Which young Penn State players stood out during bowl practices?
PASADENA, Calif. — No. 11 Penn State has turned its full focus to No. 8 Utah ever since the Lions arrived in California to begin preparations for the Rose Bowl. However, before that, the team used a good portion of its early December bowl practices back in State College emphasizing good on good work while also getting multiple younger players more reps than they had all season.
Speaking Saturday at the contest’s team media day, head coach James Franklin revealed some of the players who impressed him most and also explained how important the work was for the future.
“I kind of look at it like spring ball,” Franklin said. “We probably got six extra spring ball practices where it really had nothing to do with Utah. We were on the road recruiting, weren’t really ready to put the game plan together, so kind of put a heavy emphasis on individual, and really as the season goes on, you lose some of that. So put a heavy emphasis on individual, put a heavy emphasis on good-and-good work and typically during the season we’re really focused on the first and second team, so it allows you to cut the reps from the first and second team and get the third and sometimes fourth teams some reps as well. That’s been really good.
“Then some of your veteran players that have played a ton of football for you, really cut them back and take care of those guys. They’ve earned that and deserve that. That’s been really valuable, just getting those guys that maybe once camp ended their reps were cut and reduced, and maybe they weren’t able to get opportunities based on injuries that happened during the season, getting them back involved.”
Which young Penn State players stood out?
The list Franklin rattled off, while admitting he may have omitted a few names, should not be surprising. Numerous Penn State players burned their redshirts this season as freshmen. And, others came close to doing so. Most of them made the head coach’s list.
“Vega [Ioane] is a guy that we’re really excited about, has been able to get a ton of reps in practice and some reps in the game,” Franklin said. “I think his reps were really valuable. JB [Nelson] was another guy that we were able to end up redshirting. He’s going to have three years now left of eligibility. I think that’s going to be really valuable for us. [Receiver] Kaden Saunders is a guy that was able to get a bunch of reps this year in practice and a ton of reps during this practice time for the bowl game. A guy that probably people don’t want to talk about, but [Tyler] Duzansky as our long snapper, we’re really excited about him and his future.
“Then some other guys on the defensive side of the ball, you look at some of those young safeties, although Winston played a bunch of football for us on special teams, we were able to get him some more reps on the defensive side of the ball, and then Cam Miller, [Cristian] Driver, guys like that. I think it was really valuable for them.
“[Linebacker] Keon Wylie, so all those guys that you knew were kind of right on the bubble on whether we were going to play them or not this year. I probably missed a few, but all those guys right on the bubble about possibly playing, it was really valuable for them.”
