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- [00:02]
A
Indiana can, can sort of cement itself as we are no longer this team that's going to be fighting for six wins anymore. Malachi, Tony, is he going to be ready?
- [00:09]
B
Dante Moore, he showed improvement, better command. What's going on, y'?
- [00:19]
A
All?
- [00:19]
B
I'm Bud Elliott. This is Summer school on the COVID 3 podcast network. And we are back in session. That's Daniel Gallon, Lions247. It's a big one today, Penn State, and we have a lot to talk about. Welcome in. Daniel. What's going on, dude?
- [00:30]
A
I'm doing good, bud. Thanks for having me back. I, I look forward to this every spring, every summer.
- [00:36]
B
It's always fun. I feel like we could do like the. What happened last year, but summer school is always kind of forward looking and you guys have done a great job over at Lions247 chronicling that. So if you guys do want kind of the, you know, what happened last year, you can certainly go find it. We're going to move focus to, to this year. Coming off 7 and 6, James Franklin fired, you know, mid season. I, man, like, I'm so glad we're having this because, like, this is not a rebuild. It's like a, it's a transplant. With Matt Campbell coming over from Iowa State, like, this is kind of like the, you know, State College cyclones in some ways with, with, you know, like some other probably more talented layers in what, what have been the biggest changes as far as, like, how the program is run that you can tell?
- [01:13]
A
Yeah, well, I'll say like the past couple years that I've come on like, I've known the roster and everything and today I got, I got the position, position roster right in front of me. So I, I don't miss anyone because you've got 40 transfers coming in. They have 11 early enrollees. Of those 40 transfers, 24 followed Matt Campbell from Iowa State. I think overall, the big thing that we've noticed this spring is that it's just kind of. And I, you know, this probably happens every time you have a coaching change. Obviously at Penn State there aren't too many of them, but it does feel like a really, really big reset. And it seems like things have been recalibrated a little bit. You know, down to details. Like, we've heard a lot about nutrition this spring. We've heard a lot about the strength staff. We've heard a lot about accountability. You know, a big thing that some of the returning players from Penn State have talked about is they're on these teams. And over the course of the week they get points, they lose points, you know, depending on. You have to do something. Well, if they miss a class, if they mess something up on the practice field and then at the end of the week, they tally up all the scores, you're at the bottom. You got to come in and clean the facility at 6am Something along those lines. So now I think that there's really been a cultural reset and it does seem like that the Penn State players who came back have really embraced it, and the Iowa State players who came in, not to mention the rest of the transfers from elsewhere, have also embraced that. And I think the phrase that we've heard is blended family. And it seems like things are going well from that persp. Perspective.
- [02:48]
B
Nice. I. I know the coaching search was challenging at times, but it. I don't know, like how. Where he was on their board or even if they thought they could get him, like it's as an outsider. Like they just fell ass backwards into Matt Campbell, you know. But that, that's. That's still great, right? That they got him. Well, I guess we'll start here on offense. Offense at Iowa State was like, look heavy. Tight end users are going to try to run the ball a lot. Quarterback manages the game for the. For the most part, like very pro style most years, some spread elements mixed in. Anything we should see differently here?
- [03:20]
A
It does seem like it's going to be a little bit more of the same. And I think part of that, you know, really speaks to the type of program that Penn State had been over these past couple of years where we saw a lot of those tight ends. You think about Breton Strange, Theo Johnson, Tyler Warren, the job that they were all on the team at the same time. So, you know, Penn State, you know, ran a lot of 12 and 13 personnel. And so to come in, you know, bring those tight ends, Ben Bramer and Gabe Burkle, you know, those are the top two guys from Iowa State who came in. They retained Andrew Rapelyer, who, you know, was hurt this spring, but did some nice things last year, especially near the end of the year. You know, you. I think we are ready to see, you know, a lot of that 12, 13 personnel this year, which, you know, I think is something that is going to look a little bit familiar from these past few years.
- [04:10]
B
Gotcha. So Rocco Beck comes over. He's okay physically, right? Like, I know he. He had like shoulder cleanup, I think, in. In December. Is he. Is he good to go?
