PSU Nittany Lions

NittanyNation takes a look at this week’s Penn State football news and what you might have missed:

• What kind of quarterback is Tyler Ferguson? Half of the opposing coaches he faced last season were asked that very question.

• Three-star LB Jonathan Walton explained why he decommitted and said PSU hadn't been in contact with him all that much since his official visit.

• Several commits were highlighted along with their scouting reports, rankings and projected impact. Those players included Andrew Nelson, Tanner Hartman, Adam Breneman, Anthony Smith and Christian Hackenberg.

• Former PSU wideout Shawney Kersey, who left PSU after Week 2, transferred to Marshall.

• In the bi-weekly mailbag, we answered questions about O'Brien's biggest challenge, 2014 recruits and John Butler.

• 2014 RB Robert Martin (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) took part in NittanyNation's weekly "5 Questions" and said he liked PSU in large part because O'Brien can get players to the next level.

• Bill O'Brien earned his third national coaching honor by receiving the Bear Bryant Award.

• Preferred walk-on Evan Galimberti said in a Q&A that PSU wants to try him out at all center, guard and tackle to see where he fits best.

• The high school coach of preferred walk-on Von Walker explained what makes the senior stick out and what his strengths are.

• 2014 WR Saeed Blacknall earned a visit from O'Brien -- but he wasn't the only one. OT Juwann Bushell-Beatty also saw PSU's head coach, and class of 2015 ATH Kai Locksley has been garnering some early interest from PSU.

• Heading into this weekend, Neiko Robinson couldn't wait to see Happy Valley and wanted to see the stadium the most.

• 2014 LB Kyle Berger received a Penn State offer. Then, in a Q&A, he addressed fans' concerns that he'll end up being an OSU commit.

• Looking ahead to the 2014 class and breaking down each position.

• 2014 OT Mike Grimm dominated at a recent combine and talked about his interest in PSU. 2014 LB Troy Reeder is also getting some serious interest from PSU and was invited to the campus in the near future.

Bill O'Brien added yet another national coaching honor to his resume Thursday night, becoming the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year.

Joe Paterno won the first-ever Bear Bryant Award after leading the Nittany Lions to the 1986 national championship. Penn State and Auburn are now the only schools with multiple recipients of the award.

"This is a huge honor for the Penn State program, for a great group of players and a great coaching staff," O'Brien said in a news release. "The other coaches here are phenomenal coaches who have done this for a long time. I've only done this for a year.

"It shows what type of coaching staff and the type of players we had this year. It is a program award."

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Tyler Ferguson accepted his Penn State offer a little more than a month ago, and he's already set to compete for the Nittany Lions' starting quarterback job.

The three-star juco QB is a bit of a wild card and not much is known about the man who could potentially lead this team. So, NittanyNation decided to speak with five of the 10 coaches he faced in the 2012 season to find out their impressions and ask about Ferguson's strengths and weaknesses.

Click here to read the story.

Former Penn State wideout Shawney Kersey has transferred to Marshall, according to a Marshall spokesman.

Kersey left the Penn State football team for "personal reasons" after the second game of the season. Through those games, both of which he started, he finished with six catches for 44 yards.

Although he's a rising redshirt senior, he doesn't have to sit out a season as a result of Penn State's NCAA sanctions, which allow players to transfer without penalty until preseason camp opens in August.

Kersey came into Happy Valley as a high-level three-star recruit, but he struggled to find meaningful playing time. In three seasons, he played in 23 games and garnered four starts. But he finished his career with just 12 catches for 154 yards.

His absence didn't hurt a Penn State offense in which Matt McGloin finished with a school-best 3,266 passing yards and Allen Robinson set the single-season receptions record with 77 catches. He should compete for immediate playing time at Marshall, however, and becomes the third Penn State player to transfer to the Conference USA school.

Cornerback Derrick Thomas and wideout Devon Smith transferred there last year.

