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2 Deep for Penn State

U

Ubermorgen

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Jun 6, 2013
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Am I missing it here?

Starter/1st String Backup/2nd String
Quarterback Clayton Thorson/ Zack Oliver OR Matt Alviti
Running Back Justin Jackson/ Warren Long
X-Receiver Cameron Dickerson/ Garrett Kidd
Y-Receiver Christian Jones/ Austin Carr
Z-Receiver Miles Shuler/ Mike McHugh
Superback Dan Vitale/ Garrett Dickerson
Left Tackle Blake Hance/ Geoff Mogus
Left Guard Geoff Mogus/ Shane Mertz
Center Ian Park/ J.B. Butler
Right Guard Matt Frazier/ Brad North
Right Tackle Eric Olson/ Tommy Doles
Starter/1st String Backup/2nd String
Defensive End Dean Lowry/ Xavier Washington
Defensive Tackle Jordan Thompson/ Max Chapman
Defensive Tackle Tyler Lancaster/ Greg Kuhar
Defensive End Deonte Gibson/ Ifeadi Odenigbo
SAM Linebacker Drew Smith/ Joseph Jones
MIKE Linebacker Anthony Walker/ Cameron Queiro
WILL Linebacker Jaylen Prater/ Nate Hall
Cornerback Keith Watkins II/ Marcus McShepard
Safety Traveon Henry/ Jared McGee
Safety Godwin Igwebuike/ Terrance Brown
Cornerback Nick VanHoose/ Montre Hartage
Starter/1st String Backup/2nd String
Kicker Jack Mitchell /Arthur Omilian
Punter Hunter Niswander/ Matt Micucci
Kickoff Specialist Jack Mitchell/ Matt Micucci
Kick Returner Solomon Vault /Jelani Roberts
Punt Returner Miles Shuler/ Nick VanHoose
Long Snapper Chris Fitzpatrick

At his Presser, Fitz did say that Harris would be back. Also said DePietro was out for the year, no possibility of a medical redshirt.
 
Harris being back is pretty miraculous and pretty important if true.
 
I'm surprised he announced Harris will be back. I would've just played him without anyone knowing. Why tell Franklin? I'm glad he's back though from a football standpoint as well as I'm glad a young man is ok.
 
NJCat said:
"If true?" You think our head coach would lie during the press conference? I heard him say "he'll play" with my own ears!
Click to expand...
I don't think Fitz straight up lies. He won't tell you things, but he'll straight up say that he won't tell you something. I wouldn't be opposed to him lying about scheme. I would be opposed to him lying about the health of well being of 20 year old which I don't think he would ever do.
 
Turk said:
Looks like Kuhar is in the doghouse.
Click to expand...

Why? Thompson had a great game against UNL. And Greg could still be getting back after his lower body injury. Anyway, everyone plays on the DL, the 2-deep is mostly an academic exercise.

And I bet Vault gets more snaps than Warren given the type of D PSU has.......
 
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NJCat said:
Why? Thompson had a great game against UNL. And Greg could still be getting back after his lower body injury. Anyway, everyone plays on the DL, the 2-deep is mostly an academic exercise.

And I bet Vault gets more snaps than Warren given the type of D PSU has.......
Click to expand...
What type of d does psu play to keep a stud like Long on the bench?

Thompson...great game against unl? I thought him and lancaster lost their battles, especially thompson who got pushed around and out of plays.
 
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Turk said:
What type of d does psu play to keep a stud like Long on the bench?
.
Click to expand...

PSU has a tremendous DL. They will be tough to move using a traditional rushing attack. Look for Vault out of the backfield or in the slot for short passes. I say JJ gets fewer than 10 carries.
 
NJCat said:
PSU has a tremendous DL. They will be tough to move using a traditional rushing attack. Look for Vault out of the backfield or in the slot for short passes. I say JJ gets fewer than 10 carries.
Click to expand...
We may see Long on pass protection as well. McCall had jackson in there blocking a couple times against nebby and although he picked up a backer one time, the backer launched him and got to thorson as if jj wasnt there. Long is a better blocker. I think long is honestly a helluva talent like jason wright was. Im disappointed we dont get more reps with him.
 
Turk said:
We may see Long on pass protection as well. McCall had jackson in there blocking a couple times against nebby and although he picked up a backer one time, the backer launched him and got to thorson as if jj wasnt there. Long is a better blocker. I think long is honestly a helluva talent like jason wright was. Im disappointed we dont get more reps with him.
Click to expand...
Makes sense.
 
