UNIVERSITY PARK— It wasn’t the ideal day for football at Penn State football open practice Saturday at Holuba Hall. In fact, coach James Franklin joked with media a few minutes before practice that it was beautiful most of Saturday, but when practice was to be held from 7 to 9 p.m., the weather turned for the worst. There was a tornado watch in Centre County on Saturday evening.
Despite the grim weather outlook, a few hundred fans packed the stands at the outdoor fields. There was a steady rain for a good portion of the evening, but the last 15 minutes of practice was held indoors due to lightning in the area.
Here are a few tidbits from the open practice, which featured a scrimmage through a large portion of the evening:
- Defense looked ahead of the offense at this time, which was also the case during the Blue-White Game. Of course, some of that is probably the Lions projected to have a very strong defense this season. Defensive backs were particularly impressive on the night.
- There was no shortage of excitement from anyone on the defensive side of the ball. Any time they had a positive play, a pass break-up, a tackle for loss, etc., there was plenty of hooting and hollering from the blue jerseys. Kalen King had a pass break-up on a third-and-6 play, and did the Dikembe Mutombo finger wag.
- Drew Allar probably isn’t the type of quarterback that is going to make his name through his speed sort of like Sean Clifford was earlier in his career, but Beau Pribula showed his ability to scramble at times. He picked up first downs a couple times on third-and-medium situations.
- Trey Potts, a running back transfer from Minnesota, caught a pass in the flat on 4th-and-1. He could be a candidate for seeing opportunities in the pass game out of the backfield.
- When practice moved indoors due to lightning, there was a competition period between ball carriers and linebackers and defensive backs. That part of practice was very spirited between both sides, and there was jawing between some of the players. Nothing major and there was no fighting, but definitely some words exchanged.
- Penn State play-by-play announcer Steve Jones was asked if the open practice was what he expected. He paused for a few seconds before he said, ‘It’s a little different.’
- When practice ended, Franklin and a few players took a lap around Holuba Hall to thank fans for sticking through the two hours in the rain and shake hands.