NittanyNation takes a look at this week’s Penn State football news and what you might have missed:

• Ted Roof resigned from his defensive coordinator position at Penn State to coach at his alma mater. That move shocked PSU's defensive commits and "put some thoughts" in the head of Jonathan Walton.

• Roof's departure will be felt most with recruits in the South, especially Alabama and Georgia. His replacement, John Butler, emphasized recruiting and talked about his promotion and defensive philosophy in a conference call.

• Former Penn State OL Tim Freeman talked at length about the NCAA's lawsuit against Penn State and about the sanctions overall. He stood behind Gov. Tom Corbett during last week's news conference.

• NittanyNation gave the outlook of several PSU positions, including wide receiver, tight end, offensive line, running back and safety.

• Five Penn State recruits enrolled early Monday, and we gave a synopsis and predicted role for each player.

• Should college athletes be paid? ESPN asked several of the nation's top seniors, including Christian Hackenberg, that very question.

• College coaches are wary of the NCAA's potential rule changes, which would make recruiting rules looser than they already are.

• Bill O'Brien told the media his decision to return to Penn State was not financial, and he acknowledged some structural changes -- such as additional help on the recruiting end -- would take place.

• Curtis Dukes left the team, and he's still considering declaring early for the NFL draft or playing for another school. Reserve linebacker Brennan Franklin also left the school for a community college in his home state of Arizona.

• Adam Rittenberg offered his final Big Ten power rankings for 2012, and Penn State dropped one spot to fourth.

• The postgraduate coach of PSU walk-on Austin Whipple talked about what made him a special quarterback and when he really impressed in 2012.

• Penn State commit Curtis Cothran said he found PSU games much more enjoyable than NFL games in an extensive Q&A.

• Just one week after saying he was still thinking about an official visit, four-star LB Garret Dooley said he was no longer interested in Penn State. In other recruiting news, 2014 OL Sam Mustipher planned to take his first visit and 2014 ATH Omar Truitt still likes PSU and he's starting to hear from the likes of Stanford and Oregon.

• 2014 WR Thaddeus Snodgrass explained why he hasn't chosen a school yet and said PSU is still in the mix.

• High school freshman Rahshaun Smith is just 15 years old, but he added a PSU scholarship offer on Friday. He talked with NittanyNation about the honor.

• PSU commit Parker Cothren is starting to see more attention thrown his way, especially from SEC schools. Ditto for Walton.

• A transcript from our Friday chat, which addressed who might be the starting QB, Cothren/Walton and everything in between.

NittanyNation reporter Josh Moyer stopped by SportsNation on Friday to chat about the state of Penn State football and answer your questions.

Every week, NittanyNation will pose five questions to a recruit, player, alum or coach about all things Penn State.

This week's subject is Tim Freeman, a PSU offensive tackle from 1985 to 1989. This week's edition of "5 Questions" is slightly different, in that Freeman will answer five questions based around one theme: Gov. Tom Corbett's lawsuit against the NCAA.

Freeman drove from New Jersey last week to stand behind Corbett during the announcement of the lawsuit. The PSU alum, a youth coach, has three children of his own and feels strongly about the sanctions.

NittanyNation: We talked before, and you told me you didn't think the NCAA should have brought these sanctions against Penn State -- so why do you think they chose to do so in the first place?

Tim Freeman: I think there was a huge reaction as a result of children being harmed -- and the reaction was exactly what it should have been, in terms of people being outraged. So I think that's why the NCAA acted the way they did.

But I would say they actually had a tremendous amount to gain. If you have a very powerful institution and one of the members has an issue, that trade organization can gain a significant amount of power they might not have necessarily been delegated. ... I feel strongly this is a criminal matter, and this is a matter that can only be handled by our judicial system. This is not a matter that the NCAA is capable of handling. They don't have the people who are capable of sorting this out.

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Over the past week, NittanyNation has taken a glance at different positions and their outlook for next season.

