Five Penn State football questions ahead of this week's Blue-White Game

Penn State Nittany Lions football closes out its spring practice slate on Saturday with the annual Blue-White Game.

With less than a week separating us from a return to Beaver Stadium, let’s take a look at five key questions to preview what lies ahead.

1. What format will this year’s Blue-White Game take on?

Penn State head coach James Franklin indicated last Wednesday that he hadn’t yet settled on the format for Saturday’s scrimmage.

The Nittany Lions are thin on the offensive line. There are only 11 offensive linemen on the roster this spring and, with some of them unavailable, the total Franklin and OL coach Phil Trautwein are actually working with is well into the single digits.

That complication could preclude Penn State from executing the traditional spring game format. It could also force Franklin and his staff to get creative. Fans may remember that in the early years of Franklin’s tenure — when offensive linemen were scarce — they sometimes wore grey jerseys and switched from sideline to sideline during the spring game as needed.

During a behind-closed-doors scrimmage on April 8, Franklin said he worked in special teams reps in between drives to give the linemen some respite.

“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.”

2. What will we see of Penn State’s freshman quarterbacks?

Even with the knowledge that he likely won’t make an impact for the Nittany Lions in 2022, true freshman quarterback Drew Allar has still been one of the stories of the spring.

Given his pedigree as an On3 Consensus five-star quarterback, that’s hardly a surprise. In fact, it’s expected.

This Saturday should be our first chance to see some action for Allar and his fellow freshman quarterback Beau Pribila.

“They’re doing an excellent job,” offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich said. “They’re very far along because of how they were groomed in high school. They show a lot of arm talent. They have good feet, good pocket awareness, both of them.”

3. Will Adisa Isaac and Sal Wormley play a part?

The Nittany Lions are working two very important pieces back into the fold this spring.

Defensive end Adisa Isaac and offensive lineman Sal Wormley each missed all of last season due to injuries suffered in the leadup to the campaign.

Isaac figured to be a difference-maker at defensive end, and Franklin recently acknowledged publicly that Wormley was in line to start for Penn State on the offensive front.

They’re both working in with Penn State this spring, with the Nittany Lions depending on them to be major pieces come the fall. But their reps are still being managed carefully, Franklin said.

“Adisa two years ago played at a really high level, so losing him last year was a significant loss for us,” Franklin said. “Having him back is exciting.”

With that in mind, how much will we get to see of Isaac and Wormley this Saturday?

“Obviously, this time of year, we can be a little bit patient,” Franklin said. “…From a medical perspective, our trainers and doctors this time of year are going to be pretty conservative and not rush those guys back.”

4. What can we glean from Penn State’s running back situation?

Any recipe for improvement on offense this season has to include increased production from Penn State’s running backs.

Certainly, the Nittany Lion backfield isn’t the only reason for a rushing attack that ranked 13th in the Big Ten last year. Still, Penn State needs more from that group.

Keyvone Lee is the incumbent in that room, especially after Noah Cain‘s departure for LSU. But Penn State added a pair of supremely talented freshman running backs in Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen.

It will be instructive to see how all of the running backs look this spring. And any clues as to what the hierarchy looks like at that position will be valuable, too.

5. How will Manny Diaz’s defense look?

Saturday’s exhibition will offer us a first look at Manny Diaz’s defensive scheme.

The Nittany Lions appointed Diaz this offseason to replace longtime defensive coordinator Brent Pry after he left to take the head coaching job at Virginia Tech.

Known for an aggressive style of defense that strives to create chaos in the opposition’s backfield, Diaz arrived in Happy Valley after three seasons as the head coach at Miami.

Certainly, a scrimmage is unlikely to provide us with the full picture on Diaz and his mindset. At this point, though, an extended look should be useful.