James Franklin still mulling format of Penn State's Blue White Game amid lack of offensive line depth
Penn State head coach James Franklin is still pondering what this year’s Blue White Game will look like.
The Nittany Lions are enduring a shortage of offensive linemen. Only one of the four offensive linemen who committed to Penn State in this cycle enrolled early —JuCo product JB Nelson. Penn State is also waiting on Cornell transfer Hunter Nourzad, who is set to enroll after his graduation in May. That means that PSU’s total of available offensive linemen has dwindled well into the single digits.
“We’re thin on the O-line,” Franklin said Wednesday.
That required the Nittany Lions to be creative in their behind-closed-doors scrimmage last Friday. And it might mean that Franklin needs to put his thinking cap on in regard to the format of the Blue White Game.
The annual scrimmage at Beaver Stadium is scheduled for April 23 — less than two weeks away.
“I want to make it as game-like as I possibly can,” Franklin said. “But it’s hard to say right now. As the game gets closer, we’ll have some scrimmage aspect — whether it’s a two-sideline game like we’ve done in the past, I’m not sure.”
Franklin referenced a strategy he deployed early in his tenure, when Penn State’s offensive line was critically thin. The offensive linemen wore grey jerseys and switched sidelines — and teams — as needed during the Blue White Game.
During last Friday’s scrimmage, Franklin said Penn State inserted extended special teams reps in between drives in order to allow the linemen to rest.
“It went kind of back and forth,” Franklin said. “We got a bunch of special teams work, which was really good.”
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Still, he’s not yet certain how he’ll approach the Blue White Game. He plans to wait things out and make a more informed decision closer to the game, once the picture is clearer.
“We’ll look at that,” Franklin said. “We got some time to get some guys back but we also may lose some guys. It doesn’t make sense to make a whole lot of plans right now when we’re still over a week out.”
Speaking to the media after Wednesday’s practice, quarterback Sean Clifford praised the offensive linemen for their application amid difficult circumstances.
“They’re working really hard,” Clifford said. “I gotta give them a lot of credit. They don’t get as much credit as they deserve. The limited numbers just allows guys to get rep after rep after rep. And, you know, a lot of people might complain about, ‘Oh my legs are tired. I’m sore.’
“Those guys haven’t missed a beat. They come out to practice, have a great attitude, a smile on their face and enjoying work.”
