Penn State Football: Reihner A Bonus For Growing Offensive Front

With Stanford grad and offensive lineman Kevin Reihner officially on Penn State’s roster as a graduate transfer one question remains.

How will he be used?

While at Stanford, Reihner appeared in 10 games. As a redshirt junior, he saw time in six games to help an offense that averaged 388.6 total yards per game. So while he wasn’t a fixture in Stanford’s offense, he brings value to the table as a player who is physically prepared to contribute.

In the eyes of James Franklin, anything Reihner can do to boost the offensive line is a welcome sight. Simply put, the more bodies, the better.

“He’s going to start [by practicing] at center,” Franklin said earlier this week. “But we really look at all of our interior guys, centers and guards, to be swing guys. You’d also like to have tackles that you think can move inside and things like that. It’s not usually as common, usually your right tackle and your left tackle back each other up, that type of deal and your inside guys rotate, so we’d like for him to compete for a starting center job, depending on how that plays itself out, he could either slide and compete for a guard job or Mangiro could move to multiple spots.”

“The most important thing for us is we want to be able to get five guys on the field that give us the best chance to win. He’s an older guy, he’s a mature guy, he’s a smart guy, that’s valuable alone. But, to me I look at him as a bonus. right now I look at Mangiro as our starting center and if Reihner is able to come in and help us, great, but right now he’s a bonus and anything he gives us more than what we already have? Great.”

Even though he didn’t start his career at Penn State, Reihner, a native of Scranton, knows all about what the program has to offer. As a high school recruit, he was the 15th-ranked player in the state of Pennsylvania by Rivals and 24th-ranked guard prospect in the country by Scout in 2010.

In addition, the Penn State ties are a family affair. Reihner’s father, George, was an offensive lineman for the Nittany Lions from 1974-77 and his uncle, John, was a kicker for Penn State from 1972-75. Kevin Reihner will wear #68 for the Nittany Lions this season, the same number worn by his father.

So it took a few years, but it’s hard to say that Reihner won’t feel at home from Day One.

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