Blue-White Game Preview '11: Secondary & Special Teams

This post is the final part of our week-long series previewing the major position groups heading into the Blue-White scrimmage this Saturday in Beaver Stadium.

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Part 5: Secondary & Special Teams

"Bend but don't suck." Is that how the saying goes?

Penn State's defense has been particularly good at being particularly simple the last, oh, half-century. Playing 8-10 yards off the receivers; blitzing a safety or corner every once in a never. It's all part of keeping the opposing offense on the field as long as possible, without actually surrendering any points in the process. Sounds crazy, I know.

But what Tom Bradley does with the Nittany Lions' pass defense has been actually very impressive. Penn State has been a regular in the top pass defense rankings the last 10 years, with several top-10 appearances along the way. Generally speaking, it's not usually the defensive secondary's fault exclusively when an opposing quarterback torches Penn State for 400 yards.

There have been some really great defensive backs who have come through Happy Valley. Alan Zamaitis, Mark Robinson, David Macklin, Darren Perry, Michael Zordich, Neal Smith, Pete Harris, Kim Herring, to name a few of the best. That story isn't over, though, and it may continue strongly this season. But it all depends on things like injuries, and whether or not certain players with the ability to be great, rise up and meet that potential.

Penn State returns 52 starts from the 2010 defensive backfield. Among those returning starts are six players who started a game last season. But this unit is coming back for 2011 with fewer "issues," like injuries and suspensions. Though the injuries are rampant for this weekend--the entire projected starting secondary will miss the game--they likely will not affect the regular season.

But that doesn't mean there isn't much to look forward to seeing tomorrow on the field. Younger guys, particularly those called into action last season, will have an opportunity to run with the first team defense in a game-like situation in front of a larger crowd than any during the 15 previous practices this spring.

More below the break.

Clear the Bench: 11 Starters Likely to Miss the Blue-White Game

Injuries will for some of Penn State's
best players to sit out of the spring game.

As if the rain wasn't going to ward away enough spectators, Penn State announced the injury report for this weekend's Blue-White Game. It's not pretty:

OUT FOR 2011 SEASON
TE Garry Gilliam (knee)
DE Pete Massaro (knee)

OUT FOR BLUE-WHITE GAME, POSSIBLE FOR SEASON
WR Curtis Drake (leg)

OUT FOR BLUE-WHITE GAME, EXPECTED TO BE 100 PERCENT FOR SEASON
S Drew Astorino (hamstring)
DE Jack Crawford (foot)
RB Derek Day (elbow)
FB Andre Dupree (shoulder)
DT Evan Hailes (leg)
WR Shawney Kersey (head)
WR Christian Kuntz (collarbone, knee)
DE Eric Latimore (wrist)
CB D'Anton Lynn (back)
CB Stephon Morris (head)
WR Derek Moye (head)
LB Nate Stupar (hamstring)
FB Joe Suhey (shoulder)
S Nick Sukay (chest)
TE Andrew Szczerba (back)
FB Zach Zwinak (knee)

At least the guys lower on the depth chart will get a lot more snaps.

Speaking of that weather situation, Penn State released this a little while ago:

The recent rain and expected inclement weather on Saturday has led to additional parking changes for the Penn State Blue-White Game presented by AAA.

Fans attending Saturday's Blue-White Game are encouraged to leave their RVs at home this weekend due to the saturated fields that have reduced the number of available parking spaces around Beaver Stadium.

Let's set the over/under for attendance at 20,000.

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Derek Moye Goes Down With a Concussion, Will Miss the Rest of Spring Practice

Derek Moye (Photo: LBU/Mike)

So much for riding out the rest of this spring practice season without any more injury drama. Senior Derek Moye, Penn State's best receiver, has reportedly sustained a concussion that will force him to miss the rest of spring practice. Via Ron Musselman:

A source said today that wide receiver Derek Moye suffered a concussion in practice this week.

He is expected to miss the rest of spring drills, which conclude April 16 with the Blue-White spring game.

There are only two things to gather from this.

1. We hope Moye is okay, and recovers quickly and fully.

2. This should give more younger receivers more reps the rest of the spring. Guys like Shawney Kersey and Brandon Felder have been around for a while, but haven't been very active on the field. This should offer up the kind of opportunity they've been looking for.

Maybe now the team can put the injury bug behind it? That's what we thought last week.

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Pete Massaro out for 2011 with ACL tear

We'll have to wait another whole year
to see more of this from Pete Massaro.

This kid just can't catch a break. Via Jeff Nelson:

A 2010 CoSIDA first-team Academic All-American, Massaro tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, according to Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, Penn State Director of Athletic Medicine. Massaro will have surgery within the next 2-3 weeks and rehabilitation will take approximately nine months, according to Sebastianelli.

