UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State had an injury report before the Nittany Lions stepped onto the field for their first practice of the spring Wednesday.
Redshirt freshman Juice Scruggs, who was expected to challenge for serious playing time — and possibly a starting job — on the offensive line, sustained undisclosed injuries in an auto accident and will not participate in spring ball, coach James Franklin said.
Franklin said nothing to suggest that those injuries will have a long-term impact on Scruggs’ career.
Senior Tommy Stevens, who is penciled in to replace Trace McSorley as Penn State’s starting quarterback, was the subject of Franklin’s only other medical update.
He said Stevens, who missed the Nittany Lions’ loss to Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl Jan. 1 while recovering from surgery to correct an unspecified problem, will take part in spring practices but will be limited, at least in the beginning.
Settling on Stevens or Sean Clifford as McSorley’s successor is just one of the issues facing Penn State before the regular season begins.
Franklin cited three positions — defensive tackle, wide receiver and safety — as “areas of emphasis for us” in the coming weeks because of the need to clarify the depth charts there.
Two Western Pennsylvania products — Clairton’s Lamont Wade, a junior, and fifth-year senior John Petrishin of Lower Burrell — were the first two candidates he named for the starting job at strong safety. They were followed by freshman Tyler Rudolph and redshirt sophomore Drew Hartlaub.
“We’re really excited about what Wade’s done this offseason,” Franklin said. “Really excited about what Petrishin has done. He’s healthy, probably, for the first time in his career, over a length of time.”
Wade, who had 12 unassisted tackles and was in on six others in 13 games last season, has long been the favorite to move into the role Nick Scott handled in 2018, but his future at Penn State became uncertain earlier this winter, when he ventured into the NCAA transfer portal before ultimately deciding against switching schools.
Franklin said that “the transfer portal created opportunities for guys to look around and make sure they feel like they’re in the best position possible for them