• Who: Stephen Obeng-Agyapong and Malcolm Willis both return as starters and rising redshirt seniors. Willis was known as the quarterback of the secondary, while teammates called Obeng-Agyapong the most improved player since Week 1. Ryan Keiser is a solid special teams player and might be next in line if someone goes down. Then again, there's certainly enough young players here to push for time as backups. Jake Kiley and Jordan Lucas (listed as a CB but could also play S) appear to be the furthest ahead, while incoming freshman Neiko Robinson should be a solid addition to the scout team for now. Kasey Gaines is almost guaranteed to redshirt.

• Strengths: These starters are experienced, and they made some nice improvements in the second half of the season. Willis added a lot to the communication of the defense, and it was pretty evident when he was out of the lineup. Obeng-Agyapong made longer strides than anyone else on defense, and there's a lot of potential here in a quartet consisting of incoming freshmen and redshirt freshmen.

• Weaknesses: Although the safeties made great strides last season, they were still the Achilles' heel of this defense. PSU had to resort to more zone coverage because they seemed to lack awareness and were a liability on third downs. Neither safety recorded an interception, and they need to shore up the middle of the field better than in 2012.

• Surprise player: Kiley. Bill O'Brien mentioned him by name on Monday, and he's also been a player who's received quite a bit of praise since preseason camp. He likely won't see much time this season, but he could still end up being a three-year starter. This year will go a long way in determining his development and future role. Somebody needs to replace Willis and Obeng-Agyapong in 2014.

• Overall: This will obviously be an improved group from last season because both starters return and finally have more experience under their belts. The graduation of Jake Fagnano doesn't hurt that much, and fans can expect to see above-average production out of the safeties. This isn't a strength of the defense -- not by any means -- but it should no longer be a liability. Obeng-Agyapong especially has a lot of potential, and these two starters will be looked upon as leaders in the secondary.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- John Butler didn't receive word about Ted Roof's departure until Wednesday morning, but he said he didn't hesitate when Bill O'Brien offered him the promotion to defensive coordinator soon thereafter.

"It's not like there was a surprise party with it," Butler told the media Thursday afternoon. "He told me I was the new defensive coordinator, and I just asked him what he needed me to do."

Butler, formerly the secondary coach, said he's waited 20 years for an opportunity like this. And he plans to make the most of it. He still wants to overlook the cornerbacks or safeties -- "I'm not going to be a walk-around coordinator" -- and he doesn't plan to change a lot from this defense.

He acknowledged the appearance of this unit in 2013 "would be very similar" to last season. His philosophy is to offer multiple looks, be aggressive and play fast. Butler hoped to keep the schemes simple and continue to help the players along in their development.

"I think a definition of that is you got to create confusion with your opponent, meaning we're not going to sit back on our heels in one look, one coverage, and let the offense dictate how we're going to play them," he said. "Aggressive doesn't mean we're going to blitz them every snap. That's not what aggressive means.

"It means we're going to change coverage looks, we're going to change front looks, we're going to change players around so they can't be blocked a certain away all the time. We're going to try to take control away from the offensive coaches."

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In the next week, NittanyNation will be taking a glance at different positions and their outlook for next season.

AP Photo/Nati HarnikZach Zwinak figures greatly in Penn State's rushing plans.
• Who: Zach Zwinak, the quiet redhead who was almost never tackled in the backfield, returns and could be among the best backs in the Big Ten. He's not the fastest or most agile tailback but, at 232 pounds, he wreaked havoc on the interior and wore down defenses for four quarters. Bill Belton will take a back seat to Zwinak, and he could have competition as a change-of-pace guy. Rising redshirt freshman Akeel Lynch has already earned praise from Bill O'Brien, and early enrollee Richy Anderson could also see some time on the field.

• Strengths: There's still a good mix here between power (Zwinak) and speed (Belton, Lynch) -- so O'Brien has a lot of options here. Zwinak also became more involved with the passing game and Belton is a former wideout, so this group can threaten in different ways. And Zwinak is just plain hard to bring down.

