Andy's 2006 Penn State Football Preview

In addition to providing his Nuggets of Wisdom and other stories to the RPR, Andy also provides a nice, thorough write-up previewing the Penn State football season. Apologies to the non-football or non-PSU fans for a possible lack of interest, but I'm sure the football and PSU fans will enjoy it.

2006 Penn State Football Preview

With less than a week remaining until the opening kickoff of the 2006 College Football season, I felt compelled to do my 2nd Annual Penn State Season preview. I’m gonna break it down like this: Offense, Defense, Intangibles, and then a gutsy prediction for the upcoming year.

Offense: Offensively, Penn State is going to look to build on the success that they achieved last year. Losing Michael Robinson, your experienced tight end in Isaac Smolko, and 4 out of 5 starters on the offensive line, the offense needs to regroup a little this year. This shouldn’t be as hard as Mark May, Lee Corso, or Kirk Herbstreit thinks. When you have a healthy Derrick Williams returning, a new Quarterback (Anthony Morelli) who can throw a football through a brick wall, and an future first-round pick in Levi Brown anchoring the offensive line, then your offense isn’t so bad off. This isn’t even taking into consideration that there are 4 receivers in addition to Williams who are returning, and 2 running backs that have been playing since they were freshmen! Galen Hall will look to incorporate their speed guys like Williams into different offensive looks to keep defenses off balance. Morelli will be more of a pocket passer, and they could even toy with a spread offense similar to what the Indianapolis Colts do with Peyton Manning. Overall, I think what they bring back will definitely keep the offense strong, despite losing some major contributors.

Defense: I’m looking at another solid defensive unit this year. On the defensive line, you return only 1 starter in Jay Alford, but have 1 guy returning from a year off and have some talented freshmen and sophomores that look like they will be able to keep blockers away from Penn State’s strong linebacker unit. You can’t say enough about what is returning for Linebacker U. Personally, I feel that this will be the top linebacker group in the nation this year. Paul Posluszny, Dan Connor, Tim Shaw, and all the other talented underclassmen, will keep running backs from going too far, and will cause major problems on the pass rush. The secondary, although a bit of a question mark, definitely has it’s good players. Justin King will play defense only and will be joined by some other "nickel" package players from last year. There won’t be much experience, but the speed of these players is phenomenal, and they will be able to keep up with just about anyone.

Intangibles: It is hard to replace leadership. This is a place where someone will have to step up and take over on offense for Michael Robinson, and on defense for Alan Zemaitis. The leadership will be missed, but I look for Morelli to take the helm of the offense and to not let us down. You won’t have to look any further than the linebackers. Poz, and Connor will be bringing that defense up to the task every week. Penn State isn’t losing too many seniors after the 2006 season, so I look for some Juniors to step up and take the leadership roles that could lead to great rewards next season.

Prediction: I predict that Derrick Williams will be in the top 5 receivers in NCAA, and Morelli will answer any questions about his ability at quarterback in the first game next Saturday when PSU plays host to Akron. Defensively, I predict a very similar defense to what they had last year. They will stifle the run, and won’t give up many big plays. Paul Posluszny may be a Heisman candidate this year, for his amazing ability to tackle, and get to the ball. This won’t be an easy year with the addition of Notre Dame to the schedule, playing Ohio State on the road, and Michigan at Beaver stadium.

Overall: Penn State could go 12-0, which means PSU would have to knock off Notre Dame. Beating ND is a legitimte possibility because their defense is lackluster, and Brady Quinn is overrated in my mind.

My real prediction: 9-3 with losses to Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame.