Here’s how new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead spent the last 15 minutes of Penn State’s practice on Wednesday.
It was after his quarterbacks were done passing and his offense was finished scrimmaging, and while the Nittany Lions specialists were still kicking.
Meanwhile, Moorhead was:
Chatting up defensive backs Amani Oruwarie and (an animated) Marcus Allen.
B.s.’ing with wide receivers Josh McPhearson and DaeSean Hamilton.
Having a long conversation with defensive coordinator Brent Pry that ended in a short burst of laughter. (The two are an odd couple of sorts, and not just because they work opposite sides of the ball. Moorhead, who sports a visor that hides a head of graying hair, is a whole head taller than Pry, a ballcap-guy wearing fireball whose hair is always neatly coiffed.)
AND…
Hanging back when the players met with head coach James Franklin after they ran wind sprints. But he wasn’t out of sight – Moorhead is as easy to spot in the distance as Nittany Lion offensive giants Sterling Jenkins (6-foot-8) and Paris Palmer (6-7).
Leading a quick but animated post-practice meeting on the field with the guys in blue (offense) while Pry did the same with the whites (defense).
Talking with Brian Gaia.
The other conversations may have helped build team unity, but Joe’s time with Brian was moor important. Perhaps most all. It’s a key part of building an offense.
Gaia is the team’s new center, a key lynchpin in Moorhead’s up-tempo offense that requires smart line play and a preponderance of deep snaps to the quarterback. Gaia is old to the Nittany Lion offense, despite having spent 2012-13 along the defensive line. He moved to the O-line in spring 2014, and started 25 games there in 2014 and ’15. That ties him with Hamilton for most starts among current Nittany Lions, as Gaia was the only offensive lineman to start all 13 games last season.
A fifth-year senior, Gaia is suited both academically (as a management major) and follically (he turns 22 in two weeks, but has the hairline of a man twice his age – say, a guy like Moorhead). Gaia looks old, to boot.
Penn State’s new offense has Moorhead as its mother lode, but it flows through Gaia given the scheme’s rapid-fire nature and necessity for calm, consistency and quickness. So, after quarterbacks Trace McSorley and Tommy Stevens, Gaia is the guy who Moorhead has to feel really good about. (Easy to say when SaSa Barkley is your featured back.)
Like those in baseball, football teams – on both offense and defense – must be strong up the middle. So spending those mano a mano post-practice minutes with Gaia are key for Moorhead. Especially as he continues his install of Penn State’s new offense.
And fellow offensive lineman Andrew Nelson is positive that time with Moorhead pay off.
“I love this offense in general,” Nelson said on Wednesday. “I think you can talk with anybody on the offense and they are really enjoying it. Coach Moorhead does a great job. He’s a great motivator. Awesome guy.”
MOOR OF EVERYTHING
As Moorhead showed with his interaction near the end of practice on Wednesday, he left his head coaching job at Fordham – where he was 38-13 over the past four seasons – to make an impact in a not-so-Happy 7-6 Valley.
As much as anything, Nelson said Moorhead’s attitude gives the Nittany Lions’ offense some hope. Hope that it’ll score more than 23.2 points per game, convert more than 28% of its first downs and give up fewer than 46 sacks for 344 yards – each number a desultory reminder of 2015.
“The offense this spring has come out with a different mindset, a very positive attitude,” said Nelson. “I think that starts with coach Moorhead. Everybody really loves him and he’s taken us in the right direction.
“Already we’ve been having good success and we don’t even have the entire offense in yet. But what we’ve been running, when we throw things in that day against our defense, which is a great defense, works. So it gives guys a lot of hope right now. Guys are saying, ‘This offense is awesome, we can do this.’ ”
Nelson got his taste of Moorhead’s optimism in December, after the coach was hired and then went about meeting individually in Lasch with all the key players on the Nittany Lion offense. Nelson recalled his session with Moorhead.
“He talked about the offense was going to be like, but mostly that what was in the past is past and we’re focusing on the future,” Nelson said. “He’s great motivator. If you ever talk with him, he’s got all kinds of quotes and sayings for everything. Very positive attitude. I think you can see a lot of that rubbing off on the offense.”
ALL A-TWITTER
As a former head coach. Moorhead is accustomed to using words to fire up his players. His inspiration comes from varied sources, including the 1,311 accounts he follows on Twitter.
A quick look at that group reveals that Moorhead has an eclectic go-to collection of Twitter sources for his optimism. There’s the expected Motivational Quotes (@motivational) and Coach Quotes (@CoachMotto). Then there’s the spiritual (@AthletesForGod) and the spiritually Penn State (@Todd_Blackledge). And finally there are the modern-day philosophers, like SeinfeldQuotes (@seinlanguage) and @SnoopDog.
@BallCoachJoeMo knows – and follows — them all.
And as he Tweeted out last month after a morning workout, Moorhead is positive about his own team and message as well.
Another solid day for the QB’s…Standout performance from @McSorley_IX pic.twitter.com/qQxDqcdVzA
— Coach Joe Moorhead (@BallCoachJoeMo) February 25, 2016
