Checking In With Penn State’s October Opponents

INDIANA – Oct. 2, Beaver Stadium

Indiana’s quarterback situation makes Penn State’s quarterback situation look like (insert something clever here). 

Michael Penix Jr. – 10-2* as a starter, Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist, 2nd Team All-Big Ten quarterback – remains on the shelf this spring after tearing his ACL during the Hoosiers’ win vs. Maryland in late November 2020. 

When asked on March 1 about his post-surgery progress, Penix Jr. told the IU media he’s “on schedule.” That’s it. Just “on schedule.” Whether that means “on schedule” to fully participate in all aspects of fall camp and then breeze right back under center Week 1 at Iowa, well, Penix Jr. didn’t elaborate…so who knows? According to the first search result on Google – the typical depths of our research here at FTB — ACL rehab/recovery ranges from 7 to 9 months in length. 

To make matters worse for Tom Allen, Indiana 3rd String quarterback Dexter Williams also tore his ACL during a non-contact  spring practice drill – an injury that leaves the Hoosiers with one (1!) healthy scholarship quarterback: Jack Tuttle. In two forgettable starts last year, Tuttle threw for 331 yards while directing an offense that failed to surpass 20 points in either contest. Currently, Zack Merrill, Grant Gremel, and Will Jontz – three walk-ons with the most walk-on-sounding names ever – are sharing backup reps at practice.   

To ensure stud wide receiver Ty Fryfogle isn’t quadrupled teamed in 2021, Indiana plucked Florida State’s D.J. Matthews from the Transfer Portal. Matthews, the Seminoles second-leading receiver in 2019, decided to leave Tallahassee roughly one week before the start of the ACC’s 11-game 2020 season and committed to Indiana midway through the Hoosiers abbreviated campaign, before Penix’s injury. 

For the second time in as many seasons, Indiana suffered the consequences of success when a key member of its staff bolted town. Last year, Alabama lured away Indiana’s acclaimed (and quite swole) S&C director David Ballou. This year, Hoosiers defensive coordinator Kane Wommack landed the head coaching position at South Alabama. Not sure if this is a big deal – since Wommack’s replacement, Georgia DB coach Charlton Warren, has never been a DC — or no deal – since Allen is a defensive mad genius whose system and culture are firmly rooted. Either way, many of the Crimson-clad defenders that held opponents to less than 21 points per game last year return, including FWAA All-American cornerback Tiawan Mullen. 

IOWA – Oct. 9, Kinnick Stadium

COVID outbreaks at Michigan (Champions Week opponent) and Missouri (Music City Bowl opponent) kicked started Iowa’s offseason a few weeks earlier than planned…which is probably a blessing in disguise considering the glaring holes dotting the Hawkeyes’ 2021 roster. 

Consensus All-American defensive tackle Daviyon Nixon euro-stepped right past Sean Clifford and right by his remaining years of collegiate eligibility to enter the NFL Draft where most late-March mocks project him as an early-to-mid 2nd Rounder. Nixon’s neighbor, defensive tackle Jack Heflin, also decided to get on with the rest of his life when he thanks-but-no-thanks’d the NCAA’s extra year, as did fellow defensive line starter Chauncey Golston.  On Monday, Iowa release its 2021 Spring Depth Chart. The listed DL starters – John Waggoner, Noah Shannon, Yahya Black, and Zach VanValkenburg (All-Name Team) have five career sacks, collectively. Golston and Nixon had 5.5 sacks EACH in an 8-game 2020 season. 

Gone are Iowa’s two starting receivers – Brandon Smith and Ihmir Smith-Marsette (29 career TDs combined) and gone are Iowa’s two starting offensive tackles. Those bookend vacancies forced Kirk Ferentz to shuffle players upfront and kick 2020 starting guard Cody Ince to right tackle. It’s not all doom-and-gloom, though. All-American center/future Rimington Trophy winner Tyler Linderbaum is back to anchor things in the middle. Fascinating note: None of Iowa’s starting offensive linemen weigh more than 295 pounds. It’s also worth noting that this marks the first full offseason Iowa’s been without longtime S&C coach Chris Doyle.

