With Juice accepting Shrine Bowl invitation, I assume Nourzad will move to center. Selfishly, I would have liked Juice to stay.
Juice Scruggs not returning next year
- Thread starter Bones80
- Start date
Just because he accepted the invitation doesn't mean he is playing in the Shrine game. Brisker accepted, didn't play and returned for another year at PSU.
However, if he goes and plays in it, that may be a subtle clue that he isn’t returning.
As others mentioned, the OP was incorrect with his Subject line that Juice accepting the invitation did not preclude him from returning next season.
However, we now know that Juice has made his decision, and is not retuning to PSU next season:
And for @Bones80, yes, the plan is for Nourzad to move to center.
However, we now know that Juice has made his decision, and is not retuning to PSU next season:
And for @Bones80, yes, the plan is for Nourzad to move to center.
Nourzad will probably do a great job at Center in 2023, with his experience and maturity. Hope Trautwein can break in one of the young studs as the 2nd teamer next year so that the OL has a multiple year Center to lead the unit beginning in 2024. Would Birchmeier be a possibility to be the 2024 starting Center, or is it more likely Dawkins or ?
Yep he's been on the depth chart at Center in the past. But he was in the 2020 class so 2023 will be his 4th year at PSU so it seems that it's pretty much now or never for him to make a move for playing time. If Nourzad is the 2023 Center, together with the incoming stud interior OL players enrolling in January, that may make Dawkins' road to playing time extremely tough.
Partially correct. They have high expectations for Nourzad at Center. He was battling injuries a good part of this past season, which hurt his performance at OG. They didn't have a lot of viable options behind him, which is why he got pressed into service despite the injury.
Dawkins has been there awhile. That said, he was also nursing an injury last season, so he wasn't able to step up at a time when the normal progression would have suggested he would of/should of.
The incoming OL players are very good, and as you noted, they are EEs. However, due to need/numbers, and their flexibility, both Jven Williams and Alex Birchmeir are going to start out at OT. They may move inside during their PSU careers, but that's to be determined. As such, Anthony Donkoh is the only incoming recruit that is starting out on the interior. And as we've seen over the years, it's pretty rare for a true freshman to get a lot of time on the OL unless there is a combination of dire need and advanced skills with the freshman.
I'm curious to see what happens to Dawkins in the coming year.
Would Dawkins be eligible for an extra year given his injury status in 2022? Not sure how many games he played in.
Get unlimited access today.