5 takeaways from Penn State’s bye week: ‘We’re starting to feel the soul of our defense’

Penn State heads into its bye week undefeated but with plenty to work on. With no game, the Nittany Lions’ coordinators — OC Mike Yurcich, DC Manny Diaz and STC Stacy Collins — all spoke to the media this week, along with head coach James Franklin and strength and conditioning coach Chuck Losey.

Here are five takeaways from what they said about the team during the idle week.

Offensive explosiveness

The primary talking point about this team right now is its issues on offense — which all mostly go back to its lack of ability to create explosive plays. Franklin has brought up the team’s need to find more big plays when it has the ball, with starting quarterback Drew Allar not connecting on many downfield shots and the running game failing to find the open field consistently. It’s an area of the game the team’s offensive coordinator said he is not satisfied with.

“Need to continue to grow there,” Yurcich said. “Both run and pass, finding explosives, throw the ball more down the field when given the opportunity to do so. A lot of times what we’re seeing is softer type coverage in inopportune times so that’s part of it. Just timing there and making sure that we’re getting into good looks, something I can control, and making sure we’re doing a better job play-wise.”

Finding the soul of the defense

There is cause for concern with the offense and how it will perform in the biggest games, but right now those questions don’t exist on the other side of the ball. The team’s defense is finding its groove.

“We’re starting to feel the soul of our defense,” Manny Diaz said.

What does he mean by that?

“A defense is a collection of people, it’s a collective of individuals,” he said. “... I felt like against West Virginia and even part of Delaware, I felt like we were trying to be perfect, maybe a little tight. ... I really think the first quarter or second quarter of Illinois when all those plays started coming, I think that kind of relaxed us a little bit. And we started having fun. And we look like we’re having a lot of fun right now. ... I think we’re seeing a little more of the 11 guys becoming one unit.”

That has manifested itself with a group that is destroying opposing offenses right now. Against Illinois, it was able to get pressure that resulted in four interceptions. The next week it was Iowa who felt its presence, fumbling six times with the Nittany Lions recovering four. Last week Northwestern was tackled for loss 12 times and sacked seven. The group is playing at an incredibly high level and right now looks good enough to out-play any offense in the country.

Assessing the kicking game

Penn State’s field goal unit has been up and down so far this season, but for the time being Alex Felkins has the job as the team’s kicker and doesn’t seem to be relinquishing that anytime soon, despite Sander Sahaydak starting the year with that job. He’s been above average in the role but has still missed kicks. Stacy Collins said it’s still a tight battle despite Felkins getting the in-game reps.

“I think the competition was great throughout camp,” he said. “Really throughout spring and throughout camp. When Alex got his shot, he’s continually gotten better and he’s gotten more and more confidence in a game setting. But Sander also knows that he’s right there and it’s competition every day. ... I like where Alex is at right now, Sander is striking the ball extremely well in practice also.”

Despite the former Columbia kicker taking most of the team’s field goal opportunities this year so far, there’s still room for Sahaydak to get in, even if he doesn’t take the job back in its entirety. Collins said there’s room for both kickers to kick depending on the distance each week.

“There has been weeks at times where we have a line of demarcation,” Collins said. “Some of it’s weather, a lot of that stuff we come up on pregame to get a feel for where we’re at. That’s always in the game plan. We look at that weekly. ... We have some distances that we look at each week, how are they hitting it, and then we go into that game day and make a final decision before we head into the locker room.”

Multiple standout freshman

The bye week is also a time for the Nittany Lions to assess their young players, and many of the team’s freshmen have already caught the staff’s attention. Linebacker Tony Rojas has stepped in immediately to become a “green light” player — a freshman who is not expected to redshirt — that contributes on special teams.

Chuck Losey noticed Rojas early in his college career.

“I think it’s pretty apparent with the progress that Tony Rojas has made since he’s been with the program dating all the way back to January,” Losey said. “He came in as a freshman who was sub-200 pounds in his bodyweight and has worked himself all the way up to 227 pounds. He’s putting some good time in on the field for us. Really happy with the strides Tony has made.”

He and defensive end Jameial Lyons are two of the best freshmen the program added in its 2023 recruiting class, and Lyons is already steps ahead of where he was expected.

“Jameial has been a great surprise,” Losey said. “I always knew Jameial was talented coming out of high school, obviously that’s why he’s here. But his strength, his overall strength, his total body strength, is surprisingly very, very good for his build. Because he does have a long, lankier build at this point. He’s got a ton of room for mass. He weighs 251 pounds which, you look at him, he looks like a 240 pound defensive end. He’s going to be able to carry as much as 265-270 pounds if we want him to. ... Really happy with Jameial in all areas.”

Status of key players

The other important aspect of the bye week is resting up for players who are banged up and haven’t been playing at all or having been at full strength. Offensive lineman JB Nelson was not at practice during the media’s viewing window Wednesday afternoon, while running back Kaytron Allen was present and participating. Nelson was carted off during the Northwestern game, while Allen played his last snap of the matchup in the second quarter. Nelson’s injury is not season-ending based on what James Franklin said following the practice, but those aren’t the only two players getting ready to go again.

Wide receiver Harrison Wallace III was participating during drills in the viewing window but has not been back in his starting role. He’s expected to be ready to play soon though.

“He was really full go last week and got stepped on and tweaked (his injury) again,” Franklin said. “It’s just kind of one of those things sometimes. He looked good today so we anticipate having him back.”