Off Season and Pre Season Articles Thread

LudicrousSpeedGO! said:
Some good info, including Enai White practicing at DT

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/football/penn-state-football-franklin-offers-injury-insights-position-battle-updates-during-fall-camp/
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247sports.com

Penn State transfer pickup, former Top 100 prospect Enai White switches positions

Penn State defensive lineman Enai White has moved inside to tackle ahead of his first season with the program. A former Top 100 prospect out of Philadelphia, he spent the last three years at defensive end with Texas A&M.
247sports.com 247sports.com
247 article
 
Lazy Dave said:

-White is now taking snaps at DT. Has been as big as 275 without trying. They think his future is there (Vilbert and Townley shades here)

-Mack and Lane fighting for S. Woosley named dropped for the Nickel.

-DT group tiers
1. Durant and Ford
2. Gilliam, Blanding, Wafle
3. Andrews, Cook, and Adrika
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More concerned about DE. First, Fisher has to be good. No option. Then we have to find solid 3, 4 and 5 guys. All our depth have no experience with White to DT. My guess is Williams and Harvey are frontrunners for top depth guys. Kemajou is highly rated but a true freshman. Not sure who we have after that maybe Mason Robinson? Anyone heard anything about Fisher or the young DEs from practice reports?
 
ryoder1 said:
Anyone heard anything about Fisher or the young DEs from practice reports?
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Fisher got some praise in the Q&A today. I do believe he's had some "bumps and bruises" already though and hasn't been 100% through every practice.

Really not heard much on the young DEs. I think moving White bodes well for them, but I don't think anybody has asked much about them.
 
It did appear to me that of all of the transfer pickups, White was the longest shot to make an impact. He had plenty of time to make it at A&M and didn't. I think we took a shot based on what we saw coming out of HS as a recruit and he simply doesn't have the same potential post-injury. It was still probably worth the shot and who knows, maybe he can successfully move to DT and have enough to make an impact next year. I'm just thinking it isn't looking so great for him this season.
 
RickinDayton said:
I believe that will work out to be an effective rotation for the DE position.
Too bad they didn't move Enai White to DT in the Spring. Only three weeks of camp and three OOC games to learn a position and try to earn a DT rotation spot. Sue hope this works out for him.
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I don't think anyone is counting on White to contribute anything this season. His best bet is to go hard in the weight room all year and put on the necessary weight to compete at DT next season. We'll have 2 starters moving on at DT next year. He should have a reasonable shot at being in the 2 deep for 2026.
 
ryoder1 said:
More concerned about DE. First, Fisher has to be good. No option. Then we have to find solid 3, 4 and 5 guys. All our depth have no experience with White to DT. My guess is Williams and Harvey are frontrunners for top depth guys. Kemajou is highly rated but a true freshman. Not sure who we have after that maybe Mason Robinson? Anyone heard anything about Fisher or the young DEs from practice reports?
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Franklin a while back already identified Harvey as the 3rd DE, which could change but he's likely in the rotation at least behind DDS and Fisher. And Franklin also implied, along with Losey (S&C), that Kemajou is a go for this season and if he's not redshirting he is playing a good bit. That's already 4 DE's. Then there is Coleman who although only showed up in the summer is making a big positive impression with his speed, twitch, and size. So Coleman is also in the discussion to play and not redshirt, although Franklin and Barnes may prefer to reshirt him as long as one or two of the other young DE's is ready to contribute among Robinson, Mayer, and Williams. There have also been some positive about the other true freshmen Jennings (already close to 250 lbs when he could still be in H.S.) and Harris. Not much on Burnett.

I'm just not that concerned at this point. Lots of young talent that we haven't seen yet, but so many possibilities that DE really may be one of the deepest positions on the team. And with DDS, Fisher and the 2nd year players that have impressed there seems to be enough leadership at the position as well. We didn't see much at all of the young DE's last season but that could have been due to the depth and experience of the rotation with Carter, DDS, Vilbert, and Vanover all itching to get into games. If players like redshirt soph's Robinson and Mayer weren't talented and working towards contributing they likely would have transfered last Spring, and the true freshmen DE class seems to be loaded.......
 
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GregInPitt said:
Franklin a while back already identified Harvey as the 3rd DE, which could change but he's likely in the rotation at least behind DDS and Fisher. And Franklin also implied, along with Losey (S&C), that Kemajou is a go for this season and if he's not redshirting he is playing a good bit. That's already 4 DE's. Then there is Coleman who although only showed up in the summer is making a big positive impression with his speed, twitch, and size. So Coleman is also in the discussion to play and not redshirt, although Franklin and Barnes may prefer to reshirt him as long as one or two of the other young DE's is ready to contribute among Robinson, Mayer, and Williams. There have also been some positive about the other true freshmen Jennings (already close to 250 lbs when he could still be in H.S.) and Harris. Not much on Burnett.

I'm just not that concerned at this point. Lots of young talent that we haven't seen yet, but so many possibilities that DE really may be one of the deepest positions on the team. We didn't see much at all of the young DE's last season but that could have been due to the depth of the rotation with Carter, DDS, Vilbert, and Vanover all itching to get into games. If players like Robinson and Mayer weren't talented and working towards contributing they likely would have transfered last Spring......
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Young bodies usually aren't usually physically ready to play on OL & DL so I would be very surprised to see Mayer get much PT.

Too bad Granville got hurt and Lyons got kicked off the team. IMO that put us in a pretty big bind at DT if Ford or Durant get injured.
 
bdroc said:
Sounds like a good move. I read that he's 275 lbs which is light for DT and there's also a learning curve. We really need Durant & Ford to stay healthy. Backups will be Artis, Blanding, and now White. Hopefully those 3 will get lost of reps during our first 3 games.
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I believe Franklin said that White has been as big as 275 lbs without even trying (i.e. to get bigger) so he may not be that big now. As was posted above, I'm more looking for White to get pretty limited game reps this season and then in 2026 after a year getting his body bigger, stronger and into DT size and strength getting a serious role in the DT rotation and bringing some senior leadership to the DT room after Durant and Ford are in the NFL.

I also was expecting to see Artis take a step forward and be a serious contributor this coming season, especially since he lost some weight and that would likely indicate that he's made progress in the S&C program. But in these early camp reports and comments from coaches I haven't heard his name mentioned at all. Franklin instead mentioned Blanding's (a class younger than Artis) twitch. So I'm not really expecting Artis to have a big role in the 2025 DT rotation.
 
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bdroc said:
Young bodies usually aren't usually physically ready to play on OL & DL so I would be very surprised to see Mayer get much PT.

Too bad Granville got hurt and Lyons got kicked off the team. IMO that put us in a pretty big bind at DT if Ford or Durant get injured.
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I'd be surprised regarding Meyer as well as he hasn't seemed to put on the muscle and size even though he's been at PSU over a year now. But Mayer is older than some other DE's that will likely be solidly in the DE rotation such as Harvey and Kemajou. Today's high school players are much more ready to contribute in the trenches than linemen were 30+ years ago coming out of H.S. as high school S&C is better now and the top H.S. players many times have personal trainers and are working to enroll early and have a chance to play early.

Granville and Lyons were DE's to I don't see how that puts DT in a bind. But Lyons, from his early work at PSU, would likely have been a starter next to DDS this season as he seemed to have all B10 level talent. And Granville was projected to be also be high in the DE rotation this season, also competing to start at DE. Having both surely would have significantly upgraded PSU's DE rotation even though it seems some other young DE's have made the most of their opportunities and look to have the talent to form a very talented DE rotation for 2025.
 
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