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TABLE TALK: The Coming 2026 Penn State Football Season · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: in the world, over thirteen years strong. We got another
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: great interview coming to you this week on Table Talk.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: We have from onwardstate dot com. I've been reading Onward
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: State for many, many years because of being a Penn
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: State brad and alum myself.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: We have mister Jamie Lanch. Jamie, thanks so.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Much for jumping on here.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: We're talking about some Penn State football. It's good to
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: have you on for the first time.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: My man.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: Thanks, thanks for having me on. Excited you got.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: It, man, dude, I'm so stoked for this Penn State
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: season in so many ways and to get the conversation
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: started here. So many of us cannot wait to see
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: what the start of the Matt Campbell era is actually
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: going to end up being. He has been described as
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: this culture builder, you know quote culture builder of course
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: from his time at Iowa State and over this offseason
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: he's really from reports opened up his office door to players.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: A lot of players in the passage that I've never
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: been in the head coach's office before. He never wanted
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: to be in the head coach's office. But Matt Campbell
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: is starting off his tenure as Penn State's head coach
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: in a bit of a different way, probably a little
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: bit more inclusive, wanting to bring all the guys in,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: wants to have a great relationship with his players, with
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: his coaches. He's always talking about player accountability and ownership,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: and Jamie, I, I'm wondering what you think Penn State's
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: identity might act as we're fast forwarding here towards the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: end of September, and I know we don't have a
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: crystal ball at all here, but after that first month
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: of football within this new Matt Campbell era, what do
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: you think that this identity is going to be for
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: this Penn State football team?
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah? Well, I mean last year, if you asked me
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: to predict the identity at the end of September, no,
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: fast forward to the end of September, that would be
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: a completely different SCE. Yes, right, But I mean I've
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: been incredibly high on Matt Campbell ever since before he
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: was hired. My roommates and I actually made a list
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: put it on the fridge of coaches we wanted to
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: see come to Penn State, and Matt Campbell was in
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: our top five right after Franklin was fired. Yeah, I
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: grd to see that come to fruition. But I mean,
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: obviously he hasn't coached a game yet and we're still
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: in that honeymoon phase. But everything he said thus far
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: is incredibly polished and what you want to hear, even
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: from his introductory press conference. I know that's rehearse and
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: he has people that are telling him what to say,
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: what not to say. But from a fan perspective, I mean,
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: I ate that all. I'm excited to see what he
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: can do this fall. I think he knows exactly why
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: he was hired. I think he knows what the fans
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: believed were lacking with Franklin, Like you said, with accountability and.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Just being able to get over the top in terms
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: of beating top teams within the nation, where James Franklin
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: was what one in ten or something with regard to the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: top ten teams.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, not good.
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And that's part of the reason why it's funny
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: to me when people are already complaining about him losing
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: recruits and in the future and stuff. You hired James
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: Franklin because he couldn't win the important games. Let's let
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: Matt Campbell coach a game before we make a decisions.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: But when it comes to identity, I think that we've
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: been so used to seeing Penn State, with the exception
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: of last year, kind of in that upper echelon top
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: ten of college football for the past however, many years
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: since Franklin, not right when Franklin took over, but since
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: Franklin's been a head coach. But I think this team,
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: going forward with Campbell, at least to start, we'll kind
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: of have to take on that underdog almost twenty sixteen
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: mentality of Penn State. Yeah, gritty, blue collar, hard nos
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: the Penn State way, and honestly, from a fan's perspective,
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: that was almost more fun to watch. I have that
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: poster right here at the twenty sixteen blog field goal.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: But I think Campbell's emphasized grittiness, physicality bringing back the
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: identity of Penn State football. So I have no reason
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: to believe that the team won't exude that, at least
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: in the first few weeks.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: I think you're right, and I think that I think
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: that the fan base getting behind that identity as well,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: is going to be that much more of like it's
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: kind of going to be like a snowplow of all
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: of that moving forward, for sure. But look like when
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: you look at the staff that is going to be
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: behind Matt Campbell, Taylor Taylor Moser. Am I saying am
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: I saying his name?
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: Right? Is it Matt Mauser?