And you thought Penn State's defensive ends were a weak spot in 2010? Missing Massaro in 2011, despite more experience and depth overall, is still a big hit to take for this unit.

I smell a medical hardship waiver in Pete's future, should he wish to apply for a sixth season. But that's down the road. For now, let's hope for a strong recovery.

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Pete Massaro now injured (Updated: It's a knee)

Pete Massaro (59) went down
this week to injury. It's the
second injury to a major player
this week alone.

You can't make this stuff up:

Penn State's starting defensive end was hurt in practice Friday, according to team sources. It is the program's second significant injury of the spring.

FOS goes on ($) with more, but what you see here was included in the teaser, which is all you really need to know. FOS wouldn't use "significant" if it wasn't so--otherwise it would be rather, um... you know.

Anyway, this SUCKS. Curtis Drake was a big loss for at least the spring. But Massaro had shown some flash of brilliance last fall, after of course missing 2009 due to an ACL tear in that year's Blue White Game. With another spring in the starting lineup, Massaro could have become something really special this fall. But as more comes out, it could be better than thought, or worse. Let's hope for the former.

Update: Bob Flounders revealed tonight that it's more specifically a knee injury. And worse...

"The extent of the injury is still to be determined but Massaro could miss the 2011 season."

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Curtis Drake breaks his left leg... again

Curtis Drake... more like Curtis "Break."
Oooh, too much? (Photo: LBU/Mike)

How easy would it have been to make that headline "Curtis Drake catches another 'break'"? Easy, I tell you. But I'm not feeling that cheesy tonight. Not matter what, this news about another Curtis Drake injury still sucks to the ump-teenth degree:

Penn State wide receiver Curtis Drake has suffered another serious setback in his effort to resume his career this spring.

For the second time in seven months, he has suffered a fractured left tibia in practice during a non-contact drill.

Drake, a redshirt sophomore, will miss the rest of spring drills and his status for the fall remains uncertain, a source confirmed Thursday night.

At least he's sure to get (if he wants) a 6th season of eligibility, should he in fact miss the 2011 season. This is the kind of medical hardship the NCAA usually grants to players. And you can bet that Joe Paterno and staff want to keep Drake around for as long as they can. He's a dynamic playmaker, as we saw glimpses of in 2009.

Also to note:

The source also said that former backup middle linebacker Michael Yancich, from Trinity High School, has been shifted to tight end.

So that may just offer up a huge hint as to what some of us speculated yesterday about the tight end position for this spring and fall.

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Eric Latimore likely out for the season

Joe Paterno said today that Eric Latimore is likely done for the year, but there's a slight chance he may come back:

"Latimore, I'd be doubtful if we get anything out of Eric the rest of the year, although he may be ready for a game or two. Crawford has not done anything yet. ... I doubt if he'd be ready this week. Crawford might be ready next week."

And then there's the Crawford news, which sucks just as much.

We'll have our usual weekly roundup from the press conference. That will post later today, so stay tuned for more.

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Adam Taliaferro and Rutgers DT Eric LeGrand (updated)

(Photo: Pat Little/Associated Press)

Found this article today by Tom Luicci at The Star-Ledger. In it, Luicci writes how Penn State's own Adam Taliaferro hopes to hear from Rutgers defensive lineman Eric LeGrand or his family. Why?

LeGrand, a junior defensive tackle, was left paralyzed from the neck down after suffering an injury to his C-3 and C-4 vertabrae while making a tackle on a kickoff late in Rutgers' 23-20 victory over Army on Saturday at New Meadowlands Stadium. He underwent emergency surgery that night at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Taliaferro, and the Adam Taliaferro Foundation have already pledged any support they can offer to Eric and his family.

Rutgers has set up a page that you can send your best wishes to LeGrand. I suggest you take a moment and do so.

Update: Per Jeff Nelson, "Joe Paterno, Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, Adam Taliaferro and his family have spoken to Rutgers officials about Adam's spinal injury in 2000"

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Injuries could force Chaz Powell back to defense

The injury situation has gotten so bad, Penn State actually released a full injury report yesterday (unusual outside of weekly game notes) to members of the media, including us deadbeat bloggers. Here's the official lowdown:

Defensive end Jack Crawford
didn't start Saturday against Illinois
due to a foot injury. (Photo: Mike/LBU)

Out for season:

T Lou Eliades (knee)
TE Garry Gilliam (knee)
Safety Nick Sukay (pectoral)

Out for minimum of two weeks:

WR Curtis Drake (leg)
DE Eric Latimore (wrist)
TE Andrew Szczerba (back)

Possible for Minnesota game:

DE Jack Crawford (foot)
Safety Andrew Dailey (stinger)
LB Bani Gbadyu (calf)
DT Jordan Hill (ankle)
LB Gerald Hodges (leg)
LB Michael Mauti (ankle)

Honestly, that's not as bad as I expected. Of course, "probable" would be much more comforting than "possible," but this isn't the NFL here, so these are very loose terms we're dealing with here.

