5 Questions We Can’t Answer as Penn State Begins Spring Practice

Frankly, Your Guess is as Good as Ours…

Are We Sure Noah Cain Will Be ‘Good To Go’ Sept. 4?

Fingers crossed it’s just a coincidence and we’re proven to be idiots (first time for everything, right?), but we’re 94.7 percent sure Noah Cain didn’t participate in winter workouts, meaning he’ll be sidelined for the entirety of spring practice. How did we arrive at such a precise number? Well, we just made it up…but there’s valid reason for concern about Cain’s status. 

Stealing a page from my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Collier’s playbook, Penn State position coaches doled out ‘Special Student of the Day’ Gold Stars on social media throughout winter workouts. Here’s one posted from PSU RB Coach Ja’Juan Seider’s Twitter account praising Devyn Ford’s effort while reminding us the federal eviction moratorium ends March 31:

Winter workout #4 #LawnBoyz of the day went @TsunamiFord. He brought that 🔥🔥🔥🔥today. #RentIsDue pic.twitter.com/HfB1Mpu7vf

— JaJuan Seider (@coachseider) February 25, 2021

Gold Star for Ford.

Gold Star for Keyvone Lee.

Three Gold Stars for Grad Transfer John Lovett.

But no Gold Star for Cain : ( 

Cain’s silence on his personal social media – he hasn’t posted anything new in a few months — furthers our worry and led us to re-examine the rather benign sequence in which Cain’s season ended before it really began. “Benign” in that the game never stopped because of Cain’s injury:

On the initial run, Cain does fight for extra yards while an Indiana defender grasps his foot, but No. 21 doesn’t appear to be in pain post-tackle and pushes off his left leg – the one he apparently injured – to get up. However, during the TV close-up, once Cain gets the play from the sideline, it looks like he aggravates something while hurrying to get set. Next play is that RPO tight end flat/QB draw Kirk Ciarrocca ran a million times last year (Sean Clifford totally blew this read, BTW. Ball should have gone to Pat Freiermuth). Watch Cain. After taking an aggressive three steps to meet the blitzing Indiana LB, Cain begins hopping on his right leg milliseconds after impact and somehow gets to the sideline (can’t really see).

So what happened? 

Tyler Donohue of 247 Sports/Fight On State wrote that Cain eventually returned to the sideline with crutches and a supportive boot on his left foot…info that likely eliminates a knee ligament tear from the equation. It’s also unlikely that Cain broke his foot. But could he have messed up his ankle, plantar fascia, or Achilles? Yes, yes and yes. If it’s the latter, there’ll be some real doubt whether Cain can get back to 100 percent before the Wisconsin game. 

Can Mike Yurcich ‘Fix’ Sean Clifford?

According to PFF, only two Big Ten quarterbacks that started Week 1 of 2020 recorded worse season passing grades than Penn State’s Sean Clifford. They are Michigan State’s Rocky Lombardi (who transferred to Northern Illinois) and Rutgers’ Noah Vedral (who “runs like a gir…how should I say this?”) That’s it. That’s the list. And that’s not good.

But instead of piling on Clifford for 4 or 5 more paragraphs, let’s look forward not backward. 

From a glass-half-full perspective, Clifford’s inability to absorb a lot of Ciarrocca’s offense during a non-existent spring and hands-off fall camp means Yurcich won’t really need to deprogram his starting quarterback. Considering Clifford had two-plus years to fully learn Ricky Rahne’s system, it’s unclear how quickly/smoothly Clifford can pick up the general principles and critical nuances of a new offense since COVID serves as the ultimate excuse for last season’s offensive dysfunction.

Assuming Penn State’s 15 spring practices take place without interruption, and assuming the same for fall camp, last season’s excuse won’t fly this season – for both quarterback AND coach. While Yurcich’s system is vastly different than the two other offenses Clifford piloted at Penn State, there are concepts – like pre-snap pre-determined deep throws – that should complement the super senior’s skillset. 

For Penn State to have success this season, it’s not good enough for Yurcich to simply restore Clifford back to his 2019 ‘Guy You Can Win With’ status. No, to justify Franklin’s expensive surprise hire, Penn State’s new OC must completely transform a Game Manager (at best) to a Game Changer in a short period of time.    

Is This Year THE Year PSU’s Offensive Line Finally Dominates?

Why do I feel like Lucy holding a football as an inexplicably bald and depressed child races to kick it? 

Seems this question, which has a longer shelf life than the Arby’s Sauce packets buried in the back of a bachelor’s fridge, pops up every off-season and the answer is always a disappointing NO. So why should 2021 be any different than 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017?

Well, the main source of optimism is this will be the second year/first REAL year offensive line coach Phil Trautwein gets to put his thumbprint on this unit’s development. In Trautwein’s final season at Boston College, all five of his starters earned some sort of All-ACC honors (ranging from 1st Team to Honorable Mention) as the Eagles ranked 5th in FBS in rush yards per game and 1st in Blitz Down Sack Rate according to Bill Connelly’s metrics.