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: I say Mauser. Some people call him mouse, So I'm
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: assuming that I'm going to go with that.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Taylor, I, as the listeners know, I'm constantly batching names.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: It could be John Smith and I would still watch
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: the name.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of hard ones I have to learn
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: before the season.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Hockey seasons the worst. But Taylor Mauser new offensive coordinator
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: who came with Matt Campbell from Iowa State. He runs
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: a very spread pro offense which I cannot wait to
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: see come to fruition. You know, wide receivers are actually
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: going to be a huge part of this offense Jamie,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: which really wasn't the case under James Franklin, as we.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: All know too well.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I wonder how he's going to showcase Penn
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: State's offensive talent this season here. I know it's a
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: very general question, you know, what what are your thoughts
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: here on what Taylor Mauser and this new offensive identity
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: is going to actually be right.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, first you have to wonder if wide receivers
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: are actually going to be a huge part or if
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: they're finally just going to be a noticeable part right
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: compared to the last year's previous years. But from what
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: I've from what I've read, from what I've seen Taylor Mauser,
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: he likes to use a lot of different packages, personnel
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: thirteen fourteen personnel, with multiple different tight end on the
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: field at once. Sometimes you'll see three tight ends on
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: the field. Maybe more so, I think he's really going
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: to try and showcase the versatility of his guys, experiment
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: with a lot of different things, but particularly those tight ends.
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: I'll get to the wide receivers in a sec. But
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: he also loves to run the ball. And from what
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: I've watched in spring ball, even the blue White game
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: or blue White practice, I should say, not really a game.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: Carson Hansen James, people's the new running backs that Penn
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: State has. I've been really impressed with, so excited to
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: see how he incorporates both of them and excited to
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: see them play. But from the wide receiver perspective, I mean,
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: Penn State got a few talented transfers in the portal,
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: primarily from iOS State. I mean, I feel like I
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: think they have twenty eight. They have a lot of
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: tras from why I so it's hard to keep tracking. Yes,
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: it's crazy Chase so Ol, Brett Eskildton, Uh. Two of them,
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: those are the two primary ones. I'm excited to see.
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: They're both incredibly fast. They can pose a downfield threat, which,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: like you said, Penn State is lacked in the past
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: speed speed.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: We have not seen that, that elite based type of speed.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: I can't wait to see if we actually do end
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: up seeing.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: Some of that, hopefully. I mean I thought we would
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: see a lot a lot more of that this year,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: but in the season spiraled out of control, so I
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: can't really you can't really make a fair judgment on that.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: Definitely speed. We've been used to a horizontal passing game,
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: so hopefully some word downfield passing will be implemented, which
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: I believe it will. But I'm also excited to see
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: Kobe Howard play there. There have been a lot of
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: fans who complained that he wasn't getting the playing time
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: he deserved under Franklin for a variety of reasons. We
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: can speculate on that, but I'm not going to. So
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: between sol Eskilton Howard, those are the core three I'm
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: looking at. But when you look back at what Mauser's
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: done at Iowa State with the wide receivers, you go
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: back to twenty twenty four, I mean they had a
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: pair of thousand yard receivers Jalen Noel, Janden Higgins. So
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: he has a proven track record in that department. So
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: looking forward to hopefully seeing some of that stated.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, my gosh.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: I mean just the fact that we would see some
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: and I'm looking forward to what the goal line offense
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: is going to look like instead of the consistently predictable
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: play calling that we saw a year after year after year.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Again just leading us Penn State football fans to this excitement,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: I think that's right around the corner.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: And we can't forget.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: About the defensive side of the ball here, Jamie, because
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Penn State's new defensive coordinator, Danton Lynn, a former cornerback
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: for the Nitney Lyons, has a huge task I think
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: in front of him. And sure he's coming from USC
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: where a lot of blue chip players were going to
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: from a defensive perspective, you know, and how he was
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: able to improve that unit over the years while in
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: USC while he was there that that was something else,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: but he was able to do to that unit in
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Southern California. But he has poured a lot and a
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: ton of character and confidence into this Penn State defensive
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: personnel during the course of this offseason from reports, And
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I just wonder what kind of coach do you think
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Lynn is going to end up being and how that's
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: really going to end up translating to the field.
