Ad Disclosure
Penn State’s wayward 2020 season feels like a lifetime ago, the 4-5 record just a misprint on the program’s illustrious ledger.
With plans for a full Beaver Stadium come Sept. 11 against Ball State and the promise of the return of robust tailgating scenes, there’s an aura of freshness surrounding this Penn State team, particularly the offense with new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich calling the plays.
Nothing was more emblematic of Penn State’s failures last season than its complete ineptitude to finish drives in the red zone. Yurcich is hopefully the straw to stir that drink, as is a better version of 3rd-year starter Sean Clifford. The Lions return 9 regular starters along with 5 more players with starting experience to assist the offensive reclamation project, while also trying to reduce the impact of losing 3 players to the NFL.
Is it back to standard operating procedure for the offense in 2021, or can fans expect more of the same drudgery from just a season ago? Let’s dig into the 2021 offense:
Passing game: Better
Penn State’s biggest uncertainty leading to this season is whether Clifford’s 2020 season was just an anomaly tied to the circumstances surrounding the pandemic, or if he truly regressed and will never again recapture the magic of 2 years ago when he threw for 2,654 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, while helping lead Penn State to a Cotton Bowl win.
Yurcich is Clifford’s third OC in as many seasons, but the new offense should be set up more to function like Joe Moorehead’s version, rather than Kirk Ciarrocca’s, meaning expect a lot of up-tempo offense with short, underneath routes to hopefully help Clifford get over the 61% completion-percentage threshold for the first time as a full-time starter.
The only caveat to Penn State’s quarterback position is what happens if Clifford goes down. He’s battled nagging injuries in both of his seasons as a starter, and with Will Levis’ departure this offseason to Kentucky along with Micah Bowens’ to Oklahoma, there’s no quarterback with a single meaningful rep to relieve Clifford, as redshirt sophomore Ta’Quan Roberson and freshman Christian Veilleux are the only scholarship quarterbacks remaining. There’s still a chance the Lions land an additional body from the transfer portal, but it was definitely surprising that they didn’t sign one earlier.
The good news is that the Big Ten’s leading receiver in terms of yards (884) from a year ago, Jahan Dotson, is back. Dotson garnered most of the headlines last season for some of his highlight catches and return capabilities, but sophomore Parker Washington also developed into a nice complementary piece, finishing 2020 with 36 catches for 489 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Pat Freiermuth’s departure for the NFL was expected and is a big hole to fill, but not one that Penn State is unable to, particularly with Freiermuth’s season-ending injury in 2020 allowing for plenty of development for his position group. Yurcich won’t likely deploy much 12-personnel, but when he does, tight ends Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson have the capability to be a dynamic duo, with the former possibly emerging as Clifford’s preeminent red-zone target.
Strange will likely be Penn State’s 3rd-leading receiver behind Dotson and Washington, as the Lions look to find a reliable third wideout in either KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Daniel George or Cam Sullivan-Brown.
All in all, Penn State isn’t lacking weapons for the quarterback to find. Clifford should have great protection this season behind two excellent returning tackles in Rasheed Walker, who will likely be a first-round draft pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, and Caedan Wallace, along with returning starter Mike Miranda, who is making the slide over to the center position.
Running game: Better
An Ohio State fan couldn’t have drawn up a worse scenario than the carnage that happened to Penn State’s running back room in 2020.
Journey Brown, anticipated to possibly be the Big Ten’s best back last year, was forced to medically retire just weeks before the season, and his replacement, Noah Cain, suffered a season-ending injury on the first series at Indiana.
The scramble to find a reliable running back last season should pay off this year, as Penn State now has a stable of experienced ball-carriers to choose from outside of Cain (Keyvone Lee, Devyn Ford, Caziah Holmes), along with transfer John Lovett who started 20 games over four seasons for Baylor, rushing for 1,803 yards.
Cain is likely to retain his lead atop the rotation, but don’t be surprised to see a fairly even distribution among the 5 backs. With Levis and his Swiss Army Knife, battering ram role gone, Penn State will probably shy away from relying on quarterbacks to run the ball as much as it did in 2020. Clifford ran a team-high 99 times, and Levis finished 4th with 260 rushing yards. Clifford is skilled at ripping a long run almost every game when the pocket breaks down, but Yurcich should reduce the amount of designed quarterback runs with Clifford’s health among the highest of priorities in 2021.
Special teams: Better
The Lions are set on kickoffs with Jordan Stout’s cannon of a leg returning to Beaver Stadium where it’s only surprising when one of his kicks doesn’t sail out of the back of the end zone. For reference, Penn State had a touchback on 84% of its kickoffs. Iowa was the next closest in the Big Ten with fewer than 59% of kicks going for a touchback.
Dotson will continue to be a home-run threat on punt returns, as Penn State works to narrow down its kick returners from its stable of running backs, along with Washington and safety Jaquan Brisker.
Jake Pinegar is also back as Penn State’s placekicker on field goals shorter than 40 yards in length, but he was a little shaky last season at times, and incoming freshman Sander Sahaydak is on scholarship and may end up competing for the job. Stout will likely retain his job on field goals of 40+.
Overall: Better
As much as this offense struggled last season, it still averaged north of 430 yards a game, trailing only Ohio State in the Big Ten in total offense and the Buckeyes and Iowa in scoring. Penn State’s offense was judged by its inability to convert red-zone appearances into touchdowns (51.4%, 12th in B1G), which Franklin felt necessitated the change of offensive coordinator.
With much of the pass-catching talent back, a returning veteran quarterback and much more stability at the running back position, there’s zero reason for this offense to regress again this year. Don’t expect something akin to 2017 Penn State, but the Lions should definitely maintain their spot as a consistent top-three offense in the conference. The best problem to have will be that Franklin is once again looking for a 4th offensive coordinator in 4 seasons because Yurcich turned out to be such an offensive genius.
Penn State grad Thomas Schlarp covers the Nittany Lions, Michigan State and other B1G trends for Saturday Tradition. Follow him on Twitter @TSchlarp.