Spring Practice Update
---"Chima" Okoli has been described as a BEAST. As you may or may not have heard, Chima has moved from DE to DT this spring and as a result has increased his weight to @ 285. He was nearly unstoppable in some pass rushing drills and scrimmage plays. It looks like LJ has found himself another big-time DT talent. From all indications, the sky is the limit for Chima. We'll see if he has the work ethic to become great.
---From all indications, Daryll Clark is the #1 candidate to win the QB starting job. In fact, LO has been told that Clark is 'clearly' ahead of Pat Devlin at this point. It will take an unprecedented spring for Pat Devlin to win the starting job.
---Early indications are that Chris Colasanti will eventually win the starting MLB job (currently he is backing up walk-on Josh Hull). Described as "another potential great PSU LB," Colasanti has drawn a lot of attention from Joepa. This usually means 1 of 2 things..1. Either the player is lazy or 2. The player has the potential to be great and Joepa is making sure the player continues to practice hard." LO will go with #2.
---Abe Koroma appears to be healthy. Lost in the DT rotation last year, was Abe Koroma. Koroma's health is very important because of the suspensions of Taylor and Baker (arguably our two best DTs at the end of last year) and the injury of Jared Odrick. Remember, all Koroma did last year was dominate fall camp and essentially win a starting DT job prior to his injury. If Baker and Taylor return from suspension and continue to improve, it is downright scary the depth LJ Sr. has at DT. With Koroma, Ogbu, McEowen, Okoli presently drawing most of the reps in practice and adding in Taylor, Baker and Odrick, the depth at DT might be as good as it has been at PSU in a long, long time.
--Another name that has popped up from different sources has been Drew Astorino. Called a 'natural football player,' he has drawn consistent praise from several sources. How much Astorino plays in the fall, remains to be seen.
Quick Hits:
Expect a few sacks this year from Eric Latimore.
Expect to see Derek Moye eventually work his way into the WR rotation.
Expect Stefan Wisniewski to eventually supplant either Ohrny or Lucian as a starting guard. One source bluntly stated, "I think he is our best OL right now."
More later.....
This is what bothers me about Paterno. If you have 2 guys (Wiz and CC) who eventually are going to win the starting gig, probably by game 5 of the season, why not just name them the starters and get more reps and such.
Also, Wiz IMO should play instead of Lucian. Ohrny I think was fantastic last year.
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Maybe it makes these kids stay hungry and work harder to make that starting roster. You name the kids starters now and maybe they slack off a bit.
Joe knows how to motivate kids.
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Sure you can pull that game in the offseason, but for every game that the better kid sits on the sideline you are cutting into the potential of that player as well as the entire team.
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Good stuff, fp.
I whined when they offered Astorino at the last minute. Sounds like he's going to make me eat my words. Glad to hear he's doing well!
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What's the story with Maybin? Not developing as quickly as many thought he would?
I'm not shocked that Astorino is getting good reviews because he seemed like the classic under-the-radar kid when he decided for PSU, but I'm still a little surprised. In a very good way.
As for Lucian, the guy contributed beyond anyone's expectations last year. Glad we have him.
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RUTS-
Re Maybin, kid can't seem to keep his weight up.
Pass rushing skills will get you only so far. In a conference as physical as the Big Ten is, an undersized DE is going to see a lot of run plays headed in his direction. AM needs to add good weight and keep it on or imo he's going to continue to be a situational pass rusher.
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Maybin is a little "distracted" doing something that, to my knowledge, isn't known by the coaching staff and is something that Joe VERY MUCH DISCOURAGES. So don't look for a big spring from him but he should bounce back to shape this summer.
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Care to elaborate?
I'm guessing he's a male dancer? At least that's what LK told me.
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If Maybin won't gain weight, what do you do with him? What do you do with a defensive end that won't gain weight? Linebacker?...Tight End?
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Thanks for the report.
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when do they move Still over to offense. With Chima getting tackle reps and looking good, that makes about 20 quality dtackles right now. need to move somebody over there and Still looked the part from the video i saw of him, he looked huge.
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thanks guys...appreciate the insight - 1 question: is clark so far ahead of devlin b/c he is doing well, or devlin doing poorly?
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Wiz may well have been the best OL last year.
No, Joe, you're not hurting the program.
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Chris Colasanti is going to start and Sean Lee is going to stay outside, it just makes way too much sense than to do anything else. Colasanti looked like he had a thicker lower body than Posluszny, Connor & Lee as a TRUE freshman! That kid is physically imposing...if he remains healthy say hello to our MLB for the next 3 years.
The 3rd LB spot is what interests me...any tidbits on Gbadyu? Kid looked down McCoy at a camp and from all indications he has added 10-12 pounds of good weight while Maybin can't seem to add good weight and yet Bani is still fast as hell.
Bani Gbadyu - Chris Colasanti - Sean Lee
[EXCITEMENT!]