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, first of all, it's nice to have a
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: Penn State or back on staff. That's that's always nice
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: to see when former players come back. But one thing
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: I've heard a lot just through attending media from different
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: coaches and players is the term obnoxious communication. That was
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: a big focal point of the spring for the defense
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: in particular, when you asked what that is its attention
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: to detail, it's kind of weaving no great area when
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: players are communicating with each other with coaches just kind
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: of making sure everyone's on the same page. So how
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: I feel like this probably is going to transfer. I
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: hoping this is going to transfer to the field and
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: being a disciplined team. That's what you love to see
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: in a defense, and that's what obnoxious communication leads me
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: to believe that he's pushing for not taking careless penalties
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: is what every team is trying to do. But that's
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: going to be a big point. And you know, in
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: terms of his scheme informations that we'll wait and see
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: what he rolls out on a week to week basis.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: He said he doesn't usually stick to a set scheme.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: You could see a four to five formation. You have
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: Zion Tracy, who has plenty of experience playing nickels, so
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: he'll be back. That was a big guy to get back,
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: looking forward to seeing him play two Penn State. It's
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: a little bit shallow at linebacker, which is crazy to.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Stay because, Yeah, I was glad to got into it
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: because that's kind of where I wanted to go with
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: this question as well. Is you know, it's been known
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: as linebacker you for a long long time and the
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: amount of talent that has come out of Penn State,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: the linebacker corps in particular, gone onto the NFL ranks
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: has been pretty significant. And like you said, it's a
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: bit thin here.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: It is. There's a plenty of young guys. I mean
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: Alex dash Matt Campbell said that. I forgot exactly what
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: he said. It was something like the one of the
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: he has the potential to be the next great Penn
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: State linebacker, which I knew that he has potential, but
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: that caught me as a bit of a surprise when
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: he said it, because I didn't know how much he
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: actually valued him. I'm not concerned in the long run
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: with LVU. I think it has a reputation of being
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: linebacker university. Recruits are still going to want to come
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: here because of that. But you also look a Penn
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: State has become tight end university, you could say, running
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: back university. So these things change, and I don't think
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: it's something that we have to be overly concerned about.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: But I mean, if he opts to run a fortune
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: five but two lamp backers on the field, there's ways
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: around that. Yeah, Tony Rojas will be back this year,
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: which is a huge positive for the team. So yeah,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: there's I don't think we have any calls for concern
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: in that. In that regard, sounds good.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: Sounds good again, folks.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: We're talking to Jamie Lynch from Onward State dot Com.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: And before we go to break here, Jamie, let everybody
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: know where they can follow you on the interwebs out
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: there if they want to connect with you.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah. So, Onward State is Penn State's student run blog.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: You can read our articles on on red state dot com.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. My personal account on
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: Twitter is Jamie Lynch PSU. All Penn State stuff, hockey
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: football here, occasional Yankees an Islanders content.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: I know we're here you good talk show, but all
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: good on over.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: All right, sounds good, folks, are going to take a break.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: When we get back, we've got more Penn State football
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: talk and what we may see this coming season coming
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: your way. Stick with us, all right, We are back
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: with our buddy Jamie Lynch from Onward state dot com.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: And as we are continuing this discussion, as I'm so
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: excited about this upcoming Penn State football season. We can't
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: wait to see what Roco Beckt is going to do
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: under center. I mean, we got to get into the
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: quarterback position here, Jamie. He has followed Matt Campbell to
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Happy Valley. He has twenty six wins in his collegiate career,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: the highest total among all FBS quarterbacks entering the year.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: He's dangerous when it comes to his legs as well.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: If you're watching the tape on him. If you're on
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: the youtubes here, folks, check out what Roco beck has done,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: especially during the course of his college career thus far,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: nineteen rushing touchdowns in his career. Again, those legs are
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: definitely going to be a weapon for sure, Jamie. What
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: kind of quarterback is Becked really going to be for
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: this offense at the end of the day.