- [04:19]
A
Yeah. Beck had surgery on his left shoulder, his non throwing shoulder to Repair, repair, a torn labrum. And then also last year he had a sprained AC joint in the right shoulder, you know, that he played through. Sounded like it took a lot to get him these to Saturdays, but you know, he wasn't full go at the end of spring. But he said when they come back, you know, for summer, he's going to be good to go, no restrictions. And obviously that puts him ready to go for, for fall camp in the season.
- [04:47]
B
I've never really bought him as like a first round type just on physical tools, but I mean the floor just makes him like clearly, if he's healthy, an upper, upper half Big Ten quarterback, which is an awful nice way to start a new coaching tenure. Is there anywhere they talk about it like him taking the next step?
- [05:03]
A
Yeah, I mean, I think that they view him as someone who is really talented and is that extension of the coaching staff right now? I think that this spring that was really his role. When you talk about when they were doing player led work in January and February, it was. He was basically acting like an offensive coordinator because he couldn't throw. So he would be there, he'd have the script, he'd have the players going through everything. And so I think once we get towards fall camp and start of the season, I think we'll hear a little bit more about, okay, like what can he do on the field. That will be these next steps. But I think that for this spring, the big thing for Matt Campbell and the staff was getting healthy. And I think a big thing for Becht was establishing himself as the leader. You know, I think obviously he was going to be QB1 when he transferred in and Ethan Gronker Meyer left, like that was pretty straightforward. But for him, you know, he viewed the spring as really important for him to, you know, show his new teammates what he's all about, you know, how he goes about things and how he can be that guy that they can trust. When they get to Saturdays running back
- [06:11]
B
room, I mean, they lose some big names here. Singleton and Allen are off to the NFL. They bring in Carson Hansen though. Like who I believe. Right. He was pretty good at Iowa State. I know they've always recruited the position. Well, is this Hansen show?
- [06:23]
A
I think you're going to see three guys back there. You know, Carson Hansen obviously was the workhorse for that Iowa State offense last year, but they brought in James Peoples from Ohio State, former top 247 recruit who got lost in the shuffle a little bit there with some of the guys who emerged last year. And then Quinton Martin is back. And Quinton Martin is another former top247 recruitment. I think really early in that 2024 recruiting cycle, I think he was a borderline five star according to our evaluators. Now last year he did not play an offensive snap during the regular season. It was Nick Singleton, it was Katron Allen. No other running back even took a handoff during Big Ten play other than those two guys. Quentin Martin, he was the backup going into the bowl game. Corey Smith got the start and was. It showed a little bit but couldn't quite go in. Against Clemson, they moved to Quentin Martin. He carries like 20 times for 103 yards. And I think it opened a lot of people's eyes to, you know, hey, like this is a talented guy. This is something that he can do. And this offseason Matt Campbell challenged him. Like Quentin Martin was like 61195 last year. Kind of looks like a wide receiver. You know, he was an athlete for part of the recruiting process. Matt Campbell said, hey, we want you to be £220. We want you to run inside the tackles. Martin embrace that challenge. Looks like a different back and I think is going to be able to be, you know, a grinded out physical presence for them. So I think you're going to have three running backs that, you know, can do different things and, you know, can really, you know, make things work for you. It's going to be really interesting as we go through non conference play how that rotation I think shakes out a little bit. But I don't think the expectation is to see like a Bell Cow running back at Penn State next year.
- [08:10]
B
I feel like I'm kind of optimistic about this pass catcher room that they lose Pena, they lose Ross. Right. You know, Clifford's off to, you know, whatever he's going to do. Did he make an NFL roster or he picked up.
- [08:20]
A
He got invited to Colts minicamp.
- [08:22]
B
Okay, but like Kobe Howard has real potential. I, I saw your ride upon the blue and white game. Chase Owl comes in from Iowa State. Like that's not a bad one two punch. If that's the one two punch, I guess I have some questions about tight end. Did they bring in Brammer too?
- [08:39]
A
Yeah, Bramer's here.
- [08:41]
B
Yeah, that's. That could be kind of like one of my real things was people like a lot of our audience on cover three says it's just, it's just Iowa State now in, in Happy Valley. And I'm like, they have some other pieces who aren't just Iowa State guys who I think are higher potential than what Iowa State guys, you know, typically were. Because the question is like, how does an Iowa State roster play in the Big Ten? And the answer would be like, not well, I think if it's like entirely Iowa State, you know, but like, if you have that base and then you're able to supplement with, with the type of caliber of recruit the Penn State could get, like, I can kind of see this working. Is Howard like somebody who can actually, like, be a guy for them this year?
