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Highs & Lows: Nittany Lions show progress in spring game

Screen Shot 2021-11-15 at 6.02.01 PMby:BWI Staff•about 17 hours
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Penn State safety Vaboue Toure made one of the game's highlights, an interception, in the first half. (Photo credit: Ryan Snyer/BWI)

By Nate Bauer

Penn State sped through its Blue-White Game at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, providing a glimpse into the team’s progress this spring. Here are the highs and lows from the scrimmage, for which official stats were not kept:

Highs and Lows: Penn State Blue-White Game

PLAYER OF THE GAME With some of Penn State’s top safeties absent, Vaboue Toure took advantage of the opportunity for increased reps. The redshirt freshman picked off senior quarterback Drew Allar and could hear his name consistently mentioned over the Beaver Stadium loudspeaker for his many tackles and assisted stops.

PLAY OF THE GAME Redshirt sophomore quarterback Jaxon Smolik connected with true freshman receiver Lyrick Samuel for the only touchdown of the afternoon. With the first half winding down, Smolik’s heave went for 42 yards and a score to give the White a 10-2 advantage. It was the quarterback’s first public appearance since he suffered an injury last spring that forced him to miss the entire 2024 season.

Penn State offensive superlatives

BEST PASS There were a few to choose from in the second half, with Allar engineering a scoring drive for the Blue team. None were better than when he found redshirt senior Kyron Hudson for a 20-yard gain in traffic to move his side into scoring position.

BEST RUN Redshirt senior receiver Liam Clifford picked up 13 yards on an end around early in the Blue side’s second possession.

BEST CATCH The precision of Allar’s second-quarter connection with senior transfer Devonte Ross for 14 yards was excellent. Allar threw a simple out pattern toward Penn State’s sideline, and Ross toe-tapped his way to a first down with the haul.

Defensive superlatives

WORST DROP Junior cornerback Elliot Washington II was visibly frustrated by a missed opportunity to reel in an interception on a pass by redshirt freshman quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer that had been affected by pressure from redshirt freshman defensive end Jaylen Harvey.

BEST SACK A real sack would have earned someone a trip to the doghouse in this game, so the Nittany Lions defenders had to be careful. Nevertheless, they still managed to apply pressure a few times. The best “sack” of the afternoon was by redshirt freshman defensive end Mylachi Williams, who tagged Grunkemeyer down for a 5-yard loss.

BEST HIT Cornerback Daryus Dixson was among the early enrollees who turned heads this spring. In the Blue-White Game, he showed what’s been behind all that buzz, laying a wicked, helmet-popping hit on redshirt freshman receiver Josiah Brown. Though the second-half reception went for 14 yards, Dixson’s shot was the afternoon’s most aggressive and impactful tackle. 

Odds and ends

BEST KICK Into the wind in the first quarter, freshman kicker Matthew Parker gave the White team an early 3-2 lead by sending home a 43-yard field goal. Redshirt senior Gabriel Nwosu deserves a shout-out, too, for his spiraling second-half punt. Nwosu’s primary role has been as Penn State’s kickoff specialist, but he’s listed as a punter on the roster.

WORST KICK The Lions started the afternoon with a kickoff competition for which points were awarded. That’s how the Blue squad started out with a 2-0 lead. Redshirt sophomore kicker Ryan Barker excelled on field goals last season, but his kickoff into the wind toward the south end zone wobbled out of bounds.

BEST DECISION Penn State purposefully took this year’s Blue-White Game off of television for competitive reasons, but the in-stadium production made an event that can often be a slog into something better. Moving briskly, the Nittany Lions put in some productive work and finished in well under two hours by shortening the quarters, tightening up the halftime break and using thud tempo in the first half.

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