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think something that we'll probably excite a lot
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: of Penn State fans. I think rockebec is going to
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: be more of a Trace McSorley than he will be
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: a Durrowaler. You go, obviously you have you have your loyal,
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: diehard Graaler fans, and you're loyal, diehard Trace mcsorly fans.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: I personally, I am a Penn State fan, so I
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: rooted for them both. But like you said, what was
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: in nineteen rushing touchdowns? Yes, yeah, with Yeah, that's that
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: screene Trace mcsorly, to me, his grit, his moxy on
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: the field, the way he carries himself, his confidence. I
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: haven't watched a lot of Iowa State football before. I've
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: had to watch some tape and videos, I'll admit that.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: But he's really shown that he can be a difference
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: maker under center. He could bring that kind of like
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: I said Moxie, that Penn State may have been missing
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: a little bit in the past few years. Yeah, and
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: that's not to say that Drew Alery wasn't any of
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: these things. I mean, you could clearly tell he wanted
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: to win. He was, he got emotional after games, he
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: put his body on the line. Wasn't the most agile
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: runner I've ever seen, but he tried to run and
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: he did run pretty successfully towards towards the end of
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: his Bends State career. Oh, he got the job done
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: when they needed him to. Not exactly yeah, rushing like
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: back to McSorley. But and I think that he's Rocko,
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: is going to be good in the clutch if it
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: comes down to it again. Something that don't even want
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: to talk about the Oregon games and all these recent
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: million lapses in the fourth quarter that we've we've experienced.
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: I don't want to reminisce on that. I read something
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: that Matt Campbell has watched the past fifteen years of
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: Penn State football games since he was hired. And I
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: don't I don't know if it's what order he won,
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: and if it was from twenty eleven to twenty sixteen
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: or twenty to twenty twenty six or twenty twenty six
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: to twenty eleven. I don't know which one's more disheartening,
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: Which orders more disheartening, But they all.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Leave us down trodden for sure.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, there's some good memories, but there's a lot
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: of gut ratching ones.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: A lot of heart break, Yeah, a lot of heartbreake.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: But I mean, Rocker is a talented quarterback. Aside aside
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: from his using his legs, Big twelve Offensive Freshman of
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: the Year a couple of years ago, he threw for
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: thirty one hundred yards and I think most importantly, he
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: was the twenty twenty four Pop Tarts Bowl MVP. Yes,
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: is a big, big, one of my favorite ball games.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Biggest accolade you can get, in my opinion.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: I agree, I agree completely.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, look as we're talking about what we're
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: going to be seeing this coming season here, I love
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: how you recently wrote on Onward State, Jamie about the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: depth at the tight end position. I just I absolutely
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: love the tight end position. Maybe it's because I played
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a little tight end when I when I was in
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: like junior high school. But you know, we've seen over
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the past decade how Penn State tight ends been a
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: huge part of this offense, just like linebackers, of course,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: huge part of the defense. And these tight ends have
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: gone on to be successful at the pro level for sure.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, the talent is pretty deep this year, but
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering, are you seeing perhaps that next Mike Ooseki
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: or even maybe Tyler Warren on this team to give
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: this offense a boost in us and perhaps a spark,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: because that's what those guys did when they were wearing
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: blue and white.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, at the end of the day, they did.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: And if not, if you don't necessarily see those type
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: of tight ends on this team, how does this tight
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: end room end up making an impact this coming season
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: with its depth?
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to say whether they're
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: going to see the next Tyler Warren just because of
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: how unbelievable his twenty twenty four season was. I mean,
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: that was very fun to watch. That was ridiculous. But
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: I do I am very high on the tight end
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: room as well. Rappaya is coming back. I think he
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: can be a huge piece of this offense, and I
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: really liked what I saw from him towards the latter
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: half of last year. Yeah, he's a great blocker can
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: find in separation. You saw that a lot on the
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: pin Stripe Bowl in particular. I know both teams were shorthanded,
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: but still an impressive end to this season for him.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: He could be an HVAC frequently in different formations this year.
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: I like Luke Reynolds before we transfer to Virginia Tech too,
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: but I actually think Rapplier has has more potential and
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: can make a bigger impact on this team. We'll see.
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: I mean, they both could have, but I'm very optimistic
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: that Andrew Rappier will will be a player to watch.