- [09:16]
A
Yeah, he's, I think, one of the guys that there's going to be a lot of eyes on. And you know, we're really going to be tracking his progress because he was the one that from last August, like we heard Kobe Howard's doing all these really good things, like you're going to see him. And then we just never saw him until the second half of the season after James Franklin got fired. And even then didn't really see him that much. I don't think he had a multiple catch game last year, so getting him back, I think was a big deal because he is a talented player. I think that his approach is really, really good and I think that he has the talent to be a playmaker in the Big Ten. There's also a win for the optics in terms of retaining a top young player who there was a lot of excitement about. Um, you know, that that's also part of this battle, you know, as you're. You're building this program. And so yeah, I. This past catching group, like, I, it can't be as, I don't want to say as bad, but as like uninspiring, you know, as it was last year, because it just, it was, it was a tough watch for, for a lot of the year. I think that having Chase Sowell, Brett Eskkelson, who's another Iowa State transfer who averaged like 17 yards of catch last year, and Howard, I think that's a really good place to start. And then you've got high upside guys, you know, like Zay Robinson, who's a redshirt freshman from Iowa State, he was working in the slot and the outside this spring. And then Karon Brookings, another redshirt freshman from Iowa State who's actually from New Jersey originally. 65207, like first guy off the bus, I think kind of fits in with some of these other, you know, big bodied wide receivers that got developed at Iowa State earlier in Matt Campbell's tenure. I think he's a really intriguing piece and so, yeah, I Think there's some other guys who might be able to step up, you know, as time goes on. Like a Marion Jackson, he's a freshman from Nebraska. There's a lot of excitement about him. He turned some heads this spring, but with a freshman, we'll see. Don't want to get too far ahead of yourself, but I think Soell, Eskilson and Howard is a really good place to start given their talent levels. And also Soell and Eskelson and having that proven production, even if it is in the Big 12, it's still proven power for production.
- [11:32]
B
One of the areas where I think they like just looking at this, I have a lot of questions and some hopes is the offensive line. Like, and we're kind of, we're talking about like, hey, it's not just Iowa State, like I read the report, but Malachi Goodman's getting some first team reps. Left tackle after red shirting last year. Like he was a former five star type offensive lineman. I assume he wasn't cheap to retain, you know, given his potential at. How do you think this offensive line group looks? Because like they were pretty sneakily good last year and had a lot of talent that just got drafted.
- [12:00]
A
Yeah, I think the O line is one of the, this is where when you're going through the, you know, position by position on the offense is really where you get to like the Penn State guys and like the blend that you have. I think Malachi Goodman put himself in a really nice position with the work that he did this spring and this off season. We talked to him in February and you know, obviously there are many things that go into guys coming back in today's day and age. But you know, he was kind of like, yeah, like I didn't really think that much about, you know, going elsewhere. And he's one of those guys that said like, I didn't really even realize I needed to put out something that, that I was coming back when, you know, the fan base is, is waiting for, for any morsel they can get. But you know, Taylor Mouser, the Penn State offensive coordinator who came over over from Iowa State, he was talking about Goodman in February and he just straight up said like we didn't get this type of guy in Ames that they are working with different levels of talent. And Goodman, you know, former five star from New Jersey is a really, really good example of that. In terms of other guys who are sticking around, you know, Penn State guys who came back, Cooper Cousins, I think that we'll finally see, you know, a breakout year from him. He was a little banged up last year and you know, looked like he'd be in a rotation but at right guard. But it never really quite, you know, came came together. He's up to over 330 pounds. Like he's a big kid and he's someone that, you know, he's been at the prospect camp since he was a sophomore. Like we've seen so much of him. He's team captain material. I think he's going to be really important. And then Anthony Donka, you know, he played right guard last year after starting at right tackle two years ago. Ryan Clanton, the offensive line coach, he said that Danka is an NFL right tackle. That's where he sees him, you know, that's where he wants him. And I do think that that's where he has that skill set to play out there with his athleticism and some of his length. So I'm excited to see those three guys in terms of their attention. And then you supplement it with some of the transfers like Trevor Bore from Iowa State. Looks like he'll be that left guard. And then Brock Riker, center, transferred in from Texas State. He got there at like 275. Matt Campbell said he was up to 295 earlier this month. And they think that he can play at 305, that he'll be able to have the heft to play at the Big Ten. And like he looks like his body type is one of those ones where you can see that, okay, we can add to this. He can bulk up and he can be a player in this conference.
