Snap Counts, vs Nevada

[GregInPitt]

At WR, Clifford (31 snaps, 2 targets, receptions), Howard (22 snaps, 0 targets) and Ross (18 snaps, 1 target, 1 reception) don have much to show for their participation. The staff needs to get Howard and Ross move involved this week.

Hoping to see Martin get some game action after returning from injury.

Cousins, Shanahan and Sexton seem to be the top OL backups. 1 snap for Birchmeier seems to point to him not progressing and being a player that won't get much playing time this season. True freshman OT Aliciene must have impressed the coaches as being a real deal OT to get so much playing time in his first game of his freshman season (22 snaps).

At DE getting Coleman, Kemajou and Williams lots of snaps behind Harvey with Fisher out shows their positions in the DE rotation. I expect Robinson will be back, as Franklin said, for this weeks game and also get 10-20 snaps vs FIU.

DT handled about the same with Ford, Blanding, Wafle, and White each getting 10+ snaps, and Cook, Andrews and Adirika also each getting some snaps.

At LB Wylie seems to be the clear LB4 with Speca also having a role. Nelson, a backup last season, seems to possibly have fallen back to being the 6th LB. Not good for him.

I'm interpreting the snap counts at CB to say that the staff knows what they have in Harris, Collins, and Washington, and was really looking to sort out the next group and get these young CB's game action with Woseley (34), Joseph (22) and Dixon (21) all getting 20+ snaps out of the 54 total plays the defense played. The surprise here is the true freshman Joseph who seems to be flying under the radar but must be killing it in practice to get the snaps Dixon got. I didn't realize Tracy was out for the game and Woseley seems to have replaced him for the game.

At Safety Belgrave-Shorter seems to have taken hold of the starting spot opposite Wheatley with Toure and Lane being the backups and Dinkins also in the mix. This could mean that Mack may not play much Safety and really find his role as a special teams star. Who knows.

Comments?

Snap Counts: Nevada

64 Penn State players appeared in the season opener- how did it all break down?

www.blackshoediaries.com

 

[RickinDayton]

At WR, Clifford (31 snaps, 2 targets, receptions), Howard (22 snaps, 0 targets) and Ross (18 snaps, 1 target, 1 reception) don have much to show for their participation. The staff needs to get Howard and Ross move involved this week.

Hoping to see Martin get some game action after returning from injury.

Cousins, Shanahan and Sexton seem to be the top OL backups. 1 snap for Birchmeier seems to point to him not progressing and being a player that won't get much playing time this season. True freshman OT Aliciene must have impressed the coaches as being a real deal OT to get so much playing time in his first game of his freshman season (22 snaps).

At DE getting Coleman, Kemajou and Williams lots of snaps behind Harvey with Fisher out shows their positions in the DE rotation. I expect Robinson will be back, as Franklin said, for this weeks game and also get 10-20 snaps vs FIU.

DT handled about the same with Ford, Blanding, Wafle, and White each getting 10+ snaps, and Cook, Andrews and Adirika also each getting some snaps.

At LB Wylie seems to be the clear LB4 with Speca also having a role. Nelson, a backup last season, seems to possibly have fallen back to being the 6th LB. Not good for him.

I'm interpreting the snap counts at CB to say that the staff knows what they have in Harris, Collins, and Washington, and was really looking to sort out the next group and get these young CB's game action with Woseley (34), Joseph (22) and Dixon (21) all getting 20+ snaps out of the 54 total plays the defense played. The surprise here is the true freshman Joseph who seems to be flying under the radar but must be killing it in practice to get the snaps Dixon got. I didn't realize Tracy was out for the game and Woseley seems to have replaced him for the game.

At Safety Belgrave-Shorter seems to have taken hold of the starting spot opposite Wheatley with Toure and Lane being the backups and Dinkins also in the mix. This could mean that Mack may not play much Safety and really find his role as a special teams star. Who knows.

Comments?

