Since 2005 the White starters for Penn State have been 8,10,9,8,12,10,8,10,9,10,8,8,8,6, 8 and 5. Currently just 2 are projected for 2021.
Which means I'll have to wax nostalgic a bit after looking at this year's ultra-Caste Penn State team.
As a kid I became enamored with college football thanks to Nittany Lions squads like the ones that went undefeated in back to back years, 1968 and '69, and then went unbeaten again in '73, not winning the national championship in any of them. Richard Nixon famously declared Texas the national champs in '69 after the Longhorns won the Cotton Bowl despite Penn State going undefeated for the second straight year and beating Missouri in the Orange Bowl. Back then there was an entrenched view that Eastern football (Northeastern football more accurately) was inferior because of the lack of strong teams. Other than Penn State, Pitt and Syracuse were the only other teams in the Northeast who could compete with the rest of the country (and Pitt was pretty awful until Johnny Majors arrived on the scene in 1973) and because of it Penn State was annually punished for playing too easy of a schedule.
National titles during Joe Paterno's long and fabled coaching career finally happened in 1982 and '86.
Current head coach Ron Franklin, now in his eighth year at the helm, has turned in winning records every season except for last year's 4-5 team. It'll take a string of losing seasons for his hold on the job to lessen, which means PSU will be a strong Caste team for the indefinite future unless Franklin has aspirations of moving up to the NFL. Which is sad as I'll always treasure my memories of rooting for Penn State from the late 1960s up until about 15 years ago when my interest in college football waned.
Really thin gruel on this team. Even tight end, a position of strength for overachieving lunchpail types in recent years, this season offers only Tyler Warren, currently listed as third string:
QB: Sean Clifford
LG: Mike Miranda (might be moved to center)
RG: Eric Wilson (listed as starter by one source but most have him as a backup)
On defense, end Nick Tarburton, a redshirt junior, is in a battle to start but is currently behind. The only other White defenders on the two-deep are linebackers Tyler Elsdon and Charlie Katshir.
Which means I'll have to wax nostalgic a bit after looking at this year's ultra-Caste Penn State team.
As a kid I became enamored with college football thanks to Nittany Lions squads like the ones that went undefeated in back to back years, 1968 and '69, and then went unbeaten again in '73, not winning the national championship in any of them. Richard Nixon famously declared Texas the national champs in '69 after the Longhorns won the Cotton Bowl despite Penn State going undefeated for the second straight year and beating Missouri in the Orange Bowl. Back then there was an entrenched view that Eastern football (Northeastern football more accurately) was inferior because of the lack of strong teams. Other than Penn State, Pitt and Syracuse were the only other teams in the Northeast who could compete with the rest of the country (and Pitt was pretty awful until Johnny Majors arrived on the scene in 1973) and because of it Penn State was annually punished for playing too easy of a schedule.
National titles during Joe Paterno's long and fabled coaching career finally happened in 1982 and '86.
Current head coach Ron Franklin, now in his eighth year at the helm, has turned in winning records every season except for last year's 4-5 team. It'll take a string of losing seasons for his hold on the job to lessen, which means PSU will be a strong Caste team for the indefinite future unless Franklin has aspirations of moving up to the NFL. Which is sad as I'll always treasure my memories of rooting for Penn State from the late 1960s up until about 15 years ago when my interest in college football waned.
Really thin gruel on this team. Even tight end, a position of strength for overachieving lunchpail types in recent years, this season offers only Tyler Warren, currently listed as third string:
QB: Sean Clifford
LG: Mike Miranda (might be moved to center)
RG: Eric Wilson (listed as starter by one source but most have him as a backup)
On defense, end Nick Tarburton, a redshirt junior, is in a battle to start but is currently behind. The only other White defenders on the two-deep are linebackers Tyler Elsdon and Charlie Katshir.
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