NJCat said:
PSU has a tremendous DL. They will be tough to move using a traditional rushing attack. Look for Vault out of the backfield or in the slot for short passes. I say JJ gets fewer than 10 carries.
Click to expand...

If JJ gets less than 10 carries, I can guarantee you right now we will lose the game by double digits.
 
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Turk said:
Looks like Kuhar is in the doghouse. And Vault is only listed as kick returner.
Click to expand...

Thompson played better than Kuhar against Nebraska. Thompson had a nice game. He's going to be an outstanding player for us in the future. He's already good as an undersized true freshman.
 
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Turk said:
What type of d does psu play to keep a stud like Long on the bench?

Thompson...great game against unl? I thought him and lancaster lost their battles, especially thompson who got pushed around and out of plays.
Click to expand...

Sheesh! How many plays did you watch? Thompson repeatedly stoned his OL by playing low, jacking him up with great hip thrush and arm extension, and letting him struggle to gain push. Great technique. It was fun to watch him handle guys 50+ pounds more than him. He also shed well and was in on several tackles. He may have been pushed around on plays to the other side of the field, but he played well and deserves to get the start ahead of Kuhar.

Edited to add he only had one tackle (an assist), but it still doesn't change my mind that he played well. Stats can be very misleading for assessing DT play, anyway. I once made five solo tackles in one quarter and wound up getting dropped from the traveling squad for the last game. Why? Because I created seams while chasing glory by freelancing and wound up with a play score of 17%. It was either freelance or have to deal with a 6'7" 290 lb black dude with freaking orange eyes. I made the wrong choice.
 
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Gladeskat said:
Sheesh! How many plays did you watch? Thompson repeatedly stoned his OL by playing low, jacking him up with great hip thrush and arm extension, and letting him struggle to gain push. Great technique. It was fun to watch him handle guys 50+ pounds more than him. He also shed well and was in on several tackles. He may have been pushed around on plays to the other side of the field, but he played well and deserves to get the start ahead of Kuhar.

Edited to add he only had one tackle (an assist), but it still doesn't change my mind that he played well. Stats can be very misleading for assessing DT play, anyway. I once made five solo tackles in one quarter and wound up getting dropped from the traveling squad for the last game. Why? Because I created seams while chasing glory by freelancing and wound up with a play score of 17%. It was either freelance or have to deal with a 6'7" 290 lb black dude with freaking orange eyes. I made the wrong choice.
Click to expand...
You are still here right? Maybe it wasn't the wrong decision.
 
Checked film again for overall play and to see if I could find which of the DT's got blown off the line...

Thompson - I had Thompson down for 2 tackles (1S, 1A); stats sheet says one assist. He had a nice stop near the goal line where he popped up and yelled "blah, Nebraska, blah, blah, blah" (sound mike picked up the yelling after the play). It was a cool moment because, with the rush of emotion after a play like that (!!), we sounded like a "screaming wall of wildcats". I was fired up. Unfortunately, on the next play, NU gave up a TD when Armstrong took the ball on the option and cut upfield, escaping Lowry crashing in from the end. In other plays, Thompson was double-teamed and pushed back 2 yards only twice. Once was on a pass to the flat. Otherwise, he uses nice hand placement and leverage to maintain the LOS and move laterally against much larger OL. I suspect Turk may have confused him a time or two with XWash, who does get knocked around at times in the land of the giants. In general, Thompson held his own nicely and wasn't blown back often enough to merit such a poor assessment, IMO. I gushed a bit in my post above in that he only put the OL up on a coatrack on one play, but it caught my attention and stood out to me among a string of fine plays. Otherwise, he had a couple good rushes and maintained his rush lane spacing to contain Armstrong. I also only saw one 'loaf' play where he could have pursued harder than he did.

With his technique and leverage, he shows lots of potential to be really good. He's playing well now, but he needs to get stronger and work on his push in pass rush. Against UNL, our DT rush was a bit constrained by the need to maintain rush lanes and good spacing to prevent Armstrong from running. NU did a good job at this. That's something DT's 40 years ago didn't have to worry about too much. There's a reason why he's playing as a true freshman, starting against UNL and this week against PSU in the wake of Robbins' injury. I look for him to become a more prolific tackler as he improves in the future, a guy who can rack up 50 or more tackles a year.

Chapman - Watching again, he did better than I thought at holding the LOS. He was only pushed back 2 yards once. He had a nice play on a double team where he locked his legs and went down, stuffing the play for a one-yard gain...nice job! He just needs to shed a bit quicker. He brings quickness to our pass rush while holding his own fairly well against the run.

