A Time to Heal

After last weekend's loss to the Fighting Illnii a lot of fans packed it in for the season, the other 20% who are still looking forward to the rest of the season were ready for the bye week. The general consensus among this group was that this was a much need bye week. A week for rest that will allow the team to heal up, but also a week that will allow the team to make some much needed adjustments. Let's go ahead and take a look at some of the progress from this week.

The Bad News:
This team has been plagued with injuries since the start of the pre-season, if we only knew how bad of an omen it would be when Szcerba and Drake went down before the start of the season. It seems as if what affected them has been contagious in a really bad way. For the injury report, Crawford remains of crutches, Lattimore has a broken hand, Hodges and Drake are looking at redshirts, as is Beachum. Sukay is lost for the season with a torn pectoral muscle, while Sczerba is frantically applying for a medical redshirt. Dailey has been limited in practice, which has brought up questions about Lynn being moved to the safety spot, and Powell has been moved back onto defense because we barely have enough depth to put on a nickel package. If that is not bad enough, there are murmurs that Derrick Thomas (DB) could be lost for the season due to his off-field issues and freshman DT Daquan Jones is continuing to take snaps at the defensive end position.

The Good News:
None. That is not true at all, but the good news is that Bani Gbadyu and Mauti are back and practicing with the first team, which shows that they are ahead of schedule of getting back in time for the contest at Minnesota in just over a week. Also, Sean Stanley seems to have worked his way out of the infamous doghouse and was seen at practice this week taking reps with both the first and the second team. A lot of people are questioning if this decision was made because of the lack of depth and injuries along the d-line, but all sources are pointing to him just moving out of the doghouse. Other good news includes that we have a much needed mental break from football, it seems like it has been a great week for the players to refocus and refresh their minds. I think this will be greatly beneficial as they try to get it together for the rest of the season.

Other good news are that NFL scouts are on campus this week, taking a closer look at the players in practice. This is very good news because it helps the players try to maximize their efforts and ultimately work on their technique. Remember, these guys want to show these scouts that they have what it takes, and if they can take their minds off this rough first half of the season and have some success during practice this week, it could very well carryover for the rest of the season. Who knows, maybe it is just what the players needed to adjust their mindset and increase their effort in practice as they try to impress these scouts.

Other good news has come along the offensive line, there have been some position changes that have allowed for some of the younger guys to get some reps in practice. While Pannell was entrenched in an early season battle with Johnnie Troutman for the starting LG spot, it seems as if his services have been moved over to back up Quinn Barham at the LT position. Seeing as both Barham and Pannell are in junior eligibility, it seems as if the coaches are giving up on Pannell and his future on the offensive line unless he gets his act together during the offseason. However, the great news about this move is that the younger guys in Adam Gress (LG) and Eric Shrive (RT) have moved into positions on the second team and are seeing a significant increase in their reps, which puts them in a position to develop more and gives them a greater chance at competing for a starting spot during the Spring.

Other than that, I have heard that the team has been making some adjustments during practice and trying some new things, which is showing that the coaches are not taking the rest of this season lightly. I heard that it has been a great week for Bolden as they've been able to make more adjustments than usual. The players have also continued to play with a higher than normal level of intensity, and there has been a lot of 1st team offense vs. 1st team defense in practice this week. This will definitely leave the team in a better position as they are preparing to take on Minnesota next weekend. That is pretty much it for the team this week, let's just hope that we see the benefit of this extra time off next weekend at Minnesota.

Some Side Notes:

• Mike Hull has continued practicing at the LB position amid reports that he was moved back to FS.
• Alex Kenney has continued to play the wide receiver position on the scout team amid reports that he was moved back to defense.
• Newsome has not been taking more snaps with the first as was reported earlier this week, but they are looking for more ways to use his skill set.
• Despite all the scrutiny and criticism towards Stefen Wisniewski (from the PSU faithful because he finally missed a couple blocks), scouts have raved that he is one of the top two guards coming into the NFL draft this upcoming year.
• Coaches will be hitting the road (exluding JoePa because he's not allowed to make any visits until after Dec. 4th) this weekend to scout players and work on recruiting.
• Stephon Morris has also taken it on himself to play with more of an attitude and return some "Swagger" to Penn State's defense.

WE ARE..................................