The Penn State Nittany Lions are coming off their first step backward under James Franklin. They have all the pieces to get back on track, but a difficult schedule might stop them from really breaking through.
Prestige Ranking: 5*
The Nittany Lions have made a bowl every year under James Franklin. They’ve also won a Big Ten championship and a Fiesta Bowl in the last three years.
Last Year’s Record: 9-4(6-3)
Penn State lost to all three of their fellow B1G East heavyweights and Kentucky in the Citrus bowl to finish the year. However, if you exclude the blowout loss to Michigan, the other three losses came by just a combined 8 points. Things very easily could’ve been different with a better play call here or there, but definitely here:
Key Losses:
Three year starting QB Trace McSorley will obviously be the biggest loss after he threw for 9899 yards and had 107 total touchdowns in his career. However, there also impactful losses on the defensive side of the ball. Linemen Shareef Miller and Kevin Givens combined for 25.5 TFLs and 12.5 sacks in 2019, but are now off to the NFL. They will also miss All-Big Ten CB Amani Oruwariye who broke up a team leading 11 passes.
Projected Returning Starters
Offense: 5
- WR K.J. Hamler
- TE Pat Freiermuth
- LG Steven Gonzalez
- C Michael Menet
- RT Will Fries
K.J. Hamler and Pat Freiermuth, last year’s leading receivers, being back will be huge for the next starting QB, but that’s not all. He will have multiple former 5-star skill position players in WR Justin Shorter and RB Ricky Slade. There’s also three returning starters with 61 combined starts on an offensive line that took a big step forward last year.
Defense: 7
- DE Yetur Gross-Matos
- DT Robert Windsor
- LB Micah Parsons
- LB Cam Brown
- ILB Jan Johnson
- CB John Reid
- S Garrett Taylor
Defense, especially passing defense, was the obvious strength of Penn State last year and it looks like that will continue for the Nittany Lions. Gross-Matos and Windsor will lead the line after combining for 30 TFLs and 14.5 sacks. There’s also a great mix of talent and experience at linebacker: seniors Cam Brown and Jan Johnson will be paired with former 5-star Micah Parson who led the team in tackles as a true freshman. They also have two seniors coming back in the secondary with CB John Reid and S Garrett Taylor.
Special Teams: 3
- K Jake Pinegar
- P Blake Gillikin
- R K.J. Hamler
Pinegar was good last year, making 96% of his PATs and 16/24 of his field goal attempts. Gillikin was even better, averaging 44 yards per punt which was good enough for second in the conference. They also have Hamler back as an effective kick returner after he averaged 26 yards per return.
Key Newcomer on Offense: QB Sean Clifford(if he keeps the starting job)
Clifford is the more talented and experienced of the Nittany Lions’ two main options at QB. He’s a former 4-star who was able to get at least some playing time in real games and looked good enough in the spring to force Tommy Stevens to transfer and reunite with Joe Moorehead. The other option is redshirt freshman Will Levis who could still potentially start if things drastically change in the weeks leading up to the season. However, Clifford was ranked significantly higher as a recruit and has an extra year of experience.
Key Newcomer on Defense: CB Tariq Castro-Fields
The former 4-star junior will likely be starting opposite Reid at the corner position. He was able to break up 7 passes and produce 5 TFLs a year ago and will be ready to do even more as a starter this year.
Wins the Big Ten if:
Penn State has a difficult schedule, even for a Big Ten East team. There are road games at Iowa, Michigan State and Ohio State- none of which are easy places to win. They also get rapidly improving Purdue and Minnesota teams, along with Michigan in Happy Valley. If the Nittany Lions want to get back to the B1G championship game, they’re going to need to avoid upsets from pesky West teams and probably win two out of three against the trio of East heavyweights.
Circle this Game: Michigan- Saturday, October 19
James Franklin and Jim Harbaugh have traded blowout wins against each other for the last three years. Franklin will surely be looking for revenge after last year’s 42-7 loss and he has a great opportunity on October 19th. Oh, and this is gonna be the Whiteout game in Beaver Stadium.
2019 Outlook:
The Penn State Nittany Lions are still a top four team in the Big Ten, but all four of those teams happen to be in the same division. If they were in the West they would be favored to win it, but instead getting back to double digit wins and a good bowl should be the focus.
