Looking back on the week in Penn State football: T-Frank Friday
Penn State football is just around the corner!
Well, almost.
Spring break is over on Monday, and things are gearing up towards the March 21st start of spring practice. So it was a quiet week around the virtual office for Blue White Illustrated. Despite that, we’ll end a sleepy week the same way as always, with a T-Frank Friday chat in the Lion’s Den.
While just about any topic of conversation is welcome, here’s what was on my mind this week. Mostly it was a week of looking forward to spring ball and Penn State’s Pro Day on the 24th.
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Spring Football Preview: Defense on the BWI Live Show
In our recap it’s also worth bringing up four-star athlete Rodney Gallagher reasonably early. He gave insightful comments about his recruiting process when he joined the BWI Daily Edition earlier this week.
I encourage you to check out the full interview, but I have not shared my thoughts about his comments from our conversation.
Firstly, I was impressed with his maturity and clarity of vision for his future. I joke in the episode about these organizational skills by keeping coaches straight in his phone, but there’s truth to that joke. Gallagher seems to be an astute, driven individual who wants something very specific out of his life. And he’s talented enough to get it.
Is Penn State that place? He was very cagey with his comments, but what he did say makes me think that James Franklin and company will have to fight very hard to get him. Still, our recruiting insider Ryan Snyder has Penn State as the favorite in this recruitment, and I’ll defer to his more extensive knowledge on the subject.
Penn State Pro Day Preview
So far, we’ve done a quick scouting report on two of the top five Penn State athletes that need to have a strong Pro Day. Some have secured their spots in the NFL Draft; others are still fighting to find their way into a comfortable draft position.
Tackle Rasheed Walker has not participated physically in any part of the process so far, raising questions about his health and ability to do so. While he mainly needs to wow teams in the meeting room, Walker needs to do everything he can to show he’s a valued commodity on draft day.
He does have one thing going for him. As a 6-5, 320-pound athlete, he’s a rare athlete on earth that moves as well as he does for his size. That alone gets him in the club.
Penn State players who need a good Pro Day: Rasheed Walker
On the other end of the spectrum, we have linebacker Ellis Brooks. Brooks is a great football player with questionable athletic traits. We looked at how he wins against the run and asked if that can translate going forward.
Penn State players who need a good Pro Day: Ellis Brooks
Stay tuned over the next few days for the final three players we’ll examine ahead of the big day in two weeks.
