My offseason Wish List

by QBsneak12 on Jan 6, 2009 12:06 PM EST Comment 41 comments

With our Big 10 Championship season behind us, I thought now was as good of a time as any to create my offseason wish list; things I would like to see happen/not happen.

All Assistant Coaches stay put - Penn State coaching loyalty is rare in today's college football. The fact that Scrap has been at PSU for as long as he has shows that. I hope we can keep all of our coaches in place and build an our fantastic 2008 season.
Aaron Maybin and Maurice Evans do not declare for the NFL draft - Obviously our DLine depth would take a hit if both of our ends went pro, but think about it; Maybin wasn't a starter until Evans got in some trouble early in the season. Evans, to date, is a one hit wonder (see: Greene, Shonn). He had a great 2007 season and was looking to build on that in 2008. It didn't happen. I'm sure that if he had another year like 2007 he would be as good as gone. For his sake, he should stay, get his degree, and develop and mature as a person and a player. Aaron Maybin has some things to think about. Todd McShay (ESPNs younger version of Mel Kiper) has Maybin as the 5th pick in the draft. For a 21-22 year old kid that is a lot of money on the table. It would be different if they were projecting him as a late 2nd Rounder. Aaron will obviously look at the situation and see what he wants to do. Clevland fired the coach, so they might not be running the 3-4 anymore. With Maybin's lack of size, he is projected as a 3-4 LB/DE. Let's hope Project Mayhem comes back and dominates for another season. I bet Justin King wishes he would have came back, instead he spent his season on IR for the 2nd worst team in Pro Football.
Daryll Clark becomes a LEGEND - Once in a while a player comes along and builds a legacy for himself and will be loved by alumni and fans alike till the end of time. In 2005, Michael Robinson became such a player. DC has that opportunity in 2009. Now the schedule is different, and the situation is different, but PSU has never won back to back Big 10 Titles. Daryll is the type of leader that can take us there. Pre-Season 1st team all Big 10 and potential Big Ten Player of the Year, if the WRs gel.
Sean Lee returns to form - When September 5th comes around I hope we see Sean Lee of 2007. He was the best LB on the team that year and was Defensive MVP of the Alamo Bowl. It would be great to see Sean bring the Bednarik award back to Happy Valley where it belongs. He has the name recognition, the talent, and the resume to become the next great PSU LB and potentially break Dan Connor's tackle record. On a side note, I think it wouldbe cool if Lee switched from 45 to 31, not going to happen, but it would be awesome.
National Championship - Now this is going to take some magic. With the terribly weak schedule this season (Akron, Temple, Syrcause, Eastern Illinois) the national media will be hammering PSU worse than 2008. They will say we have no business on the same field as Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, etc. And this season they may be right. However, if teams start losing and we keep winning (BIG) there would be no stopping us.
Repeat as Big Ten Champs - This is the more realistic goal for next season. We have the talent to repeat, we just need some key positions to gel together. Hopefully Graham Zug, Brett "don't call me Joe Jurevicius" Brackett, Derrick Moye, and some of the Freshmen can gel together. The offensive line will also need to be rebuilt but with Stefen Wisniewski returning with Dennis Landolt, we should be able to plug in some of our younger OL and make things happen.
Brandon Ware makes the rotation - With his size, I would like nothing more than to see Brandon dominate in obvious run situations. No longer will teams want to QB sneak on 4th and 1. If Ware worked hard during his redshirt season and worse he should be able to take up at least two blockers, freeing up a chance for Navarro or Sean to get to the Quarterback.
Kevin Newsome/Matt McGloin - My hope is that Kevin Newsome is more Michael Robinson then he is Marcus Vick. I hope he can develop as a passer and a leader and beat Alabama in 2011. As for Matt McGloin, I see him as a darkhorse contender in all of this. You never know, he could be our next John Shaffer. He could become Kerry Collins. But there is also a chance he could become Paul Cianciolo, Jay Paterno, or QB14)...let's just hope for the best.
Graham Spanier realizes the grass isn't always greener in the national coaching search and realize we have plenty of talented assitant coaches to pick from when JoePa chooses to walk away.
Chaz Powell stays at WR - I know they would love to have him back on defense, but the offense needs him. We need his speed and playmaking ability to go with the route running and size of Zug/Brackett/Moye. He has Derrick Williams like skills and will make a difference in 2009. Also keeping the WR reverse play warm until pocket rocket Devon Smith is ready to take it over.
Land Jelani Jenkins - Just to prove we can still make it happen with big time recruits. We don't NEED Jenkins because of our depth, but it would sure be nice to have him.
Pay Iowa back - We are at home and we will not be happy.
Beat Michigan and tOSU - Michigan will still be playing with Freshman QBs (and it would be nice to show Tate Forcier he made a mistake) and TP will still be learning how to throw the football.
Prove Penn State has staying power and we can contend for Big Ten Titles every year.
Two Long term goals - The Michael Robinson comes back to coach at PSU once his playing days are over and Deon Butler becomes a reporter or Radio announcer with Steve Jones. Mike Rob bleeds Blue and White and it would great to have him back in the fold when he is ready. Deon is great with the media and in front of the cameras, watching him ask JoePa or Scrap questions would be great.
Our 2020 Defensive Coordinator will be Sean Lee - Looks like Sean got the coaching bug during his redshirt year. he would make a great addition.

