Practice Notes: The Latest
As the clock ticks down toward the opening kickoff of the 2007 football season Laschout.com has received the following nuggets of information from sources around the Penn State program.
Daryl Clark has received the bulk of the backup QB reps in practice. Pat Devlin has been the clear # 3. Interestingly Devlin has been by far the more accurate of the two in throwing the ball. Clark has been up and down in terms of accuracy but is more confident and comfortable within the system therefore earing the backup nod.
Rich Ohrnberger will be starting at one of the guard spots tomorrow. Sources tell us that Lou Eliades has in fact been pushing John Shaw for playing time at the other guard spot. Evidently Shaw has had some issues in getting his assignments down on a consistent basis. The fact that Shaw is a 5th year senior and has been a "good soldier" means that he will likely start, but expect Eliades to see some reps tomorrow behind Shaw.
Over the last two weeks of practice Anthony Morelli and Austin Scott have "taken the bull by the horns" and led the offense by both word and example. While this is great to hear, it is time for both to prove it on the field.
The loss of Abe Koroma is significant in that he is/was PSU's best DT. The guys behind him (Ogbu, Odrick, Baker) have been doing well but aren't quite on Koroma's level. Right now there is no definitive timetable for Koroma's return.
Phil Taylor is expected to play and as has been reported this week is still fighting with his conditioning. He is about on Koroma's level when he is fresh, but unfortunately after 3-4 plays he still gets gassed and needs a rest. Apparently he will be conditioning "on the fly" early this season.
Both Jeremy Boone and Ryan Breen have done well enough to earn the starting punting job. While neither is Jeremy Kapinos both are capable. Boone's consistency has earned him the job...for now.
Lydell Sargeant has played very well thus far in practice and that coupled with AJ Wallace's injury has helped him secure the starting CB job opposite Justin King.
A major source of concern has been the consistency, or lack thereof, of Kevin Kelly. Kelly has struggled outside of 40 yards and in fact one day last week he missed 4 straight in practice. By the looks of things Penn State will have to keep Kelly on a short leash and may have to take some chances offensively on 4th downs in the vicinity of the red zone if Kelly doesn't step it up and become the reliable kicker that is needed. Right now we were told that Kelly is the biggest concern heading into the season.
Laschout.com will continue to provide information on Penn State's preparation for FIU as it becomes available.
Daryl Clark has received the bulk of the backup QB reps in practice. Pat Devlin has been the clear # 3. Interestingly Devlin has been by far the more accurate of the two in throwing the ball. Clark has been up and down in terms of accuracy but is more confident and comfortable within the system therefore earing the backup nod.
Rich Ohrnberger will be starting at one of the guard spots tomorrow. Sources tell us that Lou Eliades has in fact been pushing John Shaw for playing time at the other guard spot. Evidently Shaw has had some issues in getting his assignments down on a consistent basis. The fact that Shaw is a 5th year senior and has been a "good soldier" means that he will likely start, but expect Eliades to see some reps tomorrow behind Shaw.
Over the last two weeks of practice Anthony Morelli and Austin Scott have "taken the bull by the horns" and led the offense by both word and example. While this is great to hear, it is time for both to prove it on the field.
The loss of Abe Koroma is significant in that he is/was PSU's best DT. The guys behind him (Ogbu, Odrick, Baker) have been doing well but aren't quite on Koroma's level. Right now there is no definitive timetable for Koroma's return.
Phil Taylor is expected to play and as has been reported this week is still fighting with his conditioning. He is about on Koroma's level when he is fresh, but unfortunately after 3-4 plays he still gets gassed and needs a rest. Apparently he will be conditioning "on the fly" early this season.
Both Jeremy Boone and Ryan Breen have done well enough to earn the starting punting job. While neither is Jeremy Kapinos both are capable. Boone's consistency has earned him the job...for now.
Lydell Sargeant has played very well thus far in practice and that coupled with AJ Wallace's injury has helped him secure the starting CB job opposite Justin King.
A major source of concern has been the consistency, or lack thereof, of Kevin Kelly. Kelly has struggled outside of 40 yards and in fact one day last week he missed 4 straight in practice. By the looks of things Penn State will have to keep Kelly on a short leash and may have to take some chances offensively on 4th downs in the vicinity of the red zone if Kelly doesn't step it up and become the reliable kicker that is needed. Right now we were told that Kelly is the biggest concern heading into the season.
Laschout.com will continue to provide information on Penn State's preparation for FIU as it becomes available.
Thanks HS
PSU should just go to madden rules now
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Wallace's injury? When did this happen? I haven't seen any reports on this til now. Any further info?
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I believe Wallace had some sort of hamstring injury that lingered for about 10 days or so. I think Joe said as much on his call in show last night.
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Wallace's injury? When did this happen? I haven't seen any reports on this til now. Any further info?
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Maybe we should go the route of BC and have a fan tryout for the kicking duties, or at least go visit the soccer team and try some of them out.
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wallace had a minor injury in preaseason and is 100% healthy now. laschout is conjuring up another injury hysteria here
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I don't think they were trying to start a mass panic. If the injury had been serious, it would have become public knowledge through any number of sources.
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Nice try car...err sc. We are not starting anything. Joe mentioned Wallace's injury last night on the hotline show. Glad you are taking the time to enjoy the blog.
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Not happy at all to read that about Kelly.
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Me neither.....though we have a full two years of history that tells us it shouldn't come as a surprise.
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Everyone is getting really anxious over Kelly.
He was really hurt last year; he didn't even practice during the week because it agrivated him that much to kick.
Oh, and this isn't all of his fault; I blame part of this on our lack of a kicking coach.
Robbie Gould struggled in college too
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kelly stinks in general, and is extra awful in big games. they need a replacement at PK.
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Agreed...........Very sad to say, Kelly will cost PSU one Big Ten win this year. Book it. He's 50%/50% outside of 35 yds, and sucks outside of 45 yds. Look for a last minute miss to break PSU drive for a Big Ten title.
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Didn't Robbie "Solid" Gould call out penn state last year for never really giving him any direction or proper coaching?
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HS - Thanks for the info.
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3 to 4 plays?? You can't be serious!!
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Look, every time somebody says we need a special teams coach, all I ever hear is "We don't need a special teams coach", Joe does a good enough job...", nobody else in the NCAA has a special teams coach", "If we have a special teams coach, we lose a coach elsewhere", and about 10 other excuses.
Robbie Gould did not become a great kicker until he was taught to become a great kicker.
This is STILL not enough for everyone who says we don't need a special teams coach.
Then, when someone criticizes Kelly, we hear, "yeah, but he was injured last year".
The only solution to this, is to PUT THE BALL IN THE END ZONE, INSTEAD OF SETTLING FOR FIELD GOALS.
Last year, we tried more field goals than anyone in the nation.
PUT THE DAMN BALL IN THE END ZONE.
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sources close to sc say that daryl clark is 2nd string qb per the depth chart...
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Right, like we have another legitimate option at kicker.
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