- [14:30]
B
I mean, is there a guy on his offense who maybe you don't expect, or maybe even the coaching staff doesn't expect to like reach his full potential this year, but if he does, it really like changes what you think about this offense?
- [14:42]
A
That's a really good question. I'm going to say that to stall out a little bit there. Yeah, I mean, I think if you can get one of these wide receivers who I didn't mention earlier to pop in some way. Keith Jones Jr. He was hurt for part of the spring, so we're not quite exactly sure how things look, you know, for him, but he transferred in from grambling, you know, 641 97. He was a basketball player in high school in Louisiana. Came to football a little late. We talked to no Pauly, who was the initial wide receivers coach before leaving for the Packers. We talked to him at the beginning of February and he was gushing about this guy. He's really excited about Keith Jones Jr. What he can bring with that FCS, the Big Ten jump, you do think, a little bit and you do wonder, especially missing time this spring. But I think that if he's someone that, you know, if he's healthy, if he's in the offense, if there is a home for him, that he is someone who I think could be a big bonus and maybe, you know, raise the level a little bit, for sure.
- [15:48]
B
All right, let's. Let's hit a break Here we come back defense, which we got a lot to talk about and of course the schedule and kind of outlook for these Nittany lines in 2020. Hey, guys, welcome back here to Summer school on the COVID 3 podcast. That's my man, Daniel Gallen, Lions 247. Always does a great job breaking down Penn State for us. We just went through the offense. Now let's turn the page to the defense. I guess top question here, like, they ran, I don't call it junk ball defense, but like a really brilliant defense relative to the caliber of like, physicality and speed you could get at Iowa State on a consistent basis. Are they running at this at Penn State?
- [16:26]
A
No. Which the linebackers who came over from Iowa State are very excited about. You know, at Iowa State, it was at 3, 3, 5 stack. And now with Danton Lynn coming over from USC, they're switching to a 4 down front. I think the base is going to basically be a 4, 2, 5. You know, they didn't show too much when we got in there for, for practice on, on Saturday in the stadium. It was very vanilla, especially with personnel, but, you know, we're kind of in a wait and see with, you know, is that 50B? Is it a nickel all the time? Do they go three safeties? Because they did a lot of that in that 3, 3, 5. How does this actually look? But yeah, it's going to be Danton Lynn coming in, you know, four down front, some big defensive tackles, some, you know, speedy guys off the edge, and then a linebacker core that I think could be, you know, maybe the sleeper position group on this team.
- [17:19]
B
Yeah, I, I think just getting Lynn is a really positive signal about what other coaches think about coaching for Matt Campbell, like to get him to leave USC to go to somebody else in the conference, which is still weird to say. Like, USC did interconference transfer. That's pretty impressive. I. They did lose quite a bit on the defensive line. Dennis Sutton, Durant, Coleman, transferred out to Tennessee. I know. You know, like, maybe that was more potential than Production. But how is this shaping up? I know they took Keanu Williams from ucla, who is that only has familiarity with thing him because he was at Lynn, was of course at UCLA before he was at USC before he's you know, now at Penn State. How are you thinking it's going to shape up?