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all of this

I especially like #15 and #16.

I think #3 is already in the making and all Clark needs to do is stay healthy. He’s my favorite QB ever at PSU, more so than MRob b/c of his throws under pressure and confidence on the field. No other QB played as well as he did against USC’s defense, and that fills me with pride, and excitement for next season.

As for Sean Lee, it’s so strange how I feel like he’s already a coach and not a player. I can’t wait for him to return to the field.

by millzners on Jan 6, 2009 12:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

#16

I agree 100% with #16.

WE ARE.......PENN STATE!

by Nick7 on Jan 6, 2009 12:26 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

how long til september again? LOL

by amandakt on Jan 6, 2009 12:31 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I'm already bored

by letsgopsu on Jan 6, 2009 5:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

All of the above

My only wish, and this will never happen, is that we replace one of the cupcakes with a game against the Beavers in Corvallis.

"They haven't played us yet."

by ReadingRambler on Jan 6, 2009 1:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That may not happen specifically...

but there is a chance we switch out one of the cupcakes and add in an ACC team. For the life of me I can’t find where I read that, but I’ll keep looking. I want to say Pennlive but I can’t find it now.

by jimbo2psu on Jan 28, 2009 1:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't think Akron is set in stone

I think they were originally on the schedule but bumped because the AD is looking to replace with hopefully a more formidable opponent. Pure speculation here.

by kmpsu on Jan 6, 2009 1:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Agree with all

except #10. I think we should put Powell back on defense. We have plenty of weapons to work with on offense. But the Rose Bowl pointed out the huge lack of athleticism we have in the secondary. We’re losing Sarge, Davis, Scirrotto, and Rubin to graduation. Our secondary is going to be Wallace, Lynn, Astorino, and who else? We need bodies at safety, and preferably fast ones. Move Powell back to defense.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Jan 6, 2009 1:47 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Secondary

I still put the Rose Bowl loss partly on the linebackers as well as the secondary. My DVR deleted the game (since I watched it live and it’s nearly full) but when I was watching there were a fair number of plays when they were attacking the deep seams where the linebackers in coverage (non-Bowman, mostly) were out of position.

