Penn State football will finish up spring practice on April 13 with the latest iteration of the Blue-White game. The Nittany Lions are expected to once again take part in a scrimmage in front of fans — the Blue-White game had spent a few recent years in a practice format —although more specific details are likely to be announced in the coming week.
All of that being said, football is never short on storylines, insight and conversation after the final practice of spring camp. There will be plenty of things to talk about, but here are five to consider so far.
Consistency: Last week, James Franklin dropped a not-so-subtle suggestion that Penn State’s receivers have gotten better but still haven’t shown the consistency he is looking for or a more pronounced separation between perspective starters and the rest of the room. The Blue-White game is never the time to make strong declarative statements about how the season is going to go, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Penn State’s receivers are able to look like a group in the process of taking the next step. Of course, doing it one weekend isn’t the same thing as doing it every weekend, the point Franklin has spent the better part of the last 12 months trying to hammer home. If KeAndre Lambert-Smith can find that consistency, if Trey Wallace can stay healthy and Julian Fleming can make good on his once high-profile status, the names are there. Names don’t catch passes though.
Something To Think About: Away from the big-picture items like an expanded playoff and a new-look Big Ten, the most interesting thing going on for Penn State this season is what the Nittany Lions’ offense is actually going to look like. Time will tell which parts of Penn State’s offense from the past decade will stay and which parts of new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki will become the main threads, but it seems safe to assume that the Nittany Lions are going to be more different than not in 2024. That’s an interesting proposition for a team that has — generally — played the same style of football the past five to seven years. The Blue-White game isn’t usually showcasing Penn State’s offense at its most dynamic, but it will be fun to see what wrinkles and changes give everyone something to chew on for a next few months.
Hey Mr. Carter: Abdul Carter’s move from linebacker to defensive end is one of the more in-your-face positional changes of the James Franklin era when it comes to an All-American quality player making the shift. Carter, like a lot of starters, might not be out there long enough to form any real opinion on the matter, but it will be interesting to see how he does at a new location on the field. He was too talented and too good at linebacker to think this change would happen with any real risk of it not going well, but the change is undeniably one of the biggest stories of the offseason for Penn State.
Eye Test: Circling back around to the top of this story, the value that Ohio State transfer and Pennsylvania product Julian Fleming brings to Penn State will be key to the Nittany Lions’ success in 2024. There has been a lot of talk of Fleming earning respect amongst his teammates and coaches but all the respect in the world won’t catch a pass for you. There’s no reason to think Fleming will be a dud this season, but at this point the unexpected downturn of the Nittany Lions’ wideout corps has turned this season into a bit of seeing-is-believing. So seeing Fleming in action is how you can start to believe in what he brings to the table. Don’t expect Penn State to be pulling out all the stops, but that’s fine.
Glaring Issue: The Blue-White game is the prefect place to draw conclusions about how the season is going to go only to end up being completely wrong about it. That being said, are there any glaring issues to take note of? Are all the kicks awful? Does Nick Singleton fumble the ball three times? Does Drew Allar look lost in a new system? None of these things might be an issue when the season finally starts, but for as much as you can only take this scrimmage with a grain of salt, you can also see problems when they arise. Don’t let your blood pressure get too high in April though.
