Penn State football: 5 biggest storylines for the Nittany Lions’ spring game

What a difference a year makes.

Last April, Penn State went into its annual Blue-White football game unranked and without enough healthy offensive linemen to run the intra-squad scrimmage in the usual fashion.

Now, coming off an 11-2 season, the top 10-ranked Nittany Lions are expected to put on their mid-April rite in all its standard glory, including carnival rides, food vendors and 2 — count ’em, 2! — full teams squaring off in Saturday’s controlled scrimmage. The forecast calls for 72 degrees at the 2 p.m. kickoff, and surely the rain (40% chance) will miss Beaver Stadium.

Meanwhile, 320 or so miles to the west, Ohio State will using an offense vs. defense scoring system like PSU employed a year ago and will also be without 1 of the 2 quarterbacks competing to replace CJ Stroud as the starter.

“Based on our numbers right now, we anticipate going back to a traditional spring game like we’ve had in the past,” 10th-year coach James Franklin told media last month. “I know a lot of people have gone away from that, [but] I think there’s value in it. I also think that we’re one of the unusual schools where 75,000 people show up to watch a spring game. I would like to be able to give ’em a spring game.”

This football open house has tight controls to minimize injury risk, but nonetheless will offer clues about position battles and health statuses. Here are 5 things to watch for in that regard:

The QB coronation

Is 5-star Drew Allar ready to perform in the spotlight? After 10 games of mop-up duty behind 4-year starter Sean Clifford, the sophomore will continue his audition on Saturday. A “wow” performance would peg the hype meter, but anything north of ugly will keep the buzz alive in the stadium. Fans want to see this 6-5, 242-pound wunderkind wearing the No. 15 jersey over an extended period.

With 2 full squads competing, 2022 recruiting classmate and presumed No. 2 Beau Pribula should get plenty of reps as well. Don’t be surprised if Pribula and Allar swap places so both can get time with the first-team offense.

During the spring workouts that conclude with Saturday’s game, Franklin has insisted that a competition for QB1 is in progress. The staff has also suggested that the team might work on special packages to utilize the more mobile Pribula as a change of pace in the fall. Regardless, Penn State needs to have a quality, game-ready backup to avoid the disaster that befell the offense when Clifford got hurt against Iowa in 2021. Those are all reasons to keep as close an eye on Pribula as on Allar come Saturday.

O-line goes prime time

There are more quality potential starters than spots available up front, a dilemma Penn State has not enjoyed in Franklin’s decade at the helm and probably 10-plus years prior to his 2014 arrival.

Led by projected NFL 1st-round draft pick Olu Fashanu, the unit could go from solid in 2022 to exceptional this season. That would be huge for a position group that struggled to earn the adjective mediocre while the Lions played .500 ball over 2020-21.

Saturday should give fans an indication of the health status of key players and any position changes that might have occurred.

The starting left side of the line, Fashanu and now-redshirt sophomore Landon Tengwall, missed the final month of last season with injuries. Fashanu appears to be back at full strength, but info on Tengwall’s injury and recovery has been more sketchy, so seeing No. 58 at LG would be a relief for those fans already fretting with the Sept. 2 opener vs. West Virginia still 20 weeks out.

Cornell transfer Hunter Nourzad returns for a 2nd season in State College, and is expected to shift to center to replace the departed Juice Scruggs. RG Sal Wormley returns, as does up-and-down RT Caedan Wallace, who has made 27 starts for the Lions while battling injuries and other struggles. If Wallace is healthy and motivated to improve his NFL stock, he could lock down a spot on the right edge. Otherwise, Penn State has plenty of options.

Drew Shelton, who admirably handled high-stress reps in place of Fashanu as a true freshman, should be in the rotation whether he takes over a starting spot or not. Others who filled in well a season ago include Vega Ioane — a monster among monsters at 6-4, 352 — and former JUCO transfer JB Nelson. There are other roster holdovers who could blossom as well; some OLs take longer than others to develop.

And speaking of developing, 4-star recruits J’ven Williams and Alex Birchmeier, both early enrollees, might be the rare freshman linemen who can help right away. Saturday could provide an indication of how quickly they’re acclimating. Both were 5-star recruits for extended periods in high school, according the 247sports’ composite rankings.

Who’s catching on at WR?

With last season’s top 2 receivers, Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley, out of the picture, finding reliable targets for Allar and Pribula ranks among the top priorities of the spring and summer.

And a key newcomer, Dante Cephas via Kent State, won’t be on hand as he’s not among the 15 recruits or transfers who arrived in State College for the spring semester. Portal addition Malik McClain, a junior from Florida State, will be available to battle top returnees KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Harrison Wallace III for placement on the depth chart. Liam Clifford, Omari Evans, Kaden Saunders, Malick Meiga, converted DB Cristian Driver and others will also be trying to step up.

Sizing up?

At one point last season — that point being after Michigan rushed for 418 yards against the Lions — Franklin conceded that his team was too small at some positions. Part of the issue was simply that Penn State was playing a lot of true freshmen who hadn’t fully filled out. Case in point, LB Abdul Carter. The ferocious defender has added 15 pounds to his 6-3 frame and is now just 1 cheesesteak short of 250 pounds. The team’s leader in sacks and TFLs should be hitting with even nastier impact this season.

Other key defenders should carry extra impact at the point of attack this season, too.

Up front on offense, Fashanu is up 15 pounds to 323 and the freshman Williams, at 313, is up almost 30 pounds from his last reported high school playing weight. In the backfield, returning sophomores Nick Singleton (228) and Kaytron Allen (218) are up 9 and 17 pounds respectively.

Similar gains appear throughout the roster, and assuming the players have added “good weight,” Penn State should win more 1-on-1 battles in the fall. And that could make a B1G difference.

Portability

The spring football transfer portal period opens Saturday. It’s hard to say if there will be any immediate comings and goings, but health issues might not be the only reason certain players don’t take the field Saturday. Some of them may have already lost out in depth chart battles and decided to test other waters. Any fallout should come Saturday or shortly thereafter.

I don’t expect the program to lose anyone it’ll truly miss, though with NIL money flying around anything is possible. It’s more likely the Lions will add a player to fill a roster hole, though there aren’t many of those this spring.

Luke Glusco

Luke Glusco is a Penn State graduate and veteran journalist. He covers Penn State and occasionally writes about other Big Ten programs and topics. He also serves as the primary copy editor for Saturday Tradition.