- [17:59]
A
Yeah, they actually have two guys who played for Lynn at UCLA on, on the defensive line in Williams and Ciale Taki, who I think is going to be an 8th year senior this year. So you've got age and heft on that interior. This defensive line. I think that it's the position group that fans have maybe the most consternation about. Especially when you talk about the edge rushers because you lose denied on a Sutton Zariah Fischer goes to USC and then Chaz Coleman transfers out to Tennessee and then the guys that remain, I mean Ivan Kamaju, he was like Chaz Coleman before Chaz Coleman last year like last winter. Like he was the guy that we were hearing every single thing about. And then Chaz Coleman got there in the summer and then it was all Chaz Coleman. But you look at the snap shares in Big Ten play. Chaz Coleman didn't play against Iowa. Yvonne Kamaji was out there for, you know, a full complement of snaps. Like he is a very well rounded defensive end. I think there's a lot of hope that he can take that next step. Max Granville missed last year with an injury. You know, he was in line. You know, if Abdul Carter misses the Orange bowl, you know, because of the shoulder injury he suffered in the Fiesta Bowl. Max Granville is that guy. Like he was the next guy up. He was ready to go as a true freshman who skipped his senior year of high school and enrolled completely early reclassed. I think there's a lot of excitement about what he can do as a redshirt sophomore this year. And then the last guy in terms of pass rushers I'll mentioned is Ike Iziagu, 65275 Iowa State Transfer. The staff thinks he's better suited for this defense than he was for Iowa State's. He's like a first guy off the bus, you know, type of player with his length. I think there's some excitement about him on the edge. And then these dts this year are massive, like Penn State for as good as the defensive line had been these past couple of years. Like the defensive tackles, you have a lot of guts hanging out, you know, over the pants as you lined up like, you know, Xavier Gilliam, you know, Zane Durant you know, they, you know, those are really good players, but this is a different type of guy here. You've got an Armstrong, no Dean From Oklahoma State, 6 to 319, top hockey 337. Like this is going to be a much bigger group on the interior and I think that's going to help keep things a little bit cleaner at the second level.
- [20:22]
B
I can totally see that. I know you already talked about linebackers. I feel like that's the one position where like knowledge of the scheme and like experience probably matters the most. You know, like, it's nice to have guys who are freaks obviously, but like, you know, you've seen teams be really good with just like 23 year old guys out there who just are in the right spots, you know, like, like Fisher was incredible for an animal last year and went like fourth round, you know, so, you know, looking at this, bacon's really good. They bring in Brazena. Like, is there anybody from the existing Penn State roster who has a real chance to kind of threaten that group that they brought over from the Cyclones?
- [20:58]
A
I mean, Tony Rojas is back for his fourth year. He got hurt in practice after the Oregon game last year. So he's gonna be a red shirt junior this season. He's gonna be ready to go for fall camp. And I think he's someone who is really, really looking forward to getting back on the field and proving himself. And you know, he was, he was really highly rated by us when he was coming out in that class of 2023. You know, he's got really good athleticism. You know, he's physically, I think mature at this point and I think that he's really going to be a key player there, you know, in that defense. The other guy is Alex Tash, who is going to be a sophomore. He burned his red shirt down the stretch last year and then Penn State was able to retain him. He's a Western PA guy. He and Dan Connor, you know, the Penn State great who's a linebackers coach on the staff now. They get compared to each other all the time. Where I think some of the players on social media, they call Tash baby Dan because they think that he is that kind of guy. And Matt Campbell has already said that he thinks Alex Tash can be a, you know, an LBU all time great. So we'll see. You know, he got hurt during bull prep, so we don't really know where he is and you know where he'll be when you get to fall camp. But I think Rojas And Tash, you know, mixing them in with Cooper Evil Caleb and Caleb Bacon. I think that gives you some depth and it gives you some experience and it gives you some like a high ceiling with that group.
- [22:23]
B
DB wise. Like I still like a lot of what they have here. Like a whole lot Me, Dixon, Joseph Collins actually graded okay as well last year. Like this should be a strength, I would assume.
- [22:34]
A
Yeah, yeah. The defensive back, the secondary is funny because it's, they're all, it's Penn State's corner room and Iowa State safety room.
- [22:41]
B
Yeah.
- [22:42]
A
And you're, you're mixing that together.
