Technically Penn State has 13 linebackers on the current spring roster. However when it comes to players with significant playing time that are ready to step into the shoes left behind by Michael Mauti and Gerald Hodges, that number drops significantly.
“That’s something that I think about 24/7,” O’Brien said earlier this week. “I think our three linebackers that are in starting spots right now I believe that they are very, very good players. They’re tough guys, they’re smart guys, and they’re instinctive players.”
Glenn Carson, Mike Hull, and Nyeem Wartman are all slated to get the starting nod this August. But like any position, the players behind the starters will dictate the unit’s true depth and overall ability more than those hitting the field first each Saturday.
“I do think that there’s some guys behind them that can help us that have improved,” O’Brien said. “Gary Wooten has definitely improved over the spring. Ben Kline has been out with a shoulder deal but he’s been in non-contact type drills and he’ll be back in training camp. We got a freshman coming in, in Brandon Bell that we think can help us, but there’s not a lot of guys there.”
“We certainly have to do a good job the rest of the spring and obviously over summer and into training camp of making sure that Carson, Hull and Wartman are as healthy as they possibly can be going into the opener.”
Most recently the linebacker core took a hit as incoming freshman Zayd Issah and two others were charged last month with passing counterfeit money at several fast-food restaurants in the Harrisburg area. Issah will not play for Penn State in 2013 after the school pulled his scholarship last week. Issah may make it back to Happy Valley in the future, but not without jumping through a few hoops for O’Brien.
With limitations on what this current group of linebackers can do, it’s entirely possible that the Nittany Lions will move from a three-linebacker set and begin to play with a nickel package on passing downs.
We’ve added depth there,” O’Brien said Wednesday, referring to a quietly growing secondary. “We’ve added (former wideouts) Trevor Williams and Malik Golden over there, and both of those have been good moves. … So we have the ability to go to a five-DB personnel grouping, or even a six-DB personnel grouping.”
“It’s different in college football than it is in pro football,” O’Brien said. “You have to have nickel in the pros and dime (six DBs) in the pros because if you don’t, you know, it’s a passing league. I think in the Big Ten, Gerald Hodges, you know, was our space linebacker, so he’s as good, in the Big Ten, as a lot of nickel DBs.”
Ever since joining Bill O’Brien’s staff, now defensive coordinator John Butler has alluded to his desire to use nickel and dime packages. The defense was largely limited by the skill sets and talents of the previous roster, but as O’Brien and Butler bring in players they see fitting into their schemes, new types of defensive packages may find their way to the field in 2013 and beyond.
Penn State began installing defensive schemes into practice earlier this week.
“It’s great,” defensive back Adrian Amos said. “We do a lot of fundamentals work during the spring so to get to work on what we’ll be using this year is exciting.”
