Even in a Year of Undeniable Change, Expectations Remain The Same For Penn State Fans

“Moving the sticks” is typically a colloquialism for “getting first downs.” For the Penn State football team in 2024, moving the Sticks also means that No. 11 (a metaphorical pair of sticks, for those who don’t speak LaVar-ese), Abdul Carter, is moving from linebacker to defensive end.

This could mean some nightmares for opposing offensive tackles, but it is also symbolic of a Penn State team that will be experiencing a great deal of change this year in terms of both personnel and scheme. While many of these changes, including Carter’s intriguing position switch, seem like they have a good chance of being positive, the sheer number of them will more than likely lead to some growing pains for the Nittany Lions as they enter the “Less Exclusive Playoff Invite” era of college football.

Penn State has three new coordinators. Though James Franklin intimidated recently that this might mean not that many more new plays but simply new ways of naming them, that’s still a lot of learning for, well, the entire roster to do during the remainder of the spring, preseason camp and likely at least a few games into the season.

Offensively, even if quarterback Drew Allar quickly grasps Andy Kotelnicki’s system and cleans up some of the accuracy and timing inconsistencies that he displayed last season, he’ll still have to operate behind an offensive line that must replace veteran tackles Olu Fashanu and Caedan Wallace and center Hunter Nourzad. Penn State’s depth along the offensive line has improved during the last few seasons and so, arguably, has its talent, but first-rounders like Fashanu don’t come through the program very often, and Nourzad was an underappreciated part of what was one of the better lines Penn State has had in recent seasons (and arguably still wasn’t enough in the biggest games of the year).

On defense, Carter might need some time to transition to end, but with his departure and that of Curtis Jacobs at linebacker, the Nittany Lions will be relatively inexperienced at their signature position, too, and at corner, where they must replace Kalen King, Johnny Dixon and Daequan Hardy. As with the offensive line (and most positions on the team), there is talent ready to step up at those spots, but adding new pieces AND a new scheme at the same time rarely leads to consistent results overnight.

On special teams, the Nittany Lions return underrated punter Riley Thompson but must replace kicker Alex Felkins, who was a reliably consistent weapon, and Hardy, who came on as an explosive punt returner last year. Stacy Collins helped ensure that the special teams put out more fires than they created, and while Justin Lustig got good results without a lot of pure talent at Vanderbilt, he’ll need to prove he can get them here.

Now, with all this change comes the possibility that the Nittany Lions unlock some of their high-end talent that they could not last season. Maybe Nick Singleton gets free for a few more big runs with a well-timed call set up by several smart passing plays. Maybe Allar finds ways to get into a better rhythm with short passes early in games and then can take (and hit) shots over the top or in the intermediate areas of the field. Maybe Tom Allen’s defense will find ways to take advantage of the playmaking abilities of safeties Jaylen Reed, KJ Winston and Zakee Wheatley that pay off not just in games against overmatched opponents but in the marquee matchups as well.

Franklin has been pretty good and probably underrated at this part of the job—mixing in new coaches and keeping the machine running. That’s a testament to both the allure of Penn State as a coaching destination and the larger system he has in place. He’s also been (generally) good at getting his teams to improve from September to December.

This latest transition, though, feels like too much change at once, especially when you consider the elite personnel pieces that are being replaced. As the Nittany Lions get ready to take on new Big Ten rivals and pursue a long-awaited ticket to the playoff, they might still be too busy figuring out their own stuff, as they were for much of 2023, to deal with all the challenges that the 2024 schedule will collectively present. Though change can and often is, and in this case, likely will eventually be, a good thing, the process isn’t always smooth, and fans hoping for an immediate payoff might be waiting a little longer than they’d like.