Lancaster - Did fine holding the LOS. Needs to get stronger, quicker and improve his hands and shedding ability to get more tackles. Sometimes he was blocked while running a stunt and sealed off or blocked further away from the play. That's a risk one takes stunting, i.e., you get taken out of the play if the play goes the other direction away from the direction of the stunt. Tough to fight and get back in the play when that happens. He needs to do a better job of neutralizing and controlling the OL's block better so he can be in-position to make the tackle. He needs to find that "sweet spot" in his reading and reacting and avoid becoming overextended at times and unable to fight back, shed and make the tackle. I did see one pass play where he was too slow getting off at the snap. Lancaster may develop like Arnfelt and become the immovable object in the middle rather than racking up a lot of stats.

Kuhar - Was blown back 2 yards on a double team but made the tackle after a 7 yard gain. OK, but he's got to hold the LOS better. I believe he was blown back on another play but my notes aren't clear. He had a nice batted pass, and he stuffed a play and may have gotten credit for the tackle on the stat sheet. Otherwise, he looked OK but he's not quite at the level he was at last year, IMO.

NU DT's did a nice job recognizing screens. We batted two balls down, but I saw plays where the DT's didn't get their hands up. All in all, it was a nice game for our DL, featuring Lowry going nuts in the backfield all day.

Lowry - a studly combo of size, quickness, and alert play. On some of his TFLs, he just blew past the TE trying to block down with his speed; on others, he'd shove the OL to the ground inside and reverse direction to nab the RB running to the outside. Terrific motor, he pursues hard to the whistle. Awesome performance...one for the record books. Lowry may have played the best game for a DL in the B1G this year...10 tackles, 6 TFL for -29 yards, and a batted pass!

Outside contain was lost on a few plays around end by Smith getting buried or blocked. On one play, he got rolled rudely by the OL sweeping around his end like a deer being run over by a semi. Kinda funny to watch ..."buckle up your chin strap young man, they're coming after you".

Another funny play for me was Gibson's cueball-like transfer of kinetic energy into the blocking back (?), knocking him into the Armstrong, and then being knocked forward himself by a blocker hitting him a split second later. It was like bumper cars out there, and it resulted in a pick-6 by VanHoose. Part of the craziness of football. Lot's of funny stuff happens in the mayhem.

Finally, it was awesome to see our offense break out at the end of the game, with both the running game and passing game working. Great play calling at the end to run out the clock for a decisive win. With another 2 minutes on the clock, I think we would have scored another TD.
 
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shakes3858 said:
I don't think Fitz straight up lies. He won't tell you things, but he'll straight up say that he won't tell you something. I wouldn't be opposed to him lying about scheme. I would be opposed to him lying about the health of well being of 20 year old which I don't think he would ever do.
Click to expand...
I still feel misled about "Persa Strong". You can decide if it was lying.
 
JJ needs a minimum 10-12 carries. Bigger story is our overall rush : pass. And in rush I would include screen/swing passes to get JJ or Vault outside. Also hoping for at least 3-5 designed QB runs. Those things could lower the absolute number of rushes for JJ but would still have the same overall effect.
 
phatcat said:
I still feel misled about "Persa Strong". You can decide if it was lying.
Click to expand...
My understanding is that Persa badly pulled his calf muscle from working out too hard before camp started. That was the reason he was out 5 games in the 2011. I've been told by a physical therapist that is an extremely common occurrence with Achilles injuries. What was the timing of the weights being made, being sent... I don't really know. I've met Fitz and have heard him speak enough times that I stand by my statement.
 
Gladeskat said:
Checked film again for overall play and to see if I could find which of the DT's got blown off the line...

Thompson - I had Thompson down for 2 tackles (1S, 1A); stats sheet says one assist. He had a nice stop near the goal line where he popped up and yelled "blah, Nebraska, blah, blah, blah" (sound mike picked up the yelling after the play). It was a cool moment because, with the rush of emotion after a play like that (!!), we sounded like a "screaming wall of wildcats". I was fired up. Unfortunately, on the next play, NU gave up a TD when Armstrong took the ball on the option and cut upfield, escaping Lowry crashing in from the end. In other plays, Thompson was double-teamed and pushed back 2 yards only twice. Once was on a pass to the flat. Otherwise, he uses nice hand placement and leverage to maintain the LOS and move laterally against much larger OL. I suspect Turk may have confused him a time or two with XWash, who does get knocked around at times in the land of the giants. In general, Thompson held his own nicely and wasn't blown back often enough to merit such a poor assessment, IMO. I gushed a bit in my post above in that he only put the OL up on a coatrack on one play, but it caught my attention and stood out to me among a string of fine plays. Otherwise, he had a couple good rushes and maintained his rush lane spacing to contain Armstrong. I also only saw one 'loaf' play where he could have pursued harder than he did.

