Sunday Column: Penn State’s Ideal Replacement for Pry Will be a Builder — of Depth as Much as Defenses

If only James Franklin developed offensive linemen as well as he develops head coaches.

Brent Pry, Franklin’s long-time right-hand man, became the fourth former Franklin assistant to eventually ascend to an FBS head coaching position earlier this week when he accepted the Virginia Tech job, joining Charles Huff (Marshall), Ricky Rahne (Old Dominion), and Joe Moorhead (Mississippi State and, as of Saturday, Akron). It wouldn’t be all that surprising if Josh Gattis, currently the offensive coordinator at Michigan, was added to that list in the next year or two.

So Franklin will do what he’s done pretty well during the last few years — turn to his little black book of coaching names and try to find a new assistant (if he decides not to promote from within). And while replacing the underrated Pry will be more difficult than many Penn State fans believe, it is an opportunity to both add some new life to a coaching staff that could use a spark or two and to see if the administration’s commitment to competing with the nation’s best (put a better way: its willingness to hand over a blank check) is indeed a result of Franklin’s princely contract extension.

Franklin will have to navigate the ongoing college and NFL seasons as he searches for this new hire, but it’s likely he had a few ideas in mind even before he knew Pry was leaving. He will likely want someone with a proven track record of leading a defense, who can quickly get both players and fellow coaches to learn his system and who is able to adapt his system not only to each opponent leading up to the game but, more importantly, adapt once the game is underway.

What Franklin will also be looking for in his new defensive boss, and what this program truly needs, is a coach with serious recruiting chops.

Penn State’s issues in 2021, well-documented in this space and in many other places on the internet, were mostly of the offensive variety. The Nittany Lions couldn’t run the ball consistently, on anyone, and their passing attack, while dynamic at times, wasn’t consistent or prolific enough to compensate. The defense did more to keep the straggling offense in games than it did to lose them but had a few plays it would want back as well.

The defense’s primary issue was the same one that ultimately held back the offense, though — a lack of depth.

If Penn State had a stronger backup quarterback, it’s not too hard to flip the losses to Iowa and Illinois to wins. If Penn State had more options on the offensive line than the seven guys who saw basically all the meaningful reps this season, more than two receivers who could consistently be counted on, or at least one dynamic running back, there’s no telling what the ceiling could have been for this team.

If the defense, so stout without Adisa Issac, Hakeem Beamon and, for each of its five losses, P.J. Mustipher, had each of those players on its defensive line, a group that allowed less than 17 points per game and forced 19 turnovers as it was likely would have been even stronger against the running attacks of Iowa, Illinois and Michigan, and been able to put more pressure on a cast of mostly average opposing quarterbacks.

Now, just about every team in college football, particularly those who had five losses by a total of 21 points, as Penn State did, can play this What-if game every season. Some years, you’re luckier than others with injuries, but injuries happen every single year, to everyone. It’s the nature of the most violent sport we play. It’s also why the teams who played this weekend, and who play the most meaningful games in December and January each year, are usually the same teams.

It’s not that the Alabamas and Ohio States of the world have figured out ways to prevent their great players from being injured, it’s that they have more of those great players than most. It’s because they recruit at a level where the difference between the first and second-teamer, at most positions, is negligible, if it’s noticeable at all. Jaylen Waddle missed nearly all of last season with an injury and DeVonta Smith and John Metchie III led Alabama to a title anyway. Jahan Dotson had to leave the game for one play against Michigan and the Nittany Lions threw it to Cam Sullivan-Brown.

This is especially true on the lines, which is arguably the area that has held Penn State back the most these last two years and, really, for much of the last several years. The Nittany Lions have had a lot of stud defensive linemen, but not full rotations of them, and even the best in the game don’t play a full snap load. They’ve had few offensive lines that could withstand more than one or two injuries, and this year didn’t even need injuries there to struggle.

And this, at last, brings us back to Pry’s replacement. Sure, Penn State could find a great scheme guy, someone who knows just how to flummox the opposing quarterback at just the right time with the right look or the right call. Or maybe it finds someone who has a bit of a mad streak, and sends seven guys tearing into the backfield every other play, knowing the defense will give up big plays but create just as many. And yes, there are a lot of good schemers who can recruit, too, even if it’s only by virtue of their reputation.

Given the choice between a savvy football mind and a dynamic recruiter who can help supply not only his defense but Mike Yurcich’s offense with more stud players and, in turn, more depth, though, Franklin shouldn’t hesitate to recruit the recruiter.

Yes, it helps to make the right call at the right time. But it’s better, over time, to have the right players, who can often find a way to get a good result out of even the wrong calls. And to have as many of them as you can fit on your roster.