KSN on BWI: Better or Worse? Penn State Tight Ends, Offensive Line, and Quarterbacks

The Keystone Sports Show on Blue White Illustrated concludes its 2023 Penn State season preview with a look at the quarterback, offensive line, and tight ends. KSN on BWI has been previewing the year based on analyst Thomas Frank Carr’s series of articles “Better or Worse”. It’s a perfect time, too, with training camp starting this week.

The duo focuses on those final three position groups on today’s show. Will the tight ends be able to improve upon last year’s production? Can the offensive line finally take a significant step forward? And finally, will Drew Allar be an upgrade over Sean Clifford? Jim Galanti and T-Frank discuss those topics and answer questions from fans on today’s show. 

Check out the full, exclusive airing of the weekly radio show on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel at 10 am. Also, subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss training camp content this month. The BWI Live show will air tomorrow at 10 am Eastern instead of this morning. T-Frank and BWI insider Nate Bauer will share their observations of Penn State’s open practice during the live show and take your questions in the BWI Mailbag. 

Better Or Worse? Penn State Tight Ends

T-Frank and Jim begin the show discussing the prospects of Penn State’s tight end room. Is it a slam dunk that this group will be better than last year, even without second-round pick Brenton Strange in the lineup? T-Frank needs a bit more information before he declares it a resounding yes and explains what he wants to see out of one particular veteran.

Tyler Warren has flashed some impressive plays for the Penn State offense for the past two seasons as the team’s third tight end. But the issue is those flashes never materialized into consistent performance. His place on the depth chart dictated part of that narrative, but Warren didn’t step up the way you might expect when Theo Johnson started the season injured. He had two drops on seven targets during the first four games before exiting with an injury. His run-blocking, which progressed during 2021, took a step back to start the season.

 Check out the full Better or Worse article here. 

Penn State Offensive Line

Next, T-Frank and Jim shift their attention to the Penn State offensive line. T-Frank discusses the factors that make this group a promising one to take a step forward. But the players around the five men up front can also play into the narrative. 

As much as we try to isolate each position from one another, football is such an interconnected sport that it’s nearly impossible. For example, did the Penn State offensive line take a step forward last season? Or were the Penn State running backs just better?

Unsurprisingly, Nick Singleton’s 18 explosive runs last season are more than all 2021’s runners combined. It’s not a surprise, but that’s still a shocking difference. The outsized impact of one player on the perception of an entire unit is palpable when we discuss the running game. 

Drew Allar: Five-Star comparison 

T-Frank wants to set a baseline of expectations for Drew Allar this upcoming year. What’s a reasonable amount of productivity for the former five-star prospect? He starts in-house by examining the first year of previous Penn State QBs, but then shifts his focus to a larger picture. Check out the article to see what he found when looking up the productivity of former five-star quarterbacks in their first year starting. 

We can observe a few things from this list of top quarterbacks dating back to 2018. The first is that each group has one quarterback that doesn’t live up to the rest of the group. Quinn Ewers was effective when healthy, but injuries derailed his first season as a starter. But From JT Daniels to DJ Uiagelelei, there’s one five (or high four-star) quarterback that either doesn’t pan out or performs below the rest in his first season starting. One side note is that we added Drake Maye as a high four-star prospect (34 overall) in the Class of 2021. 

The second observation is that the other two quarterbacks in the top three genuinely play like elite prospects.