Blue White Illustrated

December 2022

Penn State Sports Magazine

Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1486024

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 65 of 67

6 6 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M P enn State outperformed many people's expectations during the 2022 regular season. The Nittany Lions won 10 games, earned victories in four consecutive contests in Novem- ber, and will be on the cusp of, if not inside, the College Football Playoff top 10 when the rankings are revealed after the conference championship games. To some, it might seem like the weeks between the end of the regular season and the bowl game are relatively inconsequential. Not so. The month ahead might be one of the most transformative periods that Penn State will experience all year. Much will be happening, and a lot of it will be behind the scenes. Members of the current roster will meet with James Franklin and their position coaches to recap the recently completed season before starting bowl game practices. They will get some deserved time off, too, while finishing their academic coursework. Senior defensive end Nick Tarburton plans to spend some of that downtime hunting in the Pennsylvania woods. Senior defensive tackle PJ Mustipher is looking forward to simply relaxing. Each player will recover and rejuvenate in his own way. Some will have to make decisions about playing in the bowl game or leaving school early for the NFL Draft. Others will need to ponder whether or not they want to enter the transfer portal, which opens Dec. 5. The Penn State coaching staff will be monitoring the portal, too, look- ing for possible additions that could help the team next year. An offsea- son of change is on the horizon, with Mustipher, senior quarterback Sean Clifford, senior receiver Mitchell Tin- sley and senior safety Ji'Ayir Brown all moving on. Redshirt junior cornerback Joey Por- ter Jr. is expected to leave for the NFL. Tarburton and redshirt senior center Juice Scruggs may not be back. Penn State must be diligent in seeing if it can pick up a player or two who could help solve the challenges those departures will create. One significant difference this year is that there was a new dead period in place from Nov. 28 through Dec. 1 that prevented coaches from hitting the road to recruit immediately after the regular-season finale. The NCAA made that change to help ease concerns that staff members would not have time to meet with players who might consider entering the portal. Recruiting travel is allowed from Dec. 2-17. Franklin and his 10 on-field assistants will be traveling the coun- try to lock up the verbally committed players in their 2023 class, while also looking to land a few uncommitted prospects or flip some from other schools. In addition, there is work to do related to the classes of 2024, 2025 and beyond. "We'll get a little bit of time off here over the next couple of days," Frank- lin said following the victory over the Spartans. "We'll be in the office for three or four days meeting with all the players and making sure we're all on the same page. "Obviously, we'll find out what bowl we're going to. We'll get started on practices before we necessarily know who we're playing, and then we'll get into bowl prep." The Penn State roster will change over the next 30 days. It will also de- velop. The bowl practices and games are crucial from a player-growth per- spective, especially for younger players who might go from the developmental squad to the first- or second-team units due to bowl game opt-outs. With so much activity on so many fronts, there will be limited time to exhale. Once everyone catches their breath from a grueling 12-game regular season, a new grind quickly starts that will help lay the foundation for the 2023 Penn State football season and beyond. "I'm really proud," Franklin said. "You think about where this team started, in terms of how people talked about us in the preseason, to where we finished, I think inside the top 10 at the end of the regular season, and then we still have one game left to play. "We're looking forward to seeing where we'll end up." ■ O P I N I O N GREG PICKEL GREG.PICKEL@ON3.COM Penn State Will Be Building A Foundation In December THE LAST WORD In the coming weeks, James Franklin and his assistants will continue to work on Penn State's 2023 recruiting class while also preparing the Nittany Lions for their bowl game. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Blue White Illustrated - December 2022