The thing that sucks about zone coverage as a fan is that it’s so freaking hard to determine who’s at fault. The TV camera angles don’t give you enough information. Zone has the nice feature that if everyone’s doing what they’re supposed to do, the defense works better than the athletic ability of everyone on the field, but it does require that everyone does what they should do.

by Bleed Blue 'n White on Jan 6, 2009 2:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

The LB core is usually our strong suit, and in zone coverage their speed and ability to read the QB makes the zone air tight. When we had Lee, Connor, and Poz in the Outback bowl, we made Tennessee’s high-powered passing game look silly.

by millzners on Jan 6, 2009 2:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Funny you mention that...

in the weeks leading up to the game, I heard a local radio guy interview USC’s quarterback’s coach. He was asked what impressed him most about Penn State’s defense, and he said something to the effect of Penn State being extremely well-coached and always right in position. He went on to say that with most college teams playing a zone defense, guys will frequently be a yard or two out of position, but Penn State’s guys were all right there in their spot every time. That’s what he said of the 2008 tapes leading up to the game anyway…..perhaps the team was intimidated and lost some focus in the first half, who knows. But ultimately you’re right, the Rose Bowl didn’t reflect that at all.

by jimbo2psu on Jan 28, 2009 1:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think the secondary shelacking.....

was more a product of Scrap’s lousy defensive game plan then a dirth in athleticism. You can’t cover a pro-style offense with a cover 3 zone. I believe Sarg and Davis were both 4 star players and so was wallace. Lynn was good enough for Caroll to offer him a scholarship so he could just as easily have been at USC. I think Timmons can play in the secondary….he definitely has the speed. You ask about who is going to play next year…….I would not be surprised if Gerald Hodges ends up starting by the Big 10 schedule…..especially with getting on campus early. Also Givens and Thomas will get playing time. In my humble opinion, by the Big 10 part of the season the starting secondary will be Astorino, Hodges, Wallace and Timmons. Lynn will play a lot……not sure whether it will be at safety or corner and Givens and Thomas will get opps. The problem remains at PSU……if you sit your corners 10 yards + off…..you do not get any bump thus no redirection of the route. There are always holes in a zone and a good QB with time can hit them. We did not knock Sanchez down enough or confuse him with looks in the secondary. It basically became a game of pitch and catch in the secondary during the second quarter. Our lack of speed at backer hurt with the blitzs and thus did in fact affect the passing game. Bowman is good and will only get better. I am looking forward to him playing with Lee next year. Hopefully Mauti will be the other starter with some of the younger guys rotating in (Gbayu, Colasanti, Stupar). Hull has heart and should play special teams….but he is not a starting backer at PSU!

I thought only safeties played 15 yards off the ball?

by pic15 on Jan 6, 2009 5:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

“You can’t cover a pro-style offense with a cover 3 zone”

Sure you can. Where are they going to target? Between the deep cover men? That’s 20 yards downfield. If they’ve got an offense that can consistently attack 20 yards downfield with the QB upright, your problem isn’t the secondary. It’s the defensive line and lack of pressure.

I don’t really think that was our problem, though it certainly didn’t help. The problem was that those holes were pretty darn big because our linebackers were frequently out of position and when they purposely were (on blitzes) they weren’t able to do anything due to great blocking by USC.

by Bleed Blue 'n White on Jan 6, 2009 6:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Note

I’m a Pats fan and they are Notorious for running a Cover 3 at times as well. Maybe not as much as we do, but there is at least one pro-team that uses a Cover 3.

by cmdpsu15 on Jan 6, 2009 7:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The hey is the mix coverages!

We ran the cover 3 almost the entire game even when Sanchez was tourching us! The Pats do run a cover 3 but also run a lot of cover two and they used to run more man schemes when they had Asanti Samuel. Also the DBs are going to have to get their hands on people to change up routes. I think BB&W needs to reevaluate the cover 3. There are a lot of wholes in it….especially for good teams to find. Are you seriously saying our LBs should match up with their WRs or DBs. Even in a zone….closing speed and breaking on the ball counts. Coverages need to be mixed in…..especially when one particular scheme is being exploited. AS ALWAYS BRADLEY FAILED TO ADJUST HIS DEFENSE (ala Michigan State 07!)!