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: But then you look at some of the Iowa State transfers.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, there was a trio of cyclones that transferred
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: to Happy Valley this year from the tight end room,
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: Ben Bromer being the most notable name. Like I was
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: saying before, Taylor Mauser likes to use a bunch of
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: tight ends in different positions, So it's hard to predict
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: whether Rappier or Bromer are going to get who's going
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: to get the most target per se. But I think
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: they could compliment each other in a way both make
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: a big ima. It's kind of that dual threat force
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: teams to to look at both options, cover both. Roco
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: has experience obviously throwing to Bramer from Iowa State, so
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: he is someone he's comfortable with.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Got some chemistry already.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, chemistry is always a good thing. But when
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: we look at the depth, because if we see more
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: than just those two on the field at once, there
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: are plenty of other options that Penn State has. I mean,
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: I think it's one of the strongest rooms on the
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: team is the tight end room they have gebele I
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: again with the names, I believe him saying that, right,
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: gab Berkles another Iowa State guy, uh six six two
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: fifty five. I mean Brohmer was six seven fifty five
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: to there's a lot of lot of size in here. Yeah,
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: even Rapier's six y four, so that's going to be
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: a key thing to have his size. But you got
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: some younger guys Cooper, Alexander, There's a bunch of people
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: that can make an impact for tight ends. But Rapp
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: and Bromer certain and like I'm looking forward to that.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna I can't wait to see what the
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: tight end position is going to bring this team this
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: year and again giving the offense that spark at times
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: if they need it during the fourth quarter.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: I know we have fourth.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Quarter PTSD when watching this Penn State team over the years.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: But look, you know Penn State has also.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Seen you know, a lot of great talent on the
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: defensive line over the years as well. And interestingly enough,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus has said the defensive tackle position is
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: going to be seeing some of some rotational pieces that
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: we're going to be seeing for sure this coming season.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: And I'm wondering how you see this defensive line really
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: stacking up this year when looking at how well they
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: have performed in previous years. What are your thoughts here?
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean there's no doubt that they lost a
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: lot of talent. DDS was a big one for the
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: defensive end. You have Zan durant Alonzo forward, there's a
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: bunch of guys that were missing. I think I read
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: somewhere the eighty percent of the defensive line production and
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: in terms of snaps alone is is gone. So some
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: fresh faces at Pen State this year they hired They
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: hired Malloy from u c l A to be their
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: defensive line coach. He brought in a few guys that
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: I think fans can look forward to, but the one,
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: you know, I guess i'll say their names now C
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: l A Top Hockey and Keanu Williams are the two
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: that I'm I was looking at. But the big thing
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: that is going to be different, I think his size.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: Malloy's made this a big vocal point. Matt Campbell said,
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: this a lot they want to be. They want to
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: play Big ten football at the end of the day.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: They want to bring in those big, physical guys that
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: could you know, stop, stop the run, win when up
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: front where it matters. And both of the people I
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: just mentioned are in the three hundred pound club. And
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: before last year, I think I read the Penn State
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: had nobody that was three hundred pounds on their in
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: the entire defense. So getting getting guys like that is
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: going to be interesting to see, just as compared to
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: previous years, like we're talking about, so I think that, Yeah,
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: I mean, you have a bunch of young guys too,
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: just else on the elsewhere on the defensive line. You
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: have even Commajeu he played more towards the end of
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: last season. I think he's a name you could watch
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: out for. He's a defensive end, Max Granville, and you
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: have him. He had injured. He was injured last year
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: for a little bit, So I think I think fans
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: could expect to see him a little bit more than
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: they have in the past. I don't know. I think
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: it'll just be interesting to look at all these new guys.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: It's going to be a completely new look. There's been
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: some questions, of course, with having kind of shape out.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: A lot of questions, a lot of question marks with
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the whole with the whole team, a lot of question
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: marks with this defensive line for sure. So this is
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: a great conversation, Jamie. But before we leave, we need
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: to do some we need to do some rapid fire
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: questions right here at the end and uh, and then
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: I'll let you head out of here. So as we're
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: looking at these rapid fire questions that I have for
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: you here toughest game on the regular season schedule, there's
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: a couple I was thinking about, what are you what
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts?
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: Okay, so I get an explanation or is it just
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: an answer?
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Oh sure, if you want, Yeah, feel free, feel free
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: to give a brief explanation.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: I so there's a lot of trap games. There's a
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: lot of Yeah. Even Northwestern is a trap game with
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: the brand new stadium opening night.