• Weaknesses: Before the 2012 season, O'Brien expected Belton to handle 20-25 carries a game. Then he became injured and seemed to lack focus and, at times, speed for the rest of the season. Belton is still a wild card and -- with the departures of Curtis Dukes, Derek Day and Michael Zordich -- PSU needs to find a dependable backup. There's not as much depth here as there was last season, and that means trouble if Zwinak can't stay healthy.

• Surprise player: Lynch. ESPN's scouts called him a "potential sleeper" at this time last year, and he'll definitely be given opportunities in 2013. He's a balanced guy who can reach top speed quickly, and this season could be his coming-out party. He's definitely a player to watch in the spring.

• Overall: As long as Zwinak stays healthy, this position should be stronger than last season. Sure, there is less depth, but Dukes and Day didn't play big roles in the offense. Zordich's loss hurts, but if that means a few more carries for Zwinak, Penn State should be just fine. Another offseason with Charles London can only help Zwinak, and the combination of Lynch-Belton will offer defenses plenty of different looks.

In the next week, NittanyNation will be taking a glance at different positions and their outlook for next season.

OFFENSIVE LINE

• Who: A healthy Donovan Smith could be the star on this line for the next few years, but offensive guards John Urschel -- a first-team All-Big Ten selection -- and Miles Dieffenbach are also solid returning starters. There's a lot of depth here, with three returning backups who saw a lot of time on the field last season. Angelo Mangiro, Ty Howle and Adam Gress will likely compete for the openings left with the graduations of Matt Stankiewitch and Mike Farrell. Gress filled in when Smith was injured, but that right tackle position is probably the biggest question mark right now.

• Strengths: There's a lot of options on the offensive line, and this remains one of the deeper positions for the Nittany Lions. Incoming freshmen Brendan Mahon and Andrew Nelson will add further quality depth, and the interior was definitely a strong point last season. Tailback Zach Zwinak often ran through holes paved by the guards, and that figures to be a big plan of the offensive attack again next season. Zwinak was almost never tackled in the backfield.

• Weaknesses: This line has to get better when it comes to picking up the blitz. Ohio State really took advantage and often brought an extra rusher to completely disrupt Penn State's offensive rhythm. PSU was relatively average in pass protection -- finishing No. 51 in the nation in sacks allowed (1.75 per game) -- and filling the hole left by Stankiewitch will be a tall task.

• Player to watch: Gress. There's more depth on the interior, and that makes RT Gress all the more important. He was penciled in as the spring starter last year but lost his starting job to Farrell and struggled at times. When Smith was injured, it was pretty evident the line wasn't the same -- and Gress' offseason should be closely watched to see what strides he can make.

• Overall: Thanks to an improved strength-and-conditioning program, Penn State's offensive line appears to be on its way to becoming a stronger unit -- literally. Mangiro and Howle are more than competent enough to take over at center, but Stankiewitch was one of the best players in the nation at his position. The departures of Farrell and Stankiewitch could definitely lead to a few early growing pains on this offensive line, but Smith is primed for a breakout season. It'll be interesting to see what another year training with Craig Fitzgerald will do for this unit.

Reserve linebacker Brennan Franklin has left the Nittany Lions football team due to personal reasons, according to a Penn State spokesman.

Arizona Central's Richard Obert first reported Franklin's departure and said he enrolled at Glendale Community College in Arizona. The freshman is from Peoria, Ariz.

Franklin is the second player to leave since the end of the 2012 season and joins tailback Curtis Dukes, who's not yet certain whether he'll transfer or declare for the NFL draft.

The linebacker signed with Penn State on July 26 and made headlines for becoming the first player to join the Nittany Lions after the sanctions. One fan sent him a Facebook message shortly after his commitment, swearing he'd name his first son after him.

Franklin's departure is a surprise -- but not one that really impacts the team. He was one of three linebackers in the Class of 2012, and he appeared to be behind both Nyeem Wartman and Gary Wooten in terms of playing time.

The rising redshirt freshman wasn't expected to see the field next season beyond special teams, and he would have had even more competition for future snaps after PSU garnered commitments from a trio of 2013 linebackers.