3 things we learned from the Big Ten Network Penn State camp special

Penn State’s fifth preseason camp practice was its first in pads. And, it was featured on Big Ten Network’s latest August camp stop on Tuesday night. Host Dave Revsine was joined by analysts Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffth for an hourlong look at the Lions and other Big Ten matters. It aired again at 9 a.m. Wednesday, but currently has no other re-air dates.

“You talk about the talent, and the way they were able to play and compete last year, and this is a more talented team,” Griffith said. “You see the pieces. It puts them in the conversation where they can compete at a high level.”

Here are the top three things we learned.

1. The pads are on

After going through its mandatory heat acclimatization period, Penn State was finally able to put the pads on Tuesday. It’s a key step on the road to the opener on Sept. 2 against West Virginia.

“We had a lot of situations where you have to be short yardage, four-minute and third down situations,” offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich told BTN. “So it was a taxing day. No doubt was impressed.”

Second-year Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz was also happy with how his unit reacted to the increased intensity.

“Obviously as the defensive coordinator, you want to see your team tackle,” he said. “And, I thought we tackled well for the first day. And we got some hard people to tackle. That’s a big thing, that’s invaluable, that’s great film; as we know all across the country, we have limited opportunities to [tackle]. And so it’s important that our players do it with a great sense of urgency, and I thought we had that today.”

DiNardo went on to echo that the team tackled well during its first day in pads.

2. Lets talk some more about the Penn State wide receivers

One thing that was clear throughout the hour-long special is that the Big Ten Network analysts are not as worried about the Penn State receivers as everyone else is. DiNardo said he felt like the Lions have already solved that problem. But, Yurcich was more reserved when asked about that positon group during his on-set interview.

“They’re a competitive room,” Yurcich said. “I think Marcus Hagen’s has done a tremendous job developing those guys and making sure that the mindsets right, I think that’s a big deal with him and how he enters the room every day. And then it’s really starts there and then it goes into the fundamentals. It goes into the understanding of the bigger concepts or the bigger picture and understanding why we’re doing certain things. They are more versatile and we have some flexibility within our unit there.”

He then went on and broke down specific players in Hagans’ room.

“KeAndre [Lambert-Smith] is a really dynamic receiver, and he’s still growing, and he’s still working. And, I think he’s got a very high ceiling. He’s fast, he runs really good routes. He’s getting better off press coverage. And so, he’s continuing to grow, and he’s a seasoned guy with a lot of reps under his belt. So, we expect him to continue to trend in the right direction. Tre Wallace is another guy that’s got good speed and he’s got some power. He’s got really good strength numbers. And then the rest of the guys we need to continue to compete.

“You know, Omari Evans is a guy that has to continue to learn the game. He is still relatively young, Liam Clifford’s a guy that we expect big things from. [Malick Meiga and Malik McClain] are guys that have the size and the speed. And we’re going to continue to just push that room and make sure that they’re becoming the best receivers that they possibly can be. That’s what competition is all about. So we’re going to need all of those guys. And I hate to just single a few of them out. We’re excited.”

3. Leaving on a high note

The BTN crew has no reason to sugarcoat things. It also isn’t going to be intentionally negative. But there was no question throughout the 60-minute show that the three crew members who saw practice and then talked about it believe Penn State is going to do big things in 2023. They brought it up numerous times.

“This team is locked and loaded,” Griffith said. “We’ve we have not seen them at this level yet. And they have every opportunity to achieve their goals after what we just saw today.

“Now we haven’t seen the other [practices]. But I’m confident in what I just saw today that this is a not a good team, but a really good team.”