Snap Counts: Nevada

64 Penn State players appeared in the season opener- how did it all break down?

www.blackshoediaries.com

At WR, Clifford (31 snaps, 2 targets, receptions), Howard (22 snaps, 0 targets) and Ross (18 snaps, 1 target, 1 reception) don have much to show for their participation. The staff needs to get Howard and Ross move involved this week.

Hoping to see Martin get some game action after returning from injury.

Cousins, Shanahan and Sexton seem to be the top OL backups. 1 snap for Birchmeier seems to point to him not progressing and being a player that won't get much playing time this season. True freshman OT Aliciene must have impressed the coaches as being a real deal OT to get so much playing time in his first game of his freshman season (22 snaps).

At DE getting Coleman, Kemajou and Williams lots of snaps behind Harvey with Fisher out shows their positions in the DE rotation. I expect Robinson will be back, as Franklin said, for this weeks game and also get 10-20 snaps vs FIU.

DT handled about the same with Ford, Blanding, Wafle, and White each getting 10+ snaps, and Cook, Andrews and Adirika also each getting some snaps.

At LB Wylie seems to be the clear LB4 with Speca also having a role. Nelson, a backup last season, seems to possibly have fallen back to being the 6th LB. Not good for him.

I'm interpreting the snap counts at CB to say that the staff knows what they have in Harris, Collins, and Washington, and was really looking to sort out the next group and get these young CB's game action with Woseley (34), Joseph (22) and Dixon (21) all getting 20+ snaps out of the 54 total plays the defense played. The surprise here is the true freshman Joseph who seems to be flying under the radar but must be killing it in practice to get the snaps Dixon got. I didn't realize Tracy was out for the game and Woseley seems to have replaced him for the game.

At Safety Belgrave-Shorter seems to have taken hold of the starting spot opposite Wheatley with Toure and Lane being the backups and Dinkins also in the mix. This could mean that Mack may not play much Safety and really find his role as a special teams star. Who knows.

Comments?

Snap Counts: Nevada

64 Penn State players appeared in the season opener- how did it all break down?

www.blackshoediaries.com

The coaches had previously mentioned Aliciene's athleticism and good footwork. I think they are grooming him for LT. Excited about future OL beyond this season with Goodman, Aliciene, Cousins, Troutman, J'Ven Williams, Shanahan, and possibly Boyer. Not sure what is holding Birchmeir back as he came in highly rated and just hasn't seemed to progress with his peers.

Glad to see Wylie getting reps. Perhaps he's fully healthy? Hoping one of the other young LBers steps up. I think Coach Knowles is very particular about LBers having full understanding of their responsibilities.

The future sure is bright with the young CBs: Dixon, Joseph, Tracy, Woseley who will see reps this season. Looks like Tracy & Woseley are the leading Nickels.
Could Joseph also receive the "green light" like Dixon?

PSU needs Safety depth. Have to find players beyond Wheatley and Belgrave-Shorter who are reliable.

Positive reps for the back-up DTs & DEs. Should have a defined depth chart at those positions in time for Oregon.

 

[Lazy Dave]

Sometimes I pay stricter attention, but it was wild how many OL combos we used Saturday. I completely missed the grouping live on the series after Mack returned the KO.

I'm going to assume if JVen had practiced more, he probably would have gotten the snaps Alicene got. Still, highly impressive that he was trusted with the 2nd team.

Joseph was very under the radar. Dixon showed some aggressive tackling. I'm curious if Washington starts this week or AC. Washington didn't seem to come in until the 2nd quarter.

 

[GregInPitt]

The coaches had previously mentioned Aliciene's athleticism and good footwork. I think they are grooming him for LT. Excited about future OL beyond this season with Goodman, Aliciene, Cousins, Troutman, J'Ven Williams, Shanahan, and possibly Boyer. Not sure what is holding Birchmeir back as he came in highly rated and just hasn't seemed to progress with his peers.

Glad to see Wylie getting reps. Perhaps he's fully healthy? Hoping one of the other young LBers steps up. I think Coach Knowles is very particular about LBers having full understanding of their responsibilities.