Nick Sukay tears pectoral, out for the season

Updated 7 p.m. w/notes from Joe Paterno's presser

Dear Football Gods: Why?!?! (Photo: Mike/LBU) 

My God, really?!?

Penn State starting safety Nick Sukay (Mount Pleasant) will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a torn pectoral muscle in last Saturday's clash with Illinois.

Sukay becomes the third Nittany Lion starter to suffer a season-ending injury in the past three weeks. Senior tackle Lou Eliades (Ocean, N.J.) tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the win over Temple on Sept. 25. In the Oct. 2 game at Iowa, redshirt freshman tight end Garry Gilliam tore the ACL in his left knee.

I don't even know what to say anymore. Every college football team has its "down years," but does it really have to be this DOWN all in one season?

Let's hope that we're getting it all out of the way in 2010, right? RIGHT?!?!

Press Conference

Here are some quick hits from today's press conference with Joe Paterno. "Upbeat" would be great if you're playing The Opposite Game.

• The coaching staff didn't do a good job preparing the team, and didn't do a good job adjusting during the game.
• This is the worst season for injuries in the 24 years the current Penn State medical staff has been working on the team (see: Sukay above), as Joe said today that "most of the people you saw leave the game (vs. Illinois) are gone; they won't be ready for Minnesota." That includes Eric Lattimore and Jack Crawford.
• Check back tomorrow for a few more updates from the press conference. It was a very short media day, compared to a normal game week.

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By the way... Gilliam is done, too

Garry Gilliam tore his ACL
Saturday night at Iowa.

Old news, but still bad enough to use an official post here. Garry Gilliam is done for the season with a torn ACL:

"He's got an ACL [tear] just like [right tackle Lou] Eliades," Paterno said. "I said to Doc, 'can we play one game without losing a football player for the season?' That was a big situation, no question about it."

So Penn State is now down to a true freshman at tight end, Kevin Haplea, and everybody's favorite giant wide receiver Brett Brackett. I do know that redshirt sophomore tight end Mark Wedderburn is still on the team, but it remains to be seen if the coaches actually start using him. This team has gone from two eventual NFL Draft picks at tight end last year, to one true freshman and a hybrid wide receiver. Fantastic.

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Joe Paterno Press Conference Recap: Youngstown State

Chaz Powell could play offense
or defense this Saturday, depending on
some key injuries in the Penn State secondary.

Here's the long and short of what happened today at Joe Paterno's first game week press conference. The season opener against Youngstown State is four days away (!), and the quarterback situation isn't getting any better. But more on that in a minute.

Quick hits:

• Being a team captain is a lot like being an officer on Omaha Beach. Yikes.
  
• Andrew Szczerba's back isn't any better, and might not play for a few weeks. (I guess injury information isn't secret after all)
• Chaz Powell is moving back to offense. This is due to an unusually high number of injuries at the wide receiver position--Curtis Drake's broken leg, and Christian Kuntz's knee injury this past weekend. And with Szczerba's absence, they may take some time working in a sufficient gameplan for TE Garry Gilliam, meaning more WR sets.
• Linebacker will be a strength of the team, despite what the pundits are saying. Mike Mauti is fine.
• Stephfon Morris might be out, but it depends on how his neck injury heals. Powell can be moved back to defense if Morris can't go.
• Drew Astorino is doing alright, and should go.
• The offensive line is getting better. Joe and the staff are "very encouraged," which means they might actually be good. Joe doesn't praise units that aren't doing remarkably well. If they weren't, the wouldn't remark on them, right?
  
• Joe Paterno was asked about the quarterbacks, a lot. The gist of it all? Everything is fine, but unknown.
• Paul Jones was redshirted because of academics. Joe's worried about a few players, but wouldn't name them, and asked the guys not to ask about them.
• Both quarterbacks, Newsome and Bolden, can play. But they're obviously young.
• Hopefully a starter will be named tomorrow night.
  

So how many questions did Joe get about the quarterbacks? This many...

Nittany Lions finish two-a-days, only nine practices remain

Here are some quick items to note...

- Starting tomorrow (Monday), the team will begin its first of nine practice sessions leading up to the home opener against Youngstown State on Sept. 4.

