Penn State football was featured on Big Ten Network's preseason camp special early Wednesday morning. Here are some initial takeaways.
Penn State football was the feature attraction on Wednesday morning’s edition of the Big Ten Network’s preseason training camp special. The show aired at Midnight ET. Multiple re-airs are scheduled throughout Wednesday and Thursday. We have information on those below, along with some initial impressions from the hour-long episode.
1. Jim Knowles will help Penn State in more ways than one
It’s true that the show’s cast, and especially host Dave Revsine, sufficiently beat the ‘Jim Knowles is the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football and came from Ohio State, which will really help’ storyline to death over the course of the six segments. That’s not to say it’s an invalid talking point, of course. And, it surely plays better to a Big Ten fan who is not hyper-focused on the Lions compared to those of us who are and have been talking about it since February.
At any rate, the key takeaway from the defense came from head coach James Franklin when discussing Knowles’ installation process in camp and his overall impact.
“Every time you install a defense, you get better at tweaking and how you can speed up that maturation process, and he’s done a really good job,” Franklin said. “Our staff, as well, on the defensive side of the ball, embracing it. Our players too.
“Ton of answers. Last two defensive coordinators, we played a ton of man coverage, which was really important. But I think Jim’s helping us in those one or two games a year where we got to have a little bit more answers. And this defense provides that.”
2. The cast was impressed with the receivers room
The Lions’ camp is officially a week old today. Only five practices are in the books. It means that there are certainly early impressions of the team so far, but perhaps nothing concrete just yet. However, the BTN crew clearly came away impressed with what they saw from the Penn State receivers on Tuesday night at Beaver Stadium. Analyst Jake Butt called it a ‘clear upgrade’ from 2024, and he was hardly alone in feeling that way.
“If this group was out there against Notre Dame, [no receivers catching a pass in that game] would not be the story,” Butt said. “I mean, they clearly upgraded just from a physical standpoint. Guys are strong, twitchy, good route runners. They’ve proven that in their prior schools. To me, the one that really stood out was [Kyron] Hudson. Just a bigger guy, and I think what he can provide after the catch, I think he’s about 215 pounds, he’s gonna be able to break tackles and get involved in their screen game.”
More: A recent look at Beaver Stadium before Penn State-Nevada: See temporary bleachers, more photos here
Andy Kotelnicki got in on the praise game for the pass catchers, as well.
“Let’s just start with the three new guys,” he said. “Trebor [Pena] has come in and done a great job. Devonte Ross was here in the spring, did a great job. And Kyron Hudson. All three of those guys have been great additions, physically, but I’m more excited about the kind of teammates they’ve been. Your team is a team, and whoever you add to it, it’s going to help and raise the team, or it’s going to lower it in a lot of different ways. And so those three guys specifically have done a great job of elevating the room specifically, but also our football team. They’re great teammates.”
“Then you have Liam Clifford coming back for his last year, who, for me, I’m excited, because I have a really clear vision of what you know his capabilities are, and what he can do to help us move to football win games. And I don’t want to go through every name, but the youth in our receiver room right now, I’m really, really excited about it.”
Final word
Blue-White Illustrated will have more reaction to the BTN camp special throughout Wednesday. Become part of the Penn State community with BWI. Start for $1 your first week, and get a complimentary year of The Athletic included with your membership.
Click here to sign up. Among the many things you’ll find inside the premium Lions Den forum is running commentary on this episode from Nate Bauer. You can find that here.
Our final thought focuses, fittingly, on the final part of the show. It was clear that Dave Revsine, Jake Butt, and Gerry DiNardo came away very impressed with the Lions. Especially DiNardo. And they said as much in the last segment.
“That’s as good a team as we’ve seen here in 19 years, and it’s as good a team as I think we’ve seen in the Big Ten in 19 years,” DiNardo said. “You go to different schools. Ohio State, of course, was one. Michigan was one. And, they looked different than everybody else.
“Penn State looked different than most people in this conference. I think it’s a really talented team. Senior leadership. And they’re definitely a national championship contender.”
DiNardo also credited the Lions’ depth from top to bottom.
Added Butt:
“I don’t have predictions at this point. I mean, I can’t say confidently this team is going to go undefeated and win a national title. But I can say that there’s a reason Drew [Allar], and [Nick] Singleton and [Kaytron] Allen and Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant, guys like that, they came back because they are capable of doing that. It’s going to come down to those razor-thin margins. And I think a big piece of this is going out to get Jim Knowles. I was impressed by the defense, understanding how many layers and how complex this is at this point in fall camp. I think this defense is going to compete to be one of, if not the best, in the country.”
When will the show be on again?
According to BTN’s online television schedule, the Penn State show will air again at 9 a.m. ET on Aug. 6. More broadcasts are set for 12:30 p.m. ET, and 7 p.m. today.
Re-airs are also set for 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 5:30 p.m., and 10:30 p.m. on Thur., Aug. 7.
Category: General Sports