Couple Trautwein’s successful track record with the return of 3 starting linemen plus 2020 super sub Juice Scruggs (Penn State’s highest-graded OL, according to PFF) and there’s enough reason to at least ask this question again, Charlie Brown. 

Did James Franklin’s Aggressive Offseason Leave Him Vulnerable?

In the span of less than 20 days, James Franklin fired what many in the media felt was a home-run hire in offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca and cannonballed in the Transfer Portal’s deep end with the signing of four FBS players. 

Franklin’s proactive offseason approach was largely applauded and viewed by many Penn State fans as the head coach cashing out his built-up equity to do something daring — push all his chips to the center of the table in pursuit of “Elite.” It’s a bold move…so what if it doesn’t work?

What’s the next move?

Because of the surplus of ‘Real Life’ tossed our way, I’m not sure Penn State fans will ever fully digest the unprecedented disaster that was the 2020 season. Go ahead and dismiss last year as a fake season, but the record will always show this was the only Penn State team ranked in the Top 10 to finish below .500. If, heaven forbid, something similar occurred this season what would the athletic department do? Seems unfathomable…but so did the thought of getting wedgied by Maryland and Nebraska five months ago. 

Would Sandy Barbour have to bring Franklin back in 2022 just because the athletic department would be on the hook for $20+ million after the two parties signed an extension back in February 2020? They’re already paying for two offensive coordinators…but that dollar amount is like the change stuck between your couch cushions compared to Franklin’s remaining invoice if he’s fired without cause – the current year’s salary multiplied by the remaining years left in the deal.  

What Will Saturdays in State College Look Like This Season?

Time to tiptoe through the minefield here.

You know what might suck more than not being able to attend sporting events because of COVID-19? Attending sporting events under strict COVID-19 guidelines. Some of our PA readers have or will get a chance to form their own opinions in the next few weeks/months now that sporting venues have reopened, but for me, my mind is already made up. No thanks. 

Three weeks ago, my significant other – who is a diehard Detroit Pistons fan (yeah, I don’t get it, either) — and I flew 1,800 miles to Memphis, Tennessee for a random Pistons-Grizzlies regular season game because we’re not able to attend live events where we live. Going in, I was actually excited…leaving, though, I’d had my fill. It’s just not fun, man. 

Capacity was limited to 2,000 fans. Attendees had to download an app and fill out a COVID form in order to enter. Mask on the whole time – like MASK masks, not that sleeve James Franklin had taped to his face. One concession stand was open, but food and drink could not be consumed at your seat. Ushers didn’t let this slide, either. At least a dozen times I saw them race up the aisle to tell beer-in-hand patrons to go back to the concourse. In the silence, you could hear EVERYTHING, which made it feel weird to cheer….as opposed to a loud, ear-bleeding Whiteout where you can’t hear the guy next to you. There was no energy. No community. No sense of spectacle. It was steak at steakhouse prices but with no seasoning or sides.

SEC athletic directors know this all too well because their fans chewed on that same bland hunk of meat in 2020. Unlike the Big Ten, which had a conference-wide no attendance policy even in areas where outdoor gatherings were permitted, the SEC deferred to the states and the schools when determining attendance policies. Most SEC programs allowed 20 to 25 percent capacity and banned tailgating, band performances and the like – you know, the seasoning and the sides — which might be why several ADs recently drew their line in the sand and announced intentions for full stadium capacity come football season. Because asking fans to pay full price for a crappy product/experience – whether you’re Alabama or Vanderbilt – is not sustainable.  

Last week, the White House announced that enough coronavirus vaccines will be available by the end of May 2021 to inoculate every U.S. adult – a timeline that should provide enough buffer to administer those shots before September. If that comes to fruition, what would the Big Ten’s argument be for not fully opening athletic facilities? Besides trying to appear more enlightened and righteous than other conferences – which totally bit the Big Ten in the ass last season and is a downright laughable soapbox to stand on considering the “business” they’re in – what’s the reasoning behind taking a cautious approach to sporting events? 

Here’s the real danger Big Ten athletic departments MUST consider this summer: Don’t underestimate how quickly habits change and humans learn to live without. 

Prior to 2020, none of us would have entertained the idea of skipping the weekly 2-hour, 3-hour, 10-hour, whatever-hour drive to Happy Valley for a home football weekend. But when that choice isn’t a choice anymore, and routines are disrupted, the pause allows all of us to take a step back and evaluate what we truly need in our lives. No doubt Penn State is already experiencing this from a small fraction of its long-time season ticket holders. Even more are probably on the fence. Limiting Beaver Stadium attendance and outlawing the trappings of Saturday – tailgating, lining up to greet the team off the bus, and everything else that makes you pay thousands to sit on a too-small slice of aluminum – won’t help matters.