Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Missing a couple of key players, Penn State still rarin’ to play
Normally, Penn State would be in the middle of its football season in late October. But 2020 has been utterly abnormal.
After spring practice was canceled, the Big Ten season was abbreviated because of the coronavirus pandemic, then canceled and eventually reinstated.
The Nittany Lions finally will open their season at Indiana today at 3:30 p.m. (TV-FS1) before a parents-only crowd at otherwise empty Memorial Stadium.
It’s their latest season opener since 1918, the first year of the Spanish flu pandemic, and it’ll be their first game in exactly 300 days, since a 53-39 victory over Memphis in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 28.
“It’s such a relief,” said Penn State tight end Pat Freiermuth, who had considered opting out. “Me and Cliff (quarterback Sean Clifford) were walking into the (football) building (earlier this week) with smiles on our faces. We started yelling when we got in the building. ‘It’s Game Week!’
“It’s awesome to be able to prepare for something other than practice, to go out there, compete on national television and showcase what we can do. I’ve been waiting for this since Dec. 29. I’m excited.”
The Lions will open without AllAmerica linebacker Micah Parsons, who opted out of the season, and running back Journey Brown, who might miss the season with an undisclosed medical condition. They were the outstanding defensive and offensive players in the Cotton Bowl.
“Our unit is really looking to go out and get our respect,” said Jesse Luketa, who’s replacing Parsons at weak-side linebacker. “Micah was the limelight last year and a great defensive talent. But we’re more focused on establishing what we’re going to do this year, who we are as a defense and who we are as a linebacker corps.”
Noah Cain will replace Brown as the starting running back after rushing for 443 yards and eight touchdowns last season as a freshman. Penn State has depth at that position, where sophomore Devyn Ford and freshmen Caziah Holmes and Keyvone Lee will back up Cain.
Penn State also has four new assistant coaches, including three on offense, notably coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kirk Ciarrocca. Last year at Minnesota, Ciarrocca helped the Golden Gophers rank second in the Big Ten in scoring and total offense and mentored Tanner Morgan, who led the conference in passing yards per game.
Even without Brown, Ciarrocca will have seven returning starters on offense, four on the line.
“There’s not a whole lot of lollygagging,” Lions defensive end Shaka Toney said about the offense. “It’s real precise. Things are done exactly the way they’re supposed to be done. The thing that I love about Coach Ciarrocca is that he demands excellence. He doesn’t settle. The offense isn’t settling. They’re trying to make sure that it’s as crisp and clean as possible. It’s always on time.”
It’ll be Penn State’s first season opener against a Big Ten opponent since the Lions began their first two seasons in the conference against Minnesota in 1993-94.
Indiana has posed problems for Penn State the last two years, pushing the Lions to the limit in a 34-27 loss last year and in a 33-28 defeat in 2018 at Bloomington.