions will square off at least twice inside Beaver Stadium in some sort of modified scrimmage, replete with a complement of officials, a sideline crew and the coaching staff undergoing a press box to sideline to playing field play-calling exercise.
The Game: Penn State opens the 2013 season Aug. 31 vs. Syracuse at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Kick-off is at 3:30 p.m.
When the results are in, August will be just about five hours shy of completion. And at that point – win or lose – only the rest of the season remains.