The future sure is bright with the young CBs: Dixon, Joseph, Tracy, Woseley who will see reps this season. Looks like Tracy & Woseley are the leading Nickels.
Could Joseph also receive the "green light" like Dixon?

PSU needs Safety depth. Have to find players beyond Wheatley and Belgrave-Shorter who are reliable.

Positive reps for the back-up DTs & DEs. Should have a defined depth chart at those positions in time for Oregon.

Hate to say it but I don't see Birchmeier being back for 2026 unless he really just loves it at PSU and isn't set on finding a starting position in 2026, his second to last year of eligibility.

My guess for the 2026 OL competion, with Donkoh back to play his last year at OT with the realization that if Donkoh has a great year at Guard this season and gets a good NFL eval he'll be gone to the NFL:
L OT: Aliciene/Sexton
LG: Williams
C: Cousins/Shanahan
RG: Cousins/Shanahan
R OT: Donkoh OR Goodman
Others that may get into the competition for 2026 OL playing time will likely include Brewer, Harbour and Onoh and possibly Birchmeier inside.
And Boyer and possibly Williams at OT in the event there is a surplus of inside players, Donkoh leaves for the NFL, and the young OT's aren't quite ready.

It seems Speca has stepped up towards possibly getting some regular game reps. I'm not anticipating any of the true freshmen not redshirting but as Franklin has said sometimes player that weren't ready of game 1 can be ready for game 4 or 5. It's a good sign that Wylie is back as seemingly the primary backup behind the 3 co-starters DeLuka, Rojas and Campbell as Wylie has another year to play and Deluka will be gone after this season and possibly Rojas as well. Although Campbell seems like a nice player his lack of size may cause him to optimize his college years and play his last year of eligibility at PSU.

Just a wealth of talent at CB and all those reps that Joseph got seem to indicate that the staff feels he's ready to go. Will be interesting to see how that plays out this season.

At Safety I see Toure and Lane quickly becoming reliable backups that get regular snaps. Lane got regular snaps in 2024 as a true freshman and Toure got praise for his development during the 2024 season and off season, especially for his physicality. And there's still the possiblity that Mack could get back into the serious competition for PT at Safety. Gotta hope that the true freshman Thomas develops as well, but the position for 2026 stacks up as Belgrave-Shorter, Lane, Toure and Mack unless the staff goes into the portal at Safety this off season.

Yep DL depth chart seems to be taking shape. Just have to hope the top 2 at both positions stay healthy. I'm still skeptical about how the young Dlinemen will play vs top competition but that's part of what makes college football so interesting.

 

[GregInPitt]

Sometimes I pay stricter attention, but it was wild how many OL combos we used Saturday. I completely missed the grouping live on the series after Mack returned the KO.

I'm going to assume if JVen had practiced more, he probably would have gotten the snaps Alicene got. Still, highly impressive that he was trusted with the 2nd team.

Joseph was very under the radar. Dixon showed some aggressive tackling. I'm curious if Washington starts this week or AC. Washington didn't seem to come in until the 2nd quarter.

Yep, Dixon seems like he'll be a very hard hitting CB. He looks like he'll fill out some more and that should help him there as well.

It may be that they'll alternate starting at CB between Collins and Washington. Something to look for this Saturday.

 

[ryoder1]

At WR, Clifford (31 snaps, 2 targets, receptions), Howard (22 snaps, 0 targets) and Ross (18 snaps, 1 target, 1 reception) don have much to show for their participation. The staff needs to get Howard and Ross move involved this week.

Hoping to see Martin get some game action after returning from injury.

Cousins, Shanahan and Sexton seem to be the top OL backups. 1 snap for Birchmeier seems to point to him not progressing and being a player that won't get much playing time this season. True freshman OT Aliciene must have impressed the coaches as being a real deal OT to get so much playing time in his first game of his freshman season (22 snaps).

At DE getting Coleman, Kemajou and Williams lots of snaps behind Harvey with Fisher out shows their positions in the DE rotation. I expect Robinson will be back, as Franklin said, for this weeks game and also get 10-20 snaps vs FIU.

