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Penn State practice highlight: Maryland

Headshot 5x7 reduced qualityby: Thomas Frank Carr11/02/23ThomasFrankCarr
Nick Singleton Penn State Football On3
Penn State running back Nick Singleton has broken 15 tackles this season, according to PFF. That's just off his pace from last year but without. the ever-elusive explosive plays from 2022. (Photo: Thomas Frank Carr)

Penn State football opens the doors of its practice facility once a week to give a snapshot of how the week is going for the team. These are your Penn State practice highlights from Blue White Illustrated. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel so you don’t miss our weekly look into the program. You can also check out the video embedded in the article to see the featured content. Below is a transcript of the video.

Penn State offense shaking things up at practice

The Penn State Nittany Lions are 7-1 heading into a dangerous game against the Maryland Terrapins. The offense is presumably down starting wide receiver Trey Wallace for this week at a minimum after he left the win over Indiana with an apparent shoulder injury. The team’s depth at wide receiver hasn’t been stellar to begin with. But players like Dante Cephas and Liam Clifford now have to step into bigger roles as the team battles an aggressive, explosive Maryland offense.

To that end, the coaching staff deployed a drill we hadn’t seen before during practice availability. The team always practices breaking tackles, but this drill was much more dynamic and unpredictable in nature than the previous ones.

Getting more out of the players around Drew Allar has been the staff’s focus for the eternity of the 2023 season. So far, the team is middle of the pack for receiver yards after contact and broken tackles among Big Ten teams.

The running backs are in a similar situation. Despite leading the Big Ten in carries, the Penn State rushing attack is roughly the middle point of the conference in yards after contact per attempt. Explosive plays are one thing, but breaking tackles for both groups is essential to keeping the offense on schedule too.

Only a few chances left to change a narrative

As for Allar, there’s no concrete way to tell if his late-game heroics indicated that he’s broken through as a starter to play with more consistency and explosiveness in his game. The first-time starter has been noticeably worse during road games and only has a few more chances to change that narrative before it’s locked in for the offseason. It’s always easier when the quarterback can overcome deficiencies around him, but Allar has yet to do that. No matter what, this is a game that Penn State will likely need to score more points than they have the last two weeks to win.

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