Penn State Depth Chartin': Indiana State

Before everyone gets into a hissy fit, this is not going to be an official-in-any-way depth chart. It's simply a projection of what we're likely to see on the field, not on the .pdf Penn State released a week ago. So take everything with a grain of salt, especially since it's week one, and against a team like Indiana State.

Join me below the fold for this week's depth chart and a few notes...

Now that Rob Bolden got the nod to "start" this week, we can all relax continue to watch him and Matt McGloin battle it out, since Joe Paterno said this week both will play a lot tomorrow. Great. This isn't the place to talk about that, so I won't. Let's look at a few other things. Most of the depth chart this week is the same as the one released last week. The main reason for this is because we just don't know what the coaches are going to do on opening week. And if the past is any indication, it might not matter anyway since no one in their right mind would want to give away special packages or plays against Indiana State so Alabama can get more info for next week. 

I gave the starting nod to DeOn'tae Pannell and John Urschel because of the reasons I stated above. I was tempted to slide Johnnie Troutman into the starting spot this week, but that'd be more of a shot in the dark than any sort of educated guess.

You'll notice that I put Nate Stupar in the defensive end lineup, mostly for fun, but partly because we may see some of the SUDE (stand-up defensive end) this week. Things like that actually are experiments to get going during a more manageable opponent. You don't want to hope something works when Trent Richardson is taking the handoff against your defense.

Nickel Back is also included in my depth chart. Drew Astorino played here in 2008. When Penn State does use five defensive backs, there's a tendency to play three safeties, rather than three corners. But this position is mixed, with Astorino and Chaz Powell in the lineup. If Powell plays nickel, then I'd bet Stephon Morris goes to corner.

Anthony Fera is out, so he's not on here. No way he plays. Also, I listed Devon Smith as the primary punt returner, even though Justin Brown said both will play. This is just a matter of my belief Smith will end up fielding more of the returnable punts. Just go along with it.

There is also the injury factor, which can be found in Jeff's weekly Brooze Cruise injury report.

With that, did I miss anything? It'll all get worked out next week. But in case you wanted to print out your own depth chart for tomorrow's game, here ya go...