DT handled about the same with Ford, Blanding, Wafle, and White each getting 10+ snaps, and Cook, Andrews and Adirika also each getting some snaps.

At LB Wylie seems to be the clear LB4 with Speca also having a role. Nelson, a backup last season, seems to possibly have fallen back to being the 6th LB. Not good for him.

I'm interpreting the snap counts at CB to say that the staff knows what they have in Harris, Collins, and Washington, and was really looking to sort out the next group and get these young CB's game action with Woseley (34), Joseph (22) and Dixon (21) all getting 20+ snaps out of the 54 total plays the defense played. The surprise here is the true freshman Joseph who seems to be flying under the radar but must be killing it in practice to get the snaps Dixon got. I didn't realize Tracy was out for the game and Woseley seems to have replaced him for the game.

At Safety Belgrave-Shorter seems to have taken hold of the starting spot opposite Wheatley with Toure and Lane being the backups and Dinkins also in the mix. This could mean that Mack may not play much Safety and really find his role as a special teams star. Who knows.

Comments?

Snap Counts: Nevada

64 Penn State players appeared in the season opener- how did it all break down?

www.blackshoediaries.com

I would be surprised if Mack is not in the rotation at Safety and is strictly a special teams guy. Not sure why he couldn't get on the field at safety.

At OL, for the starters I see it as 3 guys (Rucci, Donkoh, Cousins) competing for two positions (RG, RT). Rucci only plays tackle so if Donkoh is the better RT then he will be the backup.

I am glad Wylie has worked his way to LB#4 as that means he probably is fully recovered and rounding into form.

We need Fisher back and that will then tell us after him how the depth stacks up. Harvey looks to be #3 then I think it is Kemajou then Coleman. I think Williams is then is #6.

Where was Martin? Is he a little hurt? He is a hybrid RB/WR and I'm interested in seeing some plays called for him although he clearly is not going to see the field in any of our bigger games unless it is a blowout.

I will need to make a point of watching both Joseph and Dixon, true Frosh who will be making an impact at CB.

 

[RickinDayton]

Hate to say it but I don't see Birchmeier being back for 2026 unless he really just loves it at PSU and isn't set on finding a starting position in 2026, his second to last year of eligibility.

My guess for the 2026 OL competion, with Donkoh back to play his last year at OT with the realization that if Donkoh has a great year at Guard this season and gets a good NFL eval he'll be gone to the NFL:
L OT: Aliciene/Sexton
LG: Williams
C: Cousins/Shanahan
RG: Cousins/Shanahan
R OT: Donkoh OR Goodman
Others that may get into the competition for 2026 OL playing time will likely include Brewer, Harbour and Onoh and possibly Birchmeier inside.
And Boyer and possibly Williams at OT in the event there is a surplus of inside players, Donkoh leaves for the NFL, and the young OT's aren't quite ready.

It seems Speca has stepped up towards possibly getting some regular game reps. I'm not anticipating any of the true freshmen not redshirting but as Franklin has said sometimes player that weren't ready of game 1 can be ready for game 4 or 5. It's a good sign that Wylie is back as seemingly the primary backup behind the 3 co-starters DeLuka, Rojas and Campbell as Wylie has another year to play and Deluka will be gone after this season and possibly Rojas as well. Although Campbell seems like a nice player his lack of size may cause him to optimize his college years and play his last year of eligibility at PSU.

Just a wealth of talent at CB and all those reps that Joseph got seem to indicate that the staff feels he's ready to go. Will be interesting to see how that plays out this season.

At Safety I see Toure and Lane quickly becoming reliable backups that get regular snaps. Lane got regular snaps in 2024 as a true freshman and Toure got praise for his development during the 2024 season and off season, especially for his physicality. And there's still the possiblity that Mack could get back into the serious competition for PT at Safety. Gotta hope that the true freshman Thomas develops as well, but the position for 2026 stacks up as Belgrave-Shorter, Lane, Toure and Mack unless the staff goes into the portal at Safety this off season.

