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Penn State football holds its second winter workout; who were the competitors of the day?

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•02/09/23•

GregPickel

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Penn State cornerback Cam Miller. (Snyder/BWI)

Penn State football has put its second winter workout session of February in the books. The Nittany Lions have six more grueling sessions to go before hitting spring break once March begins.

The drills are held on Tuesday and Thursday inside Holuba Hall. Each position coach picks a competitor of the day after they observe their charges in action under the direction of head strength coach Chuck Losey and his staff.

This Thursday’s choices are now in.

Starting on offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich’s side of the ball, his second pick of the month at quarterback was the same as his first: Sophomore Beau Pribula, who he called “a machine.”

At running back, reigning Big Ten freshman of the year Nicholas Singleton was honored by Ja’Juan Seider for the second time in as many workouts. The Lions’ co-offensive coordinator said that the sophomore is “training like he has accomplished nothing” and showcasing a “champions mindset.”

First-year assistant Marques Hagans went with Harrison “Tre” Wallace at receiver. Offensive line coach Phil Trautwein chose Penn State sophomore tackle Drew Shelton after he showed “great effort.” And, for the second time, Khalil Dinkins was the pick of tight ends coach Ty Howle.

Moving over to Manny Diaz’s side, the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach honored returner Curtis Jacobs. Up front, defensive line coach John Scott Jr., named end Zuriah Fisher as his competitor of the day. He is focused on being 100 percent healthy after an injury cost him much of the 2022 season.

In the secondary, corners coach Terry Smith went with sophomore Cam Miller, while safeties coach Anthony Poindexter picked sophomore KJ Winston Jr.

Special teams coordinator Stacy Collins picked Penn State punter Alex Bacchetta, who Collins said “finished strong in each drill and showed consistent effort from start to finish!!!”

What is a winter workout like?

Pribula recently detailed what a winter workout is like at Penn State.

“I feel sometimes people hear winter workouts, and they just think we’re lifting weights or whatever,” he said. “We do certain drills where, where’s probably five stations, and it’s just nonstop. We’ll go around each station and we’ll do certain agility [drills] like a shuttle [run], we’ll do sprints with [pulling] sleds on our back. We’ll do sprints with [heavy] water bags.

“And then at the end, we’ll do competition periods. We go against somebody and you do your sled pushes for a certain amount of yards and it’s a race. You’ve probably seen pictures of the tire pulls of different guys doing the tire pulls against each other. It’s just a competitive environment. It’s just made to make you mentally tough and physically tough, and it’s good and it’s fun.”

Tracking Penn State winter workout winners by date

Quarterback: Beau Pribula (Feb. 7), Beau Pribula (Feb. 9)

Running back: Nicholas Singleton (Feb. 7, Feb. 9)

Wide receiver: Malik McClain (Feb. 7), Harrison “Tre” Wallace (Feb. 9)

Tight end: Khalil Dinkins (Feb. 7), Khalil Dinkins (Feb. 9)

Offensive line: Caedan Wallace (Feb.7), Drew Shelton (Feb. 9)

Defensive line: Adisa Isaac (Feb. 7), Zuriah Fisher (Feb. 9)

Linebacker: Tony Rojas (Feb. 7), Curtis Jacobs (Feb. 9)

Cornerback: Storm Duck (Feb. 7), Cam Miller (Feb. 9)

Safety: No pick (Feb. 7), KJ Winston (Feb. 9)

Specialist: Kicker Sander Sahaydak (Feb. 7), Punter Alex Bacchetta (Feb. 9)

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