What is the top Penn State football spring practice overreaction?: Newsstand
Penn State news, notes, and updates for May 7 include spring practice overreactions, headlines of the day, and more.
It’s time to dive into Tuesday’s top tweets and headlines about the Nittany Lions and college athletics.
Penn State tweets of the day
We start with a look at overreactions from college football writers to Penn State spring practice. The Nittany Lions are led by three new coordinators and are replacing eight draft picks plus other starters who signed during the undrafted free agency process. At CBS Sports, national college football writer Tom Fornelli focuses on the Penn State offense coming out of the first 15 practices of the year.
“This is the offense that will work: Andy Kotelnicki joined Penn State as offensive coordinator this winter, coming from Kansas, where he had tremendous success,” Fornelli writes. “Kotelnicki is the sixth offensive coordinator at Penn State in James Franklin’s 11 seasons. There were high hopes about the Nittany Lions offense last season with Drew Allar taking over at quarterback, and while there were moments, the offense largely failed to live up to the hype.
“Penn State’s biggest problem last year was a lack of explosive plays. Its explosive play rate of 10.5% finished seventh in the Big Ten and No. 103 nationally. (That seemed to be a problem for the entire league!) Kansas’ offense under Kotelnicki ranked seventh. With the lack of an obvious big-play threat at receiver and Penn State having to replace a couple of significant pieces on the offensive line, the pressure will be on Kotelnicki to scheme up explosive plays. It’s something he did quite well at Kansas.”
Over at ESPN, Jake Trotter is worried about the Lions’ offensive line after three starters from last year’s team were drafted.
“With Olumuyiwa Fashanu and Caedan Wallace manning the tackle spots last year, the Nittany Lions allowed only 16 sacks, second fewest in the Big Ten,” Trotter writes. “In last month’s draft, Fashanu went 11th overall to the New York Jets, and Wallace went in the third round to the New England Patriots.
“Still, Penn State should be solid in protecting QB Drew Allar with players such as Drew Shelton, its swing tackle the past two years, and Wisconsin transfer Nolan Rucci potentially stepping into the starting tackle spots.”
Headlines of the day
Penn State target Lex Cyrus growing his game in Under Armour Next Series: Wheaton, PennLive
The weekly rundown: News to watch in the Penn State wrestling world, football thoughts and more: Pickel, BWI
Zain Retherford Nearly Retired From Wrestling. Now, He’s Chasing the Olympics: Wogenrich, SI
Penn State off to strong start with 2026 WR Connor Salmin: Snyder, BWI
Penn State Football: 5 (of Many) Offseason Goals: Jones, Statecollege.com
PSU portal stock report: Cornerback AJ Harris: Pickel, BWI
Expanded Big Ten football tier rankings post-spring practice: Hill, Daily Collegian
Quote of the day
“I first met several of the coaches and recruiting staff when I went on a game day visit last fall. When I went to the spring practice then, I was able to meet many others and got to know several coaches a lot better.
“It was great to see how the coaches interact with the players during practice. They are all really hands-on. Getting to meet with Coach [Marques] Hagans and Coach [James] Franklin after the practice was also awesome.”
–Class of 2026 Virginia receiver Connor Salmin.
