Penn State’s campus came back to life on Monday as students began their first day of classes, indicating football season on the horizon.
Amid the hustle and bustle, head coach James Franklin met with the media to provide updates on key position battles entering the season, which kicks off on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against Nevada in Beaver Stadium.
Here’s what Franklin had to say.
A surprising safety selection
It’s well known that veteran Zakee Wheatley will man one of Penn State’s starting safety slots this fall, but the battle for the second starter has come to an end.
As recently as last Tuesday, safeties coach Anthony Poindexter said the competition was ongoing and could bleed into the start of the season.
Franklin put an end to the speculation on Monday with an unexpected answer.
“(Antoine) Belgrave-Shorter will be the starter across from Zakee, but those other two safeties we plan on playing a lot,” he said.
The other two are Dejuan Lane and King Mack, who were thought to be the leading contenders to land the role.
While all of them will see ample time this season, Belgrave-Shorter’s emergence has gone under the radar. Franklin mentioned the redshirt freshman led the team in interceptions and takeaways this offseason, a key point of emphasis for the team.
Quarterback quandary
While Franklin clarified the safety situation, he wasn’t ready to name a backup to Drew Allar.
Franklin said he and the staff plan to meet with Ethan Grunkemeyer and Jaxon Smolik on Monday to inform them of their decision.
“We’re planning on sitting down with those guys today,” Franklin said. “lWe have not had that conversation yet.”
He added that it’s not a “clear cut” decision, with both quarterbacks going back and forth throughout the offseason.
Regardless, with Week 1 inching closer, a decision is imminent.
Who’s on the line?
Last year included the implementation of in-helmet communication, which allowed coaches to directly communicate with one player, designated by a green dot on his helmet, up until there were 15 seconds left on the play clock.
The team experimented with different combinations defensively last season, starting with defensive coordinator Tom Allen before switching to linebackers coach Dan Connor. Kobe King was the primary contact, with Dom DeLuca rotating in.
This year, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles will handle communication, speaking to Amare Campbell and DeLuca, who will rotate in at the Mike linebacker position.
“It’ll be Jim talking to the green dot, and that will be Campbell and DeLuca, most likely those two guys, because one of those two guys will be on the field,” Franklin said. “That’ll be a little bit of a challenge, because we think DeLuca and Campbell not only can be Mike linebackers, but we also think DeLuca could be the Will.”
Green means go
Franklin referenced his annual stop light system, in which “green light” means freshmen who are cleared for action and can burn their redshirt this season, while a yellow light means maybe and a red light means no.
He said there are two players who have the green light to start the season: cornerback Daryus Dixson and defensive end Chaz Coleman.
“There’s other guys that could be in the green situation, you know, after these first three games. That’ll be part of the evaluation process,” Franklin said. “And we could have some of these yellow guys turn to green, some of the red guys turn to yellow. Could even have some green guys turn to yellow.”
