Rick (Howell, MI): How can Penn State NOT be everyone’s preseason Big Ten champ pick? Isn’t it yours? So they lose some receivers…they were good but not great. Daryll will get the ball to the new ones just fine…GO PENN STATE!

…We have a new gold standard in kool-aid! I dare you to top this.

Derrick Williams was good, but he’s not as good as Brett Brackett!

with Clark having another year in the system, we might get more production out of the passing game than we did last year.

Count me among the minority that thought Derrick, Deon, and Jordan underperformed a little bit last year relative to the hype.

they also went back and forth on ESPN College Football Live tonight about the Big 10 and how bad its been for the last 5 years. Decent exchange between Herbie, Palmer and some other guy that I can’t remember.

Basically……….Big 10 is 6-16 in bowls over the last 3 years. 2-7 in BCS games with losses on average of 15 points per game. etc etc.

1. Clark is going to be awesome. He reminds me a bit of Roethlisberger, he’s big and strong, will be able to keep a play going and take advantage when it breaks down. This should help the recievers.

2. The thing about losing three starters on the offensive line is that you return two as well, plus Schuler at Tight End. Wisnewski is going to the league too, so it’s not like we return crap. The guys were bringing up have been in the program for a while too. I think we’ll be okay, Clark should be able to cover some of their mistakes.

3. Royster is already good, if doesn’t get any better at all we’re still cool at tailback.

4. I don’t know about the reciever position being overrated. I think losing Williams’ ability to spread the field is going to hurt more than the loss of his statistical production. I don’t see anybody that we have right now that is going to keep anybody honest.

5. Defense…What’s Penn State’s defensive philosopy? Deep Defensive line rotation, great linebackers, corners that can run and safeties that can hit. Anybody see any reason why we won’t do that this year besides different names? Me either. Defense will be fine.

At the end of the day we have to worry about Ohio State and stupid let down loss (see Iowa), I’m looking directly at Illinois, Michigan State and yes, Michigan.

We should be good, we could be great.

Requires these skills, order of importance varies per scheme, but let’s say the Spread HD requires them in this order:
1. Get open. Also referred to as route-running or separation skills.
2. Catch passes.
3. Block.
4. Run after the catch.
5. Decoy/threaten getting open or running after the catch
What else is there? 1,2 & 3 are so fundamental that Penn State historically has put a metric assload of successful receivers on the field who had these skills in spades, but who probably lacked all the overhyped, ethereal themes of ‘blazing speed’, ‘can really stretch the field’, ‘keeps the defense honest’. When skills 1, 2 & 3 are honed, 4&5 are just overcited froth, which players who shout loudest from the position love to perpetuate. Young Zug, Moye & Powell will be just fine thank you.

Offensive guard, on the other hand….., we just never hear enough about. Even if you drop Zug’s 4.5 and Moye & Powell’s 4.4 down to Butler’s/Dwheels’ 4.3s, it don’t mean a goddamn thing if Thad Gibson or Cam Heyward is blowing right through Troutman/Pannell to hassle Clarke onto the run. Without Ohrnberger keeping Everson Griffen off Clarke’s back, PSU couldn’t even have pretended to try to come back in the Rose Bowl. Everything I’ve read the past three years says Eliades is nearly as athletic as Wiz (if not as fundamentally precise) and may even be nastier, so I picture him doing just fine filling Wiz’s spot running and pulling for wicked downfield zone blocks. And no one doubts Wiz’s ability to equal or surpass Shipley’s performance and leadership at center. And it may even be true that Pannell is actually more athletic than Cadogen, tho we’ll see about performance this year. But Orhnberger to Troutman? That’s the talent/performance gap worth focusing on.

Much more, imho, than the receiver changes.

does little to describe why replacing Dwheels is such a distinct difference from replacing Oberger/Cadogen.

I sincerely doubt the level of skill and talent in the offensive line replacements is anywhere close to as wide as it is between Williams and say, Chaz Powell.

1. QB is the most important position on the field and we’re returning one that may be one of our best in the last 20 years. Clark will get better, and he will make other people better, particularly the receivers. He also throws particuarly well on the run, which is going to be really important b/c:

2. The o-line will piss us all off. A lot. We’re going to be screaming about it by October. It’s something that for some reason we just haven’t had the type of consistency year-to-year we see with the d-line, but maybe that’s changing. Until further notice, be very afraid, if not terrified of what happens when we face a team with a decent run-stopping front-7. When our run-game goes cold we’re dead in the water (see USC).

3. I think Stephon Green has the potential to see some time as a slot receiver. He doesn’t have the ideal height but he’s deadly in open space and he’s too dangerous to leave out of our passing game. That simple screen play we ran with him gave him some impressive receiving numbers, and there’s no reason we can’t build on that. You want a guy that scares the crap out of defensive coordinators? Stephon Green. I also don’t see why he won’t be returning punts next season.