- [22:44]
B
Yeah. Like those guys, that's got to be really nice. Nice for K. I know. Was it two years ago they struggled with corners really bad at Iowa State. Like just, you know, it's, it's. I, I'm just so impressed with what he did there over sustained stretch. Like you see guys, you know, make it like an underdog program rise up but you know, it's hard to sustain that. Like they just kept chopping away. I. Looking at this schedule here, this is such a blessing man. Like, like for if you are an upper half Big Ten team this year, which I assume Penn State will be like, I don't know if they're going to be a top five Big Ten team, but if you're like upper third, I mean this is a cakewalk. Like, like Marshall, Temple, Buffalo, Wisconsin. At home you get all four of the worst Big Ten teams according to the odds. Like Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland. Like, I mean this is, this is like an absolute gift. It, it. There's like two games that they, that seem well, I guess at Washington's challenging. Minnesota has a quarterback that like if they're, if they're just decent, you know, they're just top half and not top third of the Big Ten. Like you know, I could see Drake, Lindsay going off or something like that. But I mean even like the timing of this is not too bad. Like you don't have, you don't have serious back to back road games. You know, like the bye week comes after your real hard stretch of usc Michigan. I mean, dude, this really just comes down to how good are they? Because if they're like, if they're like a pretty decent team from the word go, like 10 wins on the table.
- [24:10]
A
It's the thing where you sit down when the schedule comes out and you want to be conservative with your estimate, especially with so much that's changed and you start playing the schedule game and suddenly you look up and you're at nine and you're kind of like, yeah, oh, oh, okay. Like this, this timing might be pretty good. Yeah, I, I think you look at the schedule and you know, that little pivot point of, at, of USC at home and then at Michigan, I think that that can be potentially. Yeah, it's, it could be tricky. You know, I think that, you know, say what you want about what Michigan has, you know, gone through this offseason. You know, how they've changed. Like, that's still a very quality program with a quarterback with a really high upside. Usc, I think, can present, you know, a couple different challenges for you with, with how they do things. And I think if you, you know, if you get through that and you split, you know, you're looking at things and you know, suddenly the picture changes a little bit. You know, I agree with you, that trip to Washington is going to be pretty interesting. And then having to come home from that cross country trip to play Minnesota, where like Minnesota, they played them super tough in Minneapolis two years ago. Last time they were in, in Happy Valley was 22 and you know, Penn State after a slow start, you know, blew the doors off them in the whiteout. But like, that's a program that I think I always, you know, I give them a little bit more credit, you know, where, when I'm trying to prognosticate, because that's a very high floor program in my view, so they can cause some problems. But then you look at the end of the schedule and Rutgers, Maryland, like, that's a pretty soft landing for you there at the end. So we'll see. I mean, I was looking at things today, I pulled up the number and it's nine and a half for the win total. And I think that we were all kind of like not even necessarily viewing things as a step back with all the change, but we were just trying to bake in. This is different. We don't know what it's going to look like. You know, there's a lot of different things that have to go right for you. But then you look at nine and a half and you're like, oh, yeah, yeah, that should be the number for them.
- [26:18]
B
Yeah, I agree. As long as they're. As long as they're good as we think they are, if they're like a level below, then like, you know, Wisconsin is a game at Washington's a real tough game. You know, Minnesota is more of a game like, you know, you probably still should easily wipe Marshall, Temple, Buffalo, Northwestern, Purdue, you know, Rutgers probably at Maryland, you know, but like yeah, this could be fascinating because if there's. If Campbell has them ready to go, like, and what. What an ability to, like, go out there, and you could sell on the recruiting trail, too. Hey, like, I came in here, you know, nine, ten wins like that. Like, that's. That's huge, man.
- [26:53]
A
Yeah, I think we. We've seen some people make the comparison to Indiana and then Kurt Signetti's first year when, you know, they got there and it was, you know, the schedule opened up very nicely for them, you know, to have that sort of run and put themselves in position to be in the College Football Playoff there at the end. I don't know if I'm. If I would call Penn State at this point like a College Football Playoff team, but I do think that when you get into November and we start doing that weekly show with the College Football Playoff rankings, I do think that Penn State is going to be in that top 20 and they're going to be hanging around and, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how those dominoes fall and. And how close you can get, but I think things are just positioned really nicely. It's just, I think, a big question of what's it going to all going to look like, you know, when. When you're out there on the field against Marshall on September 5th.
- [27:49]
B
Exactly. And I really enjoy doing this, as always. And, guys, if you don't know, now, you know, Lions247 for sure is the spot to go. Daniel, I appreciate it, man.
- [27:58]
A
Thanks for having me again, bud.