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: Not no offense to Northwestern because they beat US this year.
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: But I don't think Penn State will ever play in
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: front of as many Northwestern fans as they will in
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: that game, right, They're going to be They're going to
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: be excited about their new stadium. So that's definitely a
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: trap game. But the toughest game on the schedule I
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: wrote down was USC.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: That's what I think it is, too.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: Yep, I think it's USC. I think, aside from the
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: fact that the Trojans are incredibly talented, the pressure of
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: Matt Campbell's first white out, all eyes are going to
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: be on that game. All eyes. Yeah, And I actually
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: I think they'll find I don't know, I think they'll
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: find a way to win against either US here in Michigan.
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: I have no idea what the identity of this. I
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: can predict it, but I have no identity with the idea.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: What the actual identity of this team is going to be.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: I think they'll find a way to get one, but
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: I do think USC is going to be the first
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: real challenge.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: All right, sounds good. Okay, what's next in the rapid
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: fire questions? Here one statistic the team is going to
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: need to improve upon to become a playoff team.
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: What are your thoughts on this one? Right?
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: I said, I think their third down defense when compared
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: to last season is a big one.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: That that's a good one.
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: They were forty they allowed for conversions, which was ninety
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: third worse in the country, eleventh in the Big Ten.
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: Penn State should not be eleventh in the Big Ten
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: in many categories. I think they could. They can work
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: on improving that. But also, they didn't have a great
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: time at pos last year. So when you pair the
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: third down defense with the time of possession, not a
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: good combination. Defense of his defense is exhausted. I mean,
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: everyone saw that last drive in the Indiana game. So
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: getting the defense off the field letting the offense get
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: to work is going to be a big one.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: All right, Just a few more here.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: One thing that fans are.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: Going to notice immediately in week one.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the physicality is going to be a
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: big one.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: I talked about I talked about the size of of
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: both the tight ends on the defensive line. But then
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: you also have your strength. Coach you recently just said
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: that he wants quote, the most violent team in the nation.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: So you've heard from all around on the Penn State staff,
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: different position groups, they want to be physical, they want
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: to be violent. So I'm looking looking to see that
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: in week one.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: All right, last two defensive MVP this year?
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: Who do you think that's going to be?
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: Said Tony Rojas?
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: All right?
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: In terms of strictly from a value, the word value, well,
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: I mean, this is always a debate, and I'm just
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: gonna use baseball as an example. We heard last year,
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: what's the difference between value and talent? But Tony Rojas
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: has both obviously incredibly talented. But from when he got
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: hurt last year, you could just see the difference the team,
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: the difference the way the team looked without him. He
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: brings a lot of experience. He mentioned he's gonna he's
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: trying to be a very vocal leader this year, and
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: I think he's gonna really be a big asset for
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: Friend State.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: All right, And finally offensive m v P this year,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: or do you think that's gonna be?
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: There's so many I can I say. The entire tight
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: end room.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Is that?
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the entire tight end room wrap and brom or
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: look at I'm very excited to see how they perform. Yeah,
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: I want to see. It's possible that no one emerges
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: between the two of them. Is one being exceptionally better
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: than the other in terms of stats. They could both
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: be equally as talented. But I'm excited to see what
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: they can do and which roles they play. Yeah, different
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: positions and schemes.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Gonna be fun. Gonna be fun again, folks. Jamie Lynch
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: from onward state dot com. And again, let folks know
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: where they can find you on the interwebs out there
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: if they want to connect with you.
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: Jamie yep onward state dot com for articles. You can
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: follow us on Twitter at onward State Facebook if you're
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: interested in following along play by play sports at Onward
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: State Sports. And then my personal Twitter is Jamie Lynch PSU.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: All right, very good, folks, that's gonna do it for
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: us here. Jamie love talking to you. Let's come jump
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: on again. I'd love to have you on the show
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: with my friend.
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure, a great conversation. Thanks Rev.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us here on Table Talk
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: family members who are Philly sports fans or sports fans
• 27:47
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• 27:51
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• 27:54
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• 27:58
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• 28:01
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• 28:06
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• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Take care and we'll catch you next time.