- On the injury front, most everyone is either okay, or getting there. We shouldn't expect any major players to miss the first game, at least as of right now. Stephon Morris is still taking it light. Andrew Sczcerba is still out, but Garry Gilliam is doing just fine with the first team. Drew Astorino continues to have shoulder issues, but that's apparently just a wait-and-see situation. I wrote yesterday that Astorino's backups are more than capable of filling in with little to no drop off. Finally, Silas Redd had some kind of leg/knee/ankle sprain, but it was so minor, no one seems to care.

Justin Brown has impressed the coaching
staff this off-season.

- Doug Klopacz's injury was enough to keep him out a day or two, but the real threat to him is apparently Matt Stankiewitch really trying to grab a starting job at center.

- The starting skill players--Evan Royster, Derek Moye, etc.--were benched early in the scrimmage, similar to what you see in the NFL preseason exhibition games. Justin Brown had a nice day.

- On offense, the line is pretty much set, but we might see some more competition at LG than we had expected this season. The quarterbacks were good, but again, when you're facing a defensive line stacked with future NFL draft picks, the pressure is sky high for the young signal callers.

Only 13 Days til Kickoff!!!

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Injury Update: Stankiewitch in for Klopacz

True freshman TE Garry Gilliam has been running
with the first team offense this week,
due to Andrew Sczcerba's nagging
shoulder and back problems.

There are probably way more injuries than one can keep track of, most of which are minor dings that sideline a player for a day or two... or three. Since we're almost exactly two weeks away from Penn State's opening kickoff (14 days from now, you'll be watching the first quarter!), I thought it would be good to do some catching up with the injuries on the team, or at least the injuries I could find in the jumble that is preseason football coverage.

C Doug Klopacz missed two days (Thursday and Friday?) with an ankle injury. In his place, backup LG Matt Stankiewitch has been taking reps on the first team offense. I would have thought Ty Howle would have done that, but looks like Stank is the more experienced guy. Plus, there were reports that Stank will stay as Klopacz's backup this season anyway.

FB Mike Zordich sustained a minor knee injury that kept him out of Friday's practice. He's expected to miss a few days into next week. Zordich was apparently lighting people up in practice this month.

TE Andrew Sczcerba has been out with nagging back and shoulder problems, with backup Garry Gilliam running with the first team. Gilliam is a fantastic young player, so there is little dropoff here.

S Drew Astorino is still hampered by that nagging shoulder injury. It's not really expected to force him to miss game time, but keep an eye on this one. Backups Andrew Dailey and Stephen Obeng-Agyapong are very good, if not just as good as Astorino (that's completely my own opinion, FYI), so this is not a major concern.

CB Derrick Thomas banged up his shoulder pretty bad, and was out most of this week. But he should be back for today's scrimmage.

CBs Stephon Morris and D'Anton Lynn returned to practice this week, after Morris was recouping from a nasty stinger, while Lynn had some kind of ankle problem.

DT Jordan Hill, who saw playing time as a true frosh last season, had a concussion earlier this month, but has returned to his spot at nose tackle behind Ollie Ogbu.

LBs Khairi Fortt and Bani Gbadyu both had concussions this month. Both are doing fine, but of course you have to watch these things.

Penn State holds a scrimmage today at 2:30 in Beaver Stadium. I'll have a short update tonight, hopefully with some more good news on the injury front.

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Linkbacker U likes the ground game

We had a last minute issue, so this is going to be a straight link dump post today.

Quick Recruiting Update. Hours after I wrote that Cyrus Kouandjio was still good with Penn State, he narrowed his list to 11 schools. The Nittany Lions didn't make the cut, because they were "too strict."

Curtis Dukes blasted Stephon Morris in practice yesterday, sending the sophomore cornerback to the hospital for a check. Morris is apparently fine, but shaken up. This Penn State running game could be very fun to watch the next few seasons.

More on Curtis Drake from Nittany Whiteout. An expected analysis, but still worth a look see.

ESPN Power Rankings are out. Penn State is about where you'd expect.

The Rivalry, Esq. is now Off Tackle Empire. Good name change, if you ask me. But still the same great blog.

Brandon Wegher isn't practicing with Iowa. This could be a good thing for everyone not the Hawkeyes.

Four major programs are facing NCAA issues. UNC is a team sinking fast, after everyone was looking at them as a not-so-darkhorse BCS team.

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Curtis Drake out with broken leg

You can categorize this one under the "Crap!" file.

Sophomore wide receiver, and projected starter, Curtis Drake has reportedly sustained a serious leg injury during non-contact drills.

FOS($) is reporting that Drake broke his leg, and will be out of action for at least six weeks.

This really sucks, folks. I'll keep up on this story for you, so stay tuned.

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