For the first time since National Signing Day, Penn State head coach Matt Campbell met with the media on Tuesday morning following the opening day of spring practice..
Campbell addressed the health status of starting quarterback Rocco Becht, the state of the revamped wide receiver room and the strategy for the Nittany Lions’ 15 spring practices.
Here’s what he said.
Rocco’s recovery
It’s no secret quarterback Rocco Becht was operating well below 100% health last season at Iowa State while dealing with multiple injuries. In addition to a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder for the final four weeks of the season, Becht received daily shots in his arm.
This offseason, he had surgery and has undergone a lengthy recovery process, only beginning to throw again weeks ago. An initial timeline from Becht indicated he would return to full strength midway through spring practices.
Campbell described Becht as “a little bit ahead of schedule physically” and said he’s been participating during seven-on-seven and three-on-two routes, though he’s been held out of live reps so far.
“We got to make sure we work slow and right with Rocco and rather than fast and wrong,” Campbell said. “But it’s certainly huge to have him out there as an individual, and certainly huge to have him even today, out in the group. And for those young quarterbacks to be able to watch him and just to have his leadership on the field, that’s been big for us.”
In fact, Campbell said he anticipates all players dealing with injury being available by fall camp, “as long as we do right.”
Receiver roundup
Penn State’s wide receiver room has undergone significant changes this offseason, adding an influx of transfers from Iowa State and elsewhere, as well as two position coach changes. Noah Pauley, who was brought in from Ames, left to be the Green Bay Packers’ wide receiver coach, forcing Campbell to make a late change.
“It was an interesting process,” Campbell said. “I’ll be honest with you, you know, I think the one thing that I found as a head coach is it’s really great to go through the interview process, even sometimes when you think you may know who you want to hire. I think sometimes when you go through the interview process and you get to hear the coaches be teachers, that’s really big for me, and I guess I’ve always been a philosophical approach of, ‘how do you teach the room and how do you develop?’”
Campbell landed on Kashif Moore, praising his leadership abilities during his playing years at UConn as a team captain. Campbell was also intrigued by Moore’s time outside football, leveraging his business degree for a brief but successful stint in a different profession.
In coaching, Moore built up his acumen at the high school level, Division III and at UConn, leading productive rooms. The leading receiver for the Huskies last season was Skyler Bell, who totaled 101 receptions for 1,278 yards and is now preparing for the NFL draft.
Campbell said Bell received interest from higher profile schools last offseason, but Moore was able to keep him at UConn, which “says a lot in today’s world.”
As far as the room itself, Campbell mentioned Cyclone transfers Chase Sowell, Brett Eskildsen, Karon Brookins and Zay Robinson — as well as returning Nittany Lion Koby Howard — as players he’s been impressed by.
“Koby got an opportunity to get in last year, late in the season last year, did some really good things, and we think really highly of him,” Campbell said.
Practice plan
Tuesday marked the first of 15 spring practices allowed by the NCAA, which took place directly before Campbell spoke to reporters. He repeated the same phrase he used for Becht’s recovery to describe spring ball — slow and right instead of fast and wrong.
“I still believe coaching is teaching, and teaching is the ability to inspire learning and the ability to, every time you go out to practice or every time you go to a meeting, these are teaching opportunities, and I think it’s really important to make sure that we provide the platform to be great teachers, whether that’s a meeting, that’s a walkthrough, whether that’s a practice,” Campbell said.
One of the staff’s main goals for spring ball is to continue building the identity of the team. Campbell mentioned toughness, discipline and togetherness as key pillars of the philosophy.
The team is building off winter workouts, which emphasized “championship habits,” including going to class every day, taking care of nutrition and recovery and showing up in the weight room. The next step is finding out the team’s abilities on the practice field, which involves heavy competition and, with that, adversity.
“Spring practice is, somebody wins and loses,” Campbell said. “And the reality is, we’re all on the same team. That’s individually, that’s collectively, offense, defense, and so, how do we handle success in a practice? How do we handle failure in a practice? And sometimes you want to create that as the coach because you want to see, where are our gaps? Who’s leading our football team through all those things?”
