Adding Up the (Low) Numbers on Penn State’s Offensive Line

At the 2014 Blue-White Game, Penn State was facing a shortage of offensive linemen. So, the O-linemen wore gray jerseys and played for both offenses.

Two former defensive linemen on the PSU roster that day – Derek Dowrey and Brian Gaia – had moved to offense earlier in the spring. To stay. For good. And the good of the team.

(Less of the big deal many made of it: Both had played both offense and defense in high school, and Gaia was rated as national Top 25 guard in high school, according to ESPN, Rivals and 24/7.)

James Franklin, hired as head coach just a few months prior, said afterwards that the offensive line was his biggest concern — which was saying a lot, given all that had transpired at Penn State over the previous two-and-a-half years.

“I think this is probably unique. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a situation where you don’t even have a scholarship two-deep,” Franklin said. “We’re going to find a way to make it work. We’re going to have to rely on some freshmen, maybe at positions you don’t typically rely on them at. That’s going to be across the board.”

The Nittany Lions had a total of 14 offensive lineman on their roster heading into that spring.

They approach this Saturday’s Blue-White Game with only 11 O-lineman on their 2022 spring roster.

That’s the lowest number at Penn State for at least the past dozen seasons. And that 11 includes freshman offensive lineman JB Nelson, who signed in December 2021 and started class in January 2022. In total, that group of 11 has combined for just 36 career starts.

What goes around comes around.

But…help is on the way. Franklin looks to add six more offensive linemen before the 2022 season opener against Purdue on Sept. 1 – five of them graduating high schoolers (three on scholarship, two preferred walk-ons).

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN ON PENN STATE’S ROSTER

The number of offensive lineman on Penn State’s spring roster is at its lowest in Franklin’s nine seasons as head coach, as well as Bill O’Brien’s two seasons at Penn State — played under heavy scrutiny, scandal and then scholarship cuts — as this chart shows. (All numbers are from Penn State’s official spring practice and fall preseason rosters.)

*17 offensive linemen for fall 2022 is a projected number, based on the anticipated arrival of graduating high school OL Drew Shelton, Vega Ioane and Maleek McNeil, who have signed letters of commitment to Penn State; preferred walk-ons Ian Harvie (PA) and Ben Hartman (Georgia); and Cornell transfer Hunter Nourzad, who is expected to enroll at Penn State after graduation this spring.

SPRING BACK

The lack of depth on the O-line has been a recurring theme during Franklin’s weekly media scrums this spring. The head coach even jokingly lamented that no Big Guys ambled over from East Halls to give it a go at a recent open-campus try-out.

Two weeks ago, Franklin said: “Our numbers are real low. This happens from time-to-time. We had a bunch of guys move on. We have answers for the future, but right now there’s not a whole lot of answers.

“Even when we did our run-on tryout, typically you get most positions – except for offensive line. There are not a lot of those human beings walking around the planet, let alone Penn State’s campus. We’re light there.”

Last week, when asked about how the lightness along the O-line impacted an intra-squad scrimmage in Beaver Stadium, Franklin added: “I think I mentioned to you guys before, we’re thin on the O-line. So, we had to be creative. Usually, you go 1s (first team) and then 2s and then 3s. We’ve only got one O-line right now.”

It’s not that Franklin and Penn State are getting fewer offensive lineman than other schools. As the chart below shows, Penn State is signing just about the same number of offensive linemen as the top teams in college football as well as in the Big Ten’s uber-competitive East division.

On the short-term, the numbers are a retention question.

On the long-term, the success of an offensive line usually boils down to two things: Recruiting top players out of high school, then developing them. For Penn State, oft-maligned for its lack of strong O-line play the past several years, it’s more of a matter of sustained quality, not a lack of quantity.

(Iowa, long known for its stellar offensive lineman, is a great example of perhaps both: Kirk Ferentz’s Hawkeyes sign a smaller percentage of O-lineman than most, but they get a lot of O-line four-stars – five in their last three recruiting classes.)

I’ll add a third: Putting them in front of an outstanding quarterback.

First, let’s look at the quantity of offensive linemen the Alabamas, Clemsons and Ohio States are recruiting compared to Penn State.

O-LINE: BY THE NUMBERS, 2014-2022

Here’s a deep dive into the number of players brought into each program via high school signings and transfers, including signed 2022 commitments who are not yet on campus. All numbers from the On3 signing database for each program:

For comparison, over his final 10 seasons (2002-11), Joe Paterno went heavy for offensive linemen:

On average, Franklin has signed exactly four offensive lineman per cycle. But, in three of the last four signing periods he’s inked five. It’s an acknowledgement, I think, that Franklin knows the most important position on a football team — after quarterback — is the offensive line and that the Nittany Lions need to do better.

Franklin’s O-line strategy includes, smartly, dipping into the portal for OL smarties who are already seasoned, and not just in the classroom:

The last two cycles, Franklin has adroitly recruited O-linemen from the Ivy League. Eric Wilson, who had 22 starts at Harvard before missing the 2020 season (Harvard did not play any games that year, due to the pandemic), started 12 games for the Nittany Lions in 2021. He quickly became a key part of the team, on the field, in the locker room and on campus: At Penn State’s end-of-the-season banquet, Wilson won the team’s award for courage, character and social responsibility.

Nourzad, at 6-4 and 298 pounds, should follow Wilson’s blue (and white)-print – and then some. He was an FCS All-American and two-time All-Ivy League right tackle at Cornell. Expect him to move to guard for Penn State in the fall.

WHICH CAME FIRST: OL OR THE QB?

You can make a case that an offensive line is only as good, or great, as its quarterback — and, of course, vice versa.

While digging up the numbers on the offensive linemen signed by the big three of Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State over the past nine cycles, I kept on running into one big thing: Man, those schools have had great quarterbacks. No kidding, right?

It could be a chicken-and-egg thing, but no matter how you look at it, great OLs have great QBs. This chart of incoming quarterbacks, by school since 2014, proves it, I think. Like O-linemen, it’s not quantity, it’s quality:

Seems like a no-brainer, but elite quarterbacks make O-linemen and head coaches look good. And this list accentuates Jim Harbaugh’s Achilles heel: No elite QB.

Penn State, on the other hand, has not been able to keep many of the quarterbacks it has brought in, elite or otherwise. Of the 12 signed by Franklin — none of them transfers in— half eventually transferred out: Michael O’Connor, Tommy Stevens, Will Levis, Ta’Quan Roberson, Michael Johnson Jr. and Micah Bowens. A seventh, Jake Zembiec, quit football due to medical reasons.

Take away three-year starter Trace McSorley, and the other four are all currently on Penn State’s roster: Clifford, Allar, Christian Veilleux and Beau Pribula.

That’s four guys for one position out of 22 – a much different ratio than the 11 O-lineman vying for five positions. It looks like Franklin has solved his QB depth problem, brutally exposed on national television at Iowa last year. Is the offensive line next men up?