Penn State special teams notebook: Joe Lorig explains Jake Pinegar's lack of opportunities, more

Penn State special teams coach Joe Lorig offered a mixed review of his unit’s performance during the 2021 regular season.

The Nittany Lions’ coverage units, Lorig said, were stellar. That excellence stemmed primarily from Jordan Stout, who provided a touchback on almost every kickoff and won the Big Ten’s punter of the year award.

“I think we were top-three in the country in both kickoff coverage and punt coverage, which is obviously pretty fantastic,” Lorig said.

He would like to see improvement from Penn State’s return game, though — specifically on kickoffs.

The Nittany Lions ranked in the bottom 35 nationally when it comes to total kickoff return yardage. Penn State was slightly better at punt returning relative to its FBS peers.

“I don’t think we were really good on kickoff return,” Lorig said. “I’d like to see us take some steps forward in that area. And then punt return, I don’t know how the statistics worked out, but we have a really good punt returner in Jahan Dotson and we just didn’t really get that many opportunities for a variety of reasons.

“In general, I’d like to see some improvement in our return areas.”

Lorig on Jake Pinegar’s status

Penn State kicker Jake Pinegar attempted just one kick during the regular season — an extra point against Michigan State.

Pinegar had previously handled Penn State’s shorter field goal attempts, connecting on 36 of his 49 field goals during his three previous seasons with the Nittany Lions.

He lost out on that role in 2021, though.

Even as Stout struggled with field goals — he made 16 of his 23 attempts on the year and missed a pair of extra points — Pinegar did not see the field until the final game of the year.

Pinegar suffered an injury during preseason camp, but Lorig said he’s been available all season.

“I have total confidence in Jake,” Lorig said. “I’m not just saying that, I really do. We just chart it every week. It’s literally just a chart, and whatever it tells us.

“You always have to remember that the most popular guys on the team are the backup quarterback and the backup kicker, because it’s easy to say, ‘Well, what would that guy have done?'”

Lorig said the decision to put Pinegar into the game against the Spartans stemmed from a missed PAT and field goal by Stout earlier in the contest.

Pinegar has eligibility remaining should he elect to use it. Asked if he expected Pinegar to return for 2022, Lorig declined to reveal the kicker’s plans.

“As far as the players and things like that, I believe Coach Franklin’s stance is we let the players speak on that, so I’m not at liberty to speak on that,” Lorig said. “But, everything that I know about Jake is very, very positive.”

Expectations for new Penn State punter Alex Bacchetta

Lorig said the Nittany Lions are “very excited” about punter Alex Bacchetta, who signed last week as part of Penn State’s Class of 2022.

Bacchetta is ranked by Kohl’s Kicking as the top punter in the class, and Lorig said he believes he’s an elite kickoff specialist as well.

“I don’t want to put too much on his plate, I’m not saying that he is Jordan Stout, but very similar, and he has that multiple skill set,” Lorig said.

Lorig said he’s been aware of Bacchetta for a long time. Bacchetta can say the same. Out of Westminster in Georgia, he shares an alma mater with former Penn State punter Blake Gillikin.

Lorig feels that mutual familiarity has helped eliminate some of the risks inherent in recruiting during a pandemic.

“Typically, you want to have guys in camp where you’re working with them individually and Coach Franklin’s able to see them and those kinds of things,” Lorig said. “We weren’t able to do that, so we had to rely a little bit more heavily upon people that we trust in the industry.”