Penn State announced this week that it would do away with player names on the backs of their uniforms, a decision made to honor a 125-year tradition in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions’ jerseys were adorned with player names for three seasons from 2012-’14, in part, as a response to NCAA sanctions and as a gesture toward the players who stuck with the program. But the addition of player names,…
Ohio State has a loaded roster back in 2015 with more experience and arguably better overall talent than the group that won the national championship last season. In a suddenly crowded Big Ten East division, the Buckeyes still reign supreme, and that fact is unlikely to change anytime soon. Some might say coach Urban Meyer has too much depth, at least in one area. Ohio State has three star quarterbacks…
Penn State is reloading quickly under coach James Franklin with a huge influx of talent in the 2015 recruiting class to go with valuable experience gained by a young roster in 2014. The Nittany Lions still have issues to resolve, notably along the offensive line, but depth and numbers are on the upswing after laboring through three seasons of NCAA sanctions. Big Ten Network analyst Gerry DiNardo has spent time…
Penn State faces a steady stream of NFL talent in a 2015 schedule that might start with an early run of winnable matchups but inevitably gets into difficult matchups in a loaded Big Ten East division. Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State all have NFL-caliber talent up and down their roster, but perhaps none more so than Urban Meyer’s defending national champion Buckeyes. Among the list of 25 players on…
Penn State had a quartet of 2016 recruits in Beaverton, Ore., this week competing at The Opening, one of the nation’s most prestigious talent showcases. The group had plenty of positive moments, including notable performances at the event’s SPARQ combine testing. Miles Sanders turned in the best performance of the group, finishing 23rd in the field with a well-rounded effort. Shane Simmons checked in with the fastest 20-yard shuttle time…
Penn State will put on a show for fans at its 14th annual Lift for Life event, which raises money and awareness for rare diseases through an entertaining display of the Nittany Lions’ strength exploits. The first Lift for Life took place on Penn State’s campus in 2002 and gave way to something bigger through Uplifting Athletes, which now has 24 chapters and big presence in the Big Ten and…
Penn State will face many individual challenges in its 2015 football schedule in a wide variety of opposing players, from stars to under-appreciated grinders and everything between. That goes for players inside and outside of the Big Ten, with lesser-known stars such as San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey and Temple’s Praise Martin-Oguike in the Lions’ future. Bob Flounders sorted through the top 25 players on Penn State’s schedule and ranked…
Penn State has picked up a full head of steam on the recruiting trail with a class that ranks No. 6 nationally and is up to 15 verbal commitments. A run on defensive linemen has put the Nittany Lions back among the nation’s elite recruiting classes, highlighted by eight players ranked among the top 250 players in the country, according to 247 Sports. The recruitment of defensive tackles has been…
Penn State is one of the nation’s hottest programs on the recruiting trail with a run of four commitments in six days that pushed the 2016 class into the top 10 nationally in all four major recruiting services. Three of those four verbal commitments came from defensive tackles, which were timely additions at a big area of need beyond the 2015 season. James Franklin has wasted no time building three…
To say the Penn State football program has been through turbulence over the last four years would be a massive understatement. The Nittany Lions have been hammered with sanctions, played under two head coaches and two more interims and limped through several seasons of hefty roster restrictions. Through it all, Penn State has come out the other side under second-year coach James Franklin. The staff is recruiting at a high…
Penn State is on a big-time roll in its 2016 recruiting class with four new commitments in a span of six days. Punter Blake Gillkin and defensive tackles Christian Colon, Michael Dwumfour and Ellison Jordan all gave their verbal pledges this week, bringing the class total to 14. While Colon and Jordan committed late in the week — and after the podcast in this post was recorded — Gillikin and…
The fan questions segment on the Keystone Kickoff Show focused largely on hot button issues at Penn State but also stuck with current events in asking about LeBron James’ likely position if he were to move from basketball to football. Bob Flounders and Andrew P. Shay talked about how to define success for James Franklin in his second season, which positions best lend themselves to early success for freshmen, where…
Few national college football writers produce the same timely, quality information as FOXSports.com’s Bruce Feldman. Penn State faithful have gotten glimpses of his deep connections in the college football community when Feldman broke news of James Franklin’s hiring and the push to retain defensive coordinator Bob Shoop last winter. Feldman has also intensely studied two key areas for the Penn State program, writing “The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks,”…
Penn State welcomes 22 freshmen to campus at the end of the month, a group that joins January enrollees Sterling Jenkins, Paris Palmer and Tommy Stevens. The crop of 2015 recruits is a key part of Penn State’s present and future as coach James Franklin finally pushes toward the NCAA scholarship limit of 85 after three years of sanctions. Because of an inherently flawed roster that is still both inexperienced…
Penn State has an impressive collection of commitments in its 2016 recruiting class with three top-50 players overall and seven players mentioned in 247 Sports’ updated national rankings. Offensive tackle Michal Menet (No. 35) leads the way, followed by defensive end Shane Simmons (No. 39) and running back Miles Sanders (No. 49). Quarterback Jake Zembiec is also a prospect on the rise, cracking the Top 247 at No. 219 after…
This week’s fan questions segment covered a range of Penn State football issues from recruiting to the offensive line and former PSU assistant Larry Johnson. The Nittany Lions’ recruiting efforts have centered on the O-line with back-to-back verbal commitments from four-star prospect Michal Menet and three-star Will Fries. Penn State continues to add high-upside talents to an offensive line that struggled in 2015. At what point can the coaching staff…