Also I must say the talk about Clark-Devlin was a bit vague...if you could be so kind to clarify/elaborate. Is Clark standing out and Devlin struggling? Is Clark holding his own but Devlin performing well? What caliber of a QB are we looking at in '08, are we in trouble or should we expect some exceptional play from the position for once?
I must say, it is great to hear about Latimore and Okoli...both have big time potential and physical skills which is even more incentive to count our blessings and move Devon Still to LT with the potential of being a two or three year starter on either side [LT, RT] of the OL. I'm not convinced were going to pull in the necessary SKILLED bodies to fill the void after '08 [Cadogan gone], '09 [Landolt gone, McCormick gone...if he even RS's in '08].
What about J.B. Walton? Brandon Beachum? Jon Ditto...never hear much about this kid and he was recovering from shoulder surgery almost from the word go last year. AJ Wallace!!!???
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Walton is still the best pulling guard out there. Do they know what they have or what.
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Care to expand on why everything is pointing to Clark as the starter? I thought he and Devlin were splitting first team reps.
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Okoli is not a surprise to me. He looked too big for DE last year. If he retains some quickness he could be a great one. Still is the one I want to hear more about. Again, he's a very big guy for DE. If Still is OK by this fall, Baker and Taylor may not be able to see the field, which will provide an important lesson to the rest of the team about the consequences of screwing up.
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Why would a post pointing out that none of this if "exclusive info" get deleted? Take the criticism with the praise or just shut it down!
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Not sure who deleted the post. My guess is because nowhere in the story did we claim the info to be "exclusive" so there was no need for your comment. If you already heard the info, good for you.
I'm not sure why you made the comment. My guess is you're one of the handful of people that comes here and rips us no matter what the story is.
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Nice update...whats the word on Green is he getting good reps at running back and are they going to run a duel threat with Royster similar to what they did when Scott and Hunt were freshman, that would be a nice combo punch
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Not sure of the rotation yet, but Green is going to be impossible to keep off the field. Royster had better stay healthy.
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fp/17,
What is up with Devlin ? We've all seen Clark pass and if history has taught us a thing or two about QB coaching, is that it's hard to teach accuracy. And, Clark just doesn't seem to have it. And,the coaches must know this, and if they still have Clark rated above Devlin, then something's gotta be up with Pat. Any idea what it is ? Is it the 'leadership intangible' ? Doesn't he have the team behind him ?
Just isn't making sense to me why Devlin can't beat out Clark and let the staff use Clark in the change-of-pace role that he seems so well-suited for....
jmho... no inside info here...just basing my observations on the few times I've seen the kids....
Thanks in advance...
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Kevin,
Who knows. But I have a few informed 'guesses' as to how it is shaking out.
Clark is a better runner than Devlin, while Devlin is a better passer than Clark. So more or less their physical skill sets are more or less a wash at this point.
Now, add in the limited playing experience Clark has and perhaps a better set of skills in the leadership department and volia...you have the leading candidate to start at QB under Joepa.
With that said, I think both can play and I think Joe/jay will be hesitant to annoint Devlin the man, until he sees some game action.
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It's a fair bet that, if Odrick and Koroma are both 100% healthy, they'll be the starters at DT on August 30th. This should be true regardless of whether Baker and Taylor are cleared to play.
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Looking at the pictures from practice, Still was wearing a white (offensive) jersey...maybe he's already been switched???
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fp/17 Is Gbadyu as fast as he looked in the clip from psusports? Where will he play this year?
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I think Bani is one of the most athletic guys on the team regardless of position. He really flies around the field. More playing time and experience should do wonders for his game.
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Chuck, Bani is a rocket so yeah, he's that fast. He'll be at OLB this year. I have always thought he would make one hell of a safety, but it doesn't appear that is in the cards for him.
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I thought devlin looked much sharper than clark throwing the ball...It would be disappointing but not entirely unexpected if he didn't really have a fair shot at the starting job
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fp - Thanks for the update!!
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Last year, I remember looking at Colasanti and thinking, " If they gave this guy a #31 jersey, he'd look almost exactly like Poz. Very similar size, build and movement. Its good to hear such positive things about him.
I hope Moye and Zug can contribute, because we could be SOL in 2009 at WR, especially with the five star disappointment otherwise known as Chris Bell and a near inability to recruit WR's ( among other positions ).
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Though, according to FOS, JeRon Stokes is taking a long look at us. He was at both the ND and OSU games last year and was impressed with the game day excitement and atmosphere. Plus, he knows that Butler, Norwood, and Williams are all graduating, so significant playing time will probably be immediately available for him.
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I too would love to land Stokes, but caution grey, Walker had multiple visits to PSU as well. I'm not counting on PSU landing any top-end skill position players on O side of ball until HC situation is resolved.
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Caution wins. Scratch Stokes off the board.
That's one down.
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