Penn State Coordinators Gauge the Nittany Lions' August Progress

On deploying offensive line depth: I think, really, it’s just maybe more of a comfort, right? In the sense that you feel good about it. Honestly the challenge, and it’s a great challenge to have, is to make sure that you’re evaluating all of those guys and that there’s not too much musical chairs. That’s the most important group on the football team, in that those guys have to play together. The fact that we have maturity in that group, and you have some guys who are younger who we’re excited about and newer to the team, getting reps the way that they’ve showed and demonstrated what they can do throughout the spring, summer and fall camp, it just gives you a ton of comfort.

Coach [Phil] Trautwein and coach [Bill] Queisert have done a great job with those guys in developing them and getting them to do what we want them to do. ... So when you have depth at that position, depth at the skill positions, really, your imagination becomes the limitation that you have, as long as you’re not overextending individuals and asking them to do things that they’re not trained to do

On quarterback Drew Allar's next steps: We’ve challenged him since the moment I got here about the ability to move and really extend plays with his legs. I think I said this in the spring, but now, he’s moving awesome. I was joking with him for wearing sweatpants at practice. I said, ‘You should be wearing shorts, you’ve got great hamstrings now. Show those things off.’ And you know, he laughs of course, but I was being serious. So that, the way he can move and handle that. He’s so comfortable with all of the things that we’re doing, and it’s more about communicating with him and collaborating with him than it is necessarily just coaching him.

Like what I was referencing before, [it's], what do you have to do to get the best guys better? And a
player like him who’s just so smart, who’s so cerebral, who’s going to work so hard and prepare so hard; how we collaborate with him and challenge him to really reflect on certain things.

Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles

On how complicated his defense is: I think in today’s game of football, it needs to be somewhat complicated because you need to have answers for everything, particularly at this level. Offenses don’t run the same things in college. You better have all different kinds of answers. For teaching an
installing, I’ve gotten better at it, I’ve had to particularly when you come into a situation like this. Our charge is to be great now. If it’s too complicated, or if I can’t get it installed quickly, that’s my fault. I think I’ve developed a process that help move it along at a more rapid pac

On Penn State's defensive backs: Impressive. If I had to use one word it would be impressive. [Cornerbacks coach] Terry Smith has built an awesome culture in that room. Those guys are playmakers, so I’m going to set things up for them to make plays. I saw it in the spring and I’ve seen it already here in the first two days. They are a real strength of our defense.

Special teams coordinator Justin Lustig

On the competition at punt-returner: I remember sitting up here last summer and not having a ton of answers for you. We’ve got a lot of answers right now. It’s a really good problem to have. We have a deep room there. Obviously, Zion [Tracy], iIt was really his first time doing it and I thought he progressed really well. We expect big things from him. But we’ve also got Trebor Peña, who’s a seasoned veteran doing it, and Devonte Ross, a veteran who has done it and had a touchdown against Iowa when he was with Troy.

And then you’ve got a good crop of young guys. You’ve got Tyseer Denmark, who has shown a lot of capability back there. There’s Josiah Brown, and Koby Howard is another guy I’m excited about. It’s a deep position that’s going to show a lot of improvement this year.

On how special teams will help Penn State win games: The first thing I think about is that we have the potential for major improvement on special teams. We’ve just got to execute in fall camp and get better. There’s a number of reasons why I say that. No. 1, it’s year two for me in this system and it’s year two for the players in this system.

We’ve got experienced guys and personnel that are set up in a really good position right now. We have returning starters at every position; there’s no big questions on special teams whether it’s placekicker, kickoff, punt. And we’ve got depth at all of those positions, as well. Year two in the system, they know exactly what they’re doing. It’s their second time doing all the techniques and all of the schemes. It sets us up to potentially make major improvements.