I thought only safeties played 15 yards off the ball?

by pic15 on Jan 8, 2009 2:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ooopps typo....

Should say the key is to mix coverages! My bad……Mike needs to set this up for electronic dictation. LOL!

I thought only safeties played 15 yards off the ball?

by pic15 on Jan 8, 2009 2:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I kinda like the 'hey' is the mix coverages

Audibly, it could make sense as ‘hay,’ given our agricultural roots.

pax et amor

by jtothep on Jan 8, 2009 3:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sukay

Don’t forget about Sukay. He was going to compete for time before he got hurt. Also, we have plenty of DBs in this Freshman class, some of which can step in and play right away.

PSU Softball

by QBsneak12 on Jan 7, 2009 9:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Don't get your hopes up

The longer Sukay’s career goes the more of a non-factor he becomes. Every once in a while you even hear transfer rumors.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Jan 7, 2009 5:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Robinson

Robinson’s stated that he wants to be a sports reporter once his career’s over, so I don’t think he’s got the coaching mentality.

I’ve always thought that players who don’t make it in the NFL end up on the coaching track a bit more often – it’s like those guys that desire and intelligence have driven them to play above their talent level are the ones who continue on.

This season, more than any other, has made me realize that a smart college football fan doesn’t give a crap about the national championship. Bo called it “mythical” for a reason – it’s just completely ridiculous to crown a “champion” of a 120-team field where you only play a handful of games against teams even remotely on your talent level. Playoffs really won’t help until you make the field of teams so large that you basically create another entire season.

Win the Big Ten. Go to the Rose Bowl. That should be Penn State’s goal. Let everybody else enjoy their BCS pissing contest. We know how good our team is.

by Bleed Blue 'n White on Jan 6, 2009 2:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Good attitude

I really like your last statement there. Our goal should just be to win the Big Ten every year. If it works out that we get to go to the national championship game so be it, but it’s up to the voters so there is no sense in getting upset over it. If you figure the Big Ten champ plays for the national championship once every three or four years then just win your conference and eventually things will take care of themselves.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Jan 6, 2009 2:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

But isn't that a dumbing down of standards?

At one time we all believed the goal of this program was to win national championships. Now its just to win the conference.

The voting situation is clearly a mess, but we did lose it on the field, at Iowa (and confirmed in Pasadena)

Had we won at Iowa we would’ve been in the BCS champ game. Had we then won that game and gone 13-0, we’d be undisputed national champs. The fact that the voting is a mess is because nobody deserves it this year, not because PSU is getting the shaft.

by PSU Mudder on Jan 6, 2009 3:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I see what you mean.

But I guess you have to win the conference in order to win the national championship…and you usually can’t win the conference until the last one or two weeks of the season.

Eh. Semantics.

--
Mr. Bob Dobalina

by Run Up The Score on Jan 6, 2009 3:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not really dumbing anything down

All I’m saying is worry about the conference championship since that is all you have control over. The easiest way to win your conference championship is just to beat your non-conference opponents to toughen yourself up and then win all of your conference games. That’s all you have control over. If you go 12-0 and the voters rank you #5 in the BCS there’s nothing you can do about it. So what is the sense in getting pissed off about rankings? You just have to win all of your games and hope for the best.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Jan 6, 2009 3:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

And another thing

I never liked that this team set the goal of winning the national championship and broke the huddle with “National Champions”. All you can focus on is one game at a time. One drive at a time. One play at a time. That was the attitude the 1994 team had. Each win was just treated like a knotch on the belt. Beat one guy and move on to the next. They didn’t get wrapped up in worrying about polls and who had to lose so they could win the national championship.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Jan 6, 2009 3:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Which, in part, is why the Iowa debacle took place.

by phantom818 on Jan 6, 2009 3:59 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That always made me cringe, too

pax et amor

by jtothep on Jan 6, 2009 4:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

but at least...