With his technique and leverage, he shows lots of potential to be really good. He's playing well now, but he needs to get stronger and work on his push in pass rush. Against UNL, our DT rush was a bit constrained by the need to maintain rush lanes and good spacing to prevent Armstrong from running. NU did a good job at this. That's something DT's 40 years ago didn't have to worry about too much. There's a reason why he's playing as a true freshman, starting against UNL and this week against PSU in the wake of Robbins' injury. I look for him to become a more prolific tackler as he improves in the future, a guy who can rack up 50 or more tackles a year.

Chapman - Watching again, he did better than I thought at holding the LOS. He was only pushed back 2 yards once. He had a nice play on a double team where he locked his legs and went down, stuffing the play for a one-yard gain...nice job! He just needs to shed a bit quicker. He brings quickness to our pass rush while holding his own fairly well against the run.

Lancaster - Did fine holding the LOS. Needs to get stronger, quicker and improve his hands and shedding ability to get more tackles. Sometimes he was blocked while running a stunt and sealed off or blocked further away from the play. That's a risk one takes stunting, i.e., you get taken out of the play if the play goes the other direction away from the direction of the stunt. Tough to fight and get back in the play when that happens. He needs to do a better job of neutralizing and controlling the OL's block better so he can be in-position to make the tackle. He needs to find that "sweet spot" in his reading and reacting and avoid becoming overextended at times and unable to fight back, shed and make the tackle. I did see one pass play where he was too slow getting off at the snap. Lancaster may develop like Arnfelt and become the immovable object in the middle rather than racking up a lot of stats.

Kuhar - Was blown back 2 yards on a double team but made the tackle after a 7 yard gain. OK, but he's got to hold the LOS better. I believe he was blown back on another play but my notes aren't clear. He had a nice batted pass, and he stuffed a play and may have gotten credit for the tackle on the stat sheet. Otherwise, he looked OK but he's not quite at the level he was at last year, IMO.

NU DT's did a nice job recognizing screens. We batted two balls down, but I saw plays where the DT's didn't get their hands up. All in all, it was a nice game for our DL, featuring Lowry going nuts in the backfield all day.

Lowry - a studly combo of size, quickness, and alert play. On some of his TFLs, he just blew past the TE trying to block down with his speed; on others, he'd shove the OL to the ground inside and reverse direction to nab the RB running to the outside. Terrific motor, he pursues hard to the whistle. Awesome performance...one for the record books. Lowry may have played the best game for a DL in the B1G this year...10 tackles, 6 TFL for -29 yards, and a batted pass!

Outside contain was lost on a few plays around end by Smith getting buried or blocked. On one play, he got rolled rudely by the OL sweeping around his end like a deer being run over by a semi. Kinda funny to watch ..."buckle up your chin strap young man, they're coming after you".

Another funny play for me was Gibson's cueball-like transfer of kinetic energy into the blocking back (?), knocking him into the Armstrong, and then being knocked forward himself by a blocker hitting him a split second later. It was like bumper cars out there, and it resulted in a pick-6 by VanHoose. Part of the craziness of football. Lot's of funny stuff happens in the mayhem.

Finally, it was awesome to see our offense break out at the end of the game, with both the running game and passing game working. Great play calling at the end to run out the clock for a decisive win. With another 2 minutes on the clock, I think we would have scored another TD.
Click to expand...

Glades, as a token of my appreciation and admiration for this truly awesome post, I am sending to you a free monogrammed Pierre Cardin designer hoodie and a bottle of Chivas. You will also receive a free 30-day trial subscription to Model Railroad Aficionado, which includes dozens of exciting features on Lionel, Tyco and N-Scale model railroading tips and techniques. Enjoy!
 
shakes3858 said:
My understanding is that Persa badly pulled his calf muscle from working out too hard before camp started. That was the reason he was out 5 games in the 2011. I've been told by a physical therapist that is an extremely common occurrence with Achilles injuries. What was the timing of the weights being made, being sent... I don't really know. I've met Fitz and have heard him speak enough times that I stand by my statement.
Click to expand...
OK - my memory is terrible, didn't we get similar misinformation about V-Mark in 2013? Maybe no because that was on/off. Remind me.
 
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