Ferentz addressed the media on March 29 – the first day of Iowa’s spring practice – and quashed the idea of a starting QB competition. Spencer Petras – 9 TD, 5 INT in 2020 – is the guy…for now, anyway. 

Defensively, there’s a lot of hype surrounding Transfer Portal pickup Xavior Williams, a three-year starting defensive back at FCS power Northern Iowa. These 15 spring practices afford Iowa’s coaches the best spot to maximize Williams’ talents since he’s versatile enough to play cornerback and/or safety.  

 

ILLINOIS – Oct. 23, Beaver Stadium

Even though blackjack table Romeo/new Illinois head coach Bret Bielema is still 150-ish days away from officially manning the sidelines and testing the structural integrity of his team-issued polo, he’s already scored two HUGE wins. 

Somehow, smooth-talking Bielema convinced starting linebacker Jake Hansen (who technically declared for the NFL Draft in December 2020) to come back and suit up for a sixth year of college football. Then, Bielema convinced 2nd Team All-Big Ten DE Owen Carney Jr. to remove himself from the Transfer Portal (even after marquee-name programs like Penn State, Tennessee, and Florida State expressed serious interest) and return to Illinois where he’s now playing linebacker. 

To that point, two weeks into spring practice, Bielema has definitely done some roster remodeling. In addition to Carney, seven other players have changed positions, the most unusual being sophomore kicker Caleb Griffin also being listed as a wide receiver now. 

Assuming Bielema gets the hell out of the way and stays the hell out of the way, Illinois 2021 offensive attack won’t resemble any of the neck-roll-dependent systems seen at Wisconsin and Arkansas. Former Appalachian State offensive coordinator Tony Peterson – a self-described “modern spread, shotgun exclusive” guy — will (presumably) be calling plays after elevating the Mountaineers to 26th in Total Offense last season. 

Quarterback Brandon Peters returns after a ‘positive’ season off the field (he missed 3 games because of COVID) and a negative season on the field (he only threw for 426 passing yards total in five starts, which is bafflingly low when you consider Illinois trailed most of those contests AND this isn’t 1924).   

OHIO STATE – Oct. 30, Ohio Stadium

Unknown: Ohio State’s starting QB. 

Known: Whether Ryan Day picks C.J. Stroud, Jack Miller, or Philly’s Kyle McCord, they’ll probably be awesome. 

Not surprisingly, the process of choosing Justin Fields’ replacement has pretty much monopolized Day’s media sessions midway through spring ball. Also not surprisingly, Day’s answers to all QB-related questions are incredibly beige considering A) it’s a huge decision and B) announcing a pecking order right now all but assures the third-place finisher packs up, leaves town and could potentially transfer to an in-conference foe (Indiana? Illinois? Rutgers? Nebraska? Michigan State? Heck, Penn State?) before the summer and start from Day 1.  

“You can’t win the job in one day,” Day told the media on March 29. “You can’t win the job with one throw, either. You have to just build over time, and that’s important to understand. It’s easy when you’re young to try to force the action and try to win the job (but) it doesn’t come that way. It comes over time with a body of work. That body of work is being built.”

Translation: I’m going to name C.J. Stroud the starter on August 30th.  

Elsewhere on the Buckeyes roster, wide receiver Chris Olave put millions on hold and wisely chose to fully maximize the earning potential of his rookie NFL contract (wish Jayson Oweh had this same foresight…we wrote about that back in December) by returning to Ohio State for his senior season. Likely a late-1st Rounder/early 2nd in 2021, Olave should be the first receiver off the board in 2022 assuming everything stays on script starting in September. 

At running back, veterans Master Teague III, Miyan Williams, Steele Chambers and Marcus Crowley are pretty much screwed the moment Day trusts 5-star freshmen dynamos TreVeyon Henderson and Evan Pryor to not fumble and not get whoever starts at QB killed when pass protecting. 

On defense, Ohio State has the best collection of defensive ends in the country but must find answers at linebacker. Spoiler Alert: They’ll find those answers.