…the fans took it one game at a time (well at least til iowa…i admit, i kinda overlooked that game, more worried about MSU).

i remember the banner one students had made w/ a checklist of all the teams….

by amandakt on Jan 6, 2009 4:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

No

It’s not lowering standards at all. Winning the Big Ten, going to the Rose Bowl and winning the Rose Bowl is the same level of accomplishment as winning the BCS national championship game.

That’s the point. Every year the BCS semirandomly picks 2 teams and has them play a game and gives them a trophy. I don’t believe that Oklahoma playing Florida is a bigger game than USC playing Penn State or Texas playing Ohio State. Which means that there’s absolutely no reason whatsoever to give a crap about playing for the BCS National Championship.

If Florida beats Oklahoma, they’ll claim “oh, we’re the national champs!” But USC has just as solid a resume, bolstered by the fact that they just beat one of the other top 10 teams in the country. Ditto for Texas. Ditto for Utah.

The point is that Penn State can’t “win” national championships. They can be handed them semirandomly, but they can’t “win” it. They can win the Big Ten. And they can win the Rose Bowl.

So that’s what we should be rooting for them to do. We shouldn’t be disappointed if they end up “only” going to the Rose Bowl, because that was the only place that they controlled their destiny to go to anyway. We should be a bit disappointed they lost, of course.

by Bleed Blue 'n White on Jan 6, 2009 6:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Eh

I sort of agree with this. Right now, yes, the “national championship” is mythical and meaningless, for the reasons you stated. But I don’t think a 16-team tournament, like in I-AA, would be unreasonable. You’d simply take the 11 conference champions and add in five at-larges. I think this would be very fair: We wouldn’t be trying to compare 120 teams who never play each other; we’d be letting them all settle it within their conferences, and they have all the conference champs play. No more 40-day layoffs! It would be fun.

by JBusinger on Jan 6, 2009 3:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

You'd be surprised

“But I don’t think a 16-team tournament, like in I-AA, would be unreasonable.”

A 16-team tournament would require 4 extra games. That’s already unreasonable, in that it changes what’s required from the teams. Attrition sucks: by the end of the season, players are banged up, hurt, and struggling a bit. Add 4 games, each week, and you’ll see the “best” teams suddenly become “good” as their players fall off due to injury.

But it’s already ludicrous to allow in, say, Troy, when you’d be leaving out a team like, say, Georgia or Ohio State.

by Bleed Blue 'n White on Jan 6, 2009 6:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i don't understand

4 more games for these kids is not what people make it out to be… I don’t have numbers to back it but most of these kids come from successful High School programs and to win a State Championship in High School you have to play 15 games too… it’s obviously not on same level but for cryin’ out loud these kids are as well conditioned as an athlete can be…and I’m pretty sure they could handle 2 or 3 more games.

by WETSU on Jan 6, 2009 8:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Level of play

It’s all about the level of play, and it has nothing to do with how “well conditioned” the athletes are. It’s injury risk, plain and simple.

Division IA football is the highest risk sport in college, by a large margin. Increasing that risk by 33% to satisfy a few fans is not going to be a fair tradeoff to the NCAA (who, remember, doesn’t care about a championship in Division IA).

by Bleed Blue 'n White on Jan 7, 2009 1:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Haha, I almost laughed when you had DC and Legend in the same phrase...

However, I have nothing left to do but wish for that as well. Here’s to Clark making those ‘amazing arm strength plays’ he’s capable of much more consistently.

by phantom818 on Jan 6, 2009 3:58 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

what do you have against Clark?

by millzners on Jan 6, 2009 4:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Loaded question

Somehow, we’ve gotten to a place where I’d feel like a Penn State cliche if I criticized the starting QB. I thought phantom’s post was fair—funny without being too critical.

pax et amor

by jtothep on Jan 6, 2009 4:12 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, apologize for the cliche guys haha