Yep DL depth chart seems to be taking shape. Just have to hope the top 2 at both positions stay healthy. I'm still skeptical about how the young Dlinemen will play vs top competition but that's part of what makes college football so interesting.

PSU really needs Zuriah Fisher to stay healthy/available this season. I would classify the health of DDS, Durant, Ford, and Fisher as critical to the success of the team.

 

[RickinDayton]

I would be surprised if Mack is not in the rotation at Safety and is strictly a special teams guy. Not sure why he couldn't get on the field at safety.

At OL, for the starters I see it as 3 guys (Rucci, Donkoh, Cousins) competing for two positions (RG, RT). Rucci only plays tackle so if Donkoh is the better RT then he will be the backup.

I am glad Wylie has worked his way to LB#4 as that means he probably is fully recovered and rounding into form.

We need Fisher back and that will then tell us after him how the depth stacks up. Harvey looks to be #3 then I think it is Kemajou then Coleman. I think Williams is then is #6.

Where was Martin? Is he a little hurt? He is a hybrid RB/WR and I'm interested in seeing some plays called for him although he clearly is not going to see the field in any of our bigger games unless it is a blowout.

I will need to make a point of watching both Joseph and Dixon, true Frosh who will be making an impact at CB.

Martin has been dinged up and missed camp time during the final two weeks. Perhaps he plays this Saturday?

 

[GregInPitt]

I would be surprised if Mack is not in the rotation at Safety and is strictly a special teams guy. Not sure why he couldn't get on the field at safety.

At OL, for the starters I see it as 3 guys (Rucci, Donkoh, Cousins) competing for two positions (RG, RT). Rucci only plays tackle so if Donkoh is the better RT then he will be the backup.

I am glad Wylie has worked his way to LB#4 as that means he probably is fully recovered and rounding into form.

We need Fisher back and that will then tell us after him how the depth stacks up. Harvey looks to be #3 then I think it is Kemajou then Coleman. I think Williams is then is #6.

Where was Martin? Is he a little hurt? He is a hybrid RB/WR and I'm interested in seeing some plays called for him although he clearly is not going to see the field in any of our bigger games unless it is a blowout.

I will need to make a point of watching both Joseph and Dixon, true Frosh who will be making an impact at CB.

It is hard to explain why Mack didn't get snaps at Safety last week. He was also reportedly competing for the Nickel/Slot DB spot as well as Safety but Tracey and Woseley seem to have taken the 2 deep there.

My discussion on the OL was regarding 2026 and Rucci will be gone. Cousins could very well end up at Center to replace Dawkins.

As was already commented, Martin was out of practice some at the end of camp and Franklin said that. It has never been reported that Martin ever practiced at WR while at PSU, and Franklin has referred to him as strictly a RB. Hope we see him this week.

Regarding Joseph, I missed seeing Joseph during the game as well. I remember noticing #3 Belgrave Shorter in the secondary a good bit last week but didn't notice #23. Have the Game in 60 recorded so I'll have to rewatch it....

 

[GregInPitt]

PSU really needs Zuriah Fisher to stay healthy/available this season. I would classify the health of DDS, Durant, Ford, and Fisher as critical to the success of the team.

I've been rooting for Fisher since he got to PSU as he's a "quip" and I know a good many people from Aliquippa, but he hasn't been on the field enough so far during his tenure at PSU for me to get too excited either way other than the fact that the DE room seems so young and he brings maturity to the group. Ford on the other hand we saw him improve and work his way into the 2 deep last season, bumping Beamon back to the 5th DT spot and basically out the door so he seem like a surer thing to improve the DL. Both DDS and Durant are getting All American consideration so losing either would be devastating to the DL.

 

[Lazy Dave]

-Fisher practiced today. Full go, ran #2 in drills. Franklin said he would play Saturday, but likely have a snap count.

-Martin practiced today. Wallace and Cousins did not (attributed to minor stuff) Birch actually took Cousins place in drills today

-Mack was viewed taking part in ball security drills (not the first time this has been seen). No idea what this means beyond prepping him for more returns.