Bowen backed by players amid coordinator audition

STATE COLLEGE >> Several Penn State offensive players expressed confidence Friday in assistant coach Tyler Bowen, who will call the plays in the Cotton Bowl Dec. 28 against Memphis.

Bowen, the Nittany Lions tight ends coach, has taken over the offensive coordinator responsibilities of Ricky Rahne, who resigned last week to become head coach at Old Dominion.

“He’s been awesome,” offensive tackle Will Fries said. “He really hasn’t skipped a beat at all. He’s a great leader. He instills a lot of confidence in our whole group. He’s done a tremendous job. I’m looking forward to putting up a lot of points with him.”

Bowen will hold the job, at least on an interim basis, and will receive consideration to be named Rahne’s permanent replacement. He served as offensive coordinator at Fordham in 2016 when the Rams averaged 498.2 total yards and 40.1 points a game.

“Tyler’s done a great job,” Franklin said. “He’s been with me for a long time since he was a player (at Maryland) and I’m excited about this opportunity for him.”

Bowen served as a Penn State graduate assistant in 2014 and also worked at Maryland before returning to the Lions for the 2018 season. He sat in the press box with Rahne this season.

“Coach Bowen is being more aggressive with the passing game,” wide receiver KJ Hamler said. “He’s doing a really good job. He knows his stuff. He knows the ins and outs. I think we’re going to be fine with him as the OC.

“He’s definitely an enthusiasm guy. He brings a lot of energy to practice. Coach Bowen is a cool guy. I love him and appreciate him. He’s stepping into a bigger role. He’s not nervous. He has everything handled. We all trust Coach Bowen.”

In other moves resulting from Rahne’s departure, Penn State coach James Franklin said offensive analyst and analytics coordinator Kirk Campbell has been moved to quarterbacks coach on an interim basis. And Jeff Carpenter, who worked as an analyst, has been promoted to offensive graduate assistant.

Franklin hinted that he would wait until after the bowl season to name Rahne’s successor.

“When I have the decision made, you guys will know,” he said.

Franklin said finding somebody who seems the right fit will be paramount in his search.

“This hire obviously is an important hire,” he said. “We need someone who’s going to be able to come in and blend. We don’t really want someone to come in and start all over again.

“You look at that across the country and even in our conference (Big Ten) where maybe it took the first four, five games for people to get used to a new system. We’re looking for somebody who has the experience as well as the humility to come in and blend.”

Penn State sophomore quarterback Sean Clifford was recruited by Rahne and was coached by him and Joe Moorhead, now the head coach at Mississippi State. He said Franklin has asked him questions regarding the search.

Depending on whether Hamler declares for the draft or not, Penn State will return nine or 10 starters on offense in 2020.

“I trusted Coach Franklin when I committed here,” Clifford said. “He told me there might be turnover at some point. It’s the same way I trusted him when Coach Moorhead left, so I just put it in his hands.”

• • • Clifford, who missed the regular season finale against Rutgers with an unspecified leg injury, has returned to practice and is receiving most of the repetitions. He is expected to start for the No. 10 Nittany Lions (10-2) against No. 17 Memphis (121) in the Cotton Bowl. “We expect Sean to be

100 percent,” Franklin said in looking ahead to the bowl game. “He’s taking most of the reps, but he’s not 100 percent right now. We anticipate him being 100 percent. He’s better right now than he was at the end of the year.”

Clifford implied that he first was injured in November against Minnesota and that he had undergone surgery, possibly arthroscopic.