I must admit, I was a Devlin fan (might have been the whole H.S. proximity thing that drew me in) and I’m still angry at Clark for making some selfish decisions along the way. However, he’s a good kid and has certainly shown the potential to make amazing plays. Some of the throws off the back foot are incredible. And also, for the record, Morelli was very, very good at play action fakes. And I’m being serious when I say that. I still think Clark has a bit to learn, but I guess he’s not AS bad as a lot of people I know make him out to be. Trust me, I don’t hate him…he’s on our team, he’s our quarterback! I just don’t know if he’s certainly qualified himself as a ‘legend’ just yet or gotten too close to that status in one year. That’s all I was saying.

by phantom818 on Jan 6, 2009 9:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I’m really interested in your opinion, because I really haven’t heard too much serious criticism of Clark aside from some inconsistencies here and there (Ohio State, Iowa). I’m surprised that anyone makes him out to be bad given the season and numbers he’s had.

I guess, for me, I was 100% sold on Clark since Notre Dame in 2006, and never really supported Devlin because I just thought Clark was the guy. I think it comes down to people who assumed Devlin was the guy, not Clark, and from that point forward I think I can understand the criticism of Clark not being the refined pure-pocket passer Devlin is.

I guess I’m just interested to hear what some other people think about Clark…

by millzners on Jan 7, 2009 9:38 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I can understand the confusion about an attitude by people such as me on Clark.

However, I actually spent a lot of time this season surrounded by people who weren’t too keen on Clark. I, for one, am excited to see what DC does behind a different O-Line. Depending on how well they play we may see more roll-outs and the like. I do, however, like the continued possibility of that ‘dual threat’ QB. I think it really helps when you spread things out on the field (as long as you don’t tell the world that it’s going to be a QB draw every time you DO spread.

The chest pounds and the sometimes over confidence that seems to emanate from him wasn’t something I was all too enamored with. And yes, I guess I still hold kind of a grudge over Clark’s Iowa game (from what I saw on the sideline and what I’ve heard from a number of people it looked like he was still feeling something from the concussion, despite having a ‘bye week’ to get it fixed. I was just angry that after Devlin led that kind of a drive against OSU (albeit, maybe not one where he had to do too much) that he didn’t get a look when the offense was performing so poorly in Iowa. Heck, Derrick Williams threw nearly the same pass (and a perfect ball, mind you) that Clark threw up the middle for the pick. Again, I admittedly probably put a little too much on the guy that game, because along with the poor QB play came poor play calling. I was amazed at how effectively the Lions were able to run the ball when watching the game replay over again, yet even more amazed at how the team seemed to deviate from that game plan later on.

Certainly, and I can NO DOUBT say certainly, Clark has gotten and deserves less criticism than that Italian guy we had manning the offense a few years back. I don’t know, maybe my expectations for this program were a little high this season. DC’s still a good quarterback and I will say that he impressed me this season (he’s also still my guy when I play NCAA 09). I think that despite the amount of guys the team loses going into next year, it’ll be exciting to see what Clark can do with a dilapidated offense.

by phantom818 on Jan 7, 2009 12:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

X Factor

I feel that something that is often talked about but also over looked is the leadership factor. There was much made during the preseason QB battle about Clark’s drive and leadership. The guys on the team gravitated to him apparently more so than devlin(albeit there was little dissention). I feel like it is important to put a guy at the QB position that exhibits leadership and that motivation that Clark felt from being doubted until now. I’m not saying that Devlin could not have been a good leader, but It just seemed like Clark put himself ahead by being that leader that most of the guys looked to. And during the OSU game, Clark was cheering hard as anyone when Devlin led the team for the winning score. I think the kid has great great character.

All in all, I feel like Clark had some mistakes and could be over emotional, but nothing terrible, and his performance backed up any swagger he had. When he did play poorly(Iowa) he didn’t act otherwise, he owned it like a man. It wasn’t like he had to be shielded from the criticism like #14. It was nice seeing signs of life from the QB positon after being subjected to the blank stare of Morelli for 2 years.

by Roland86 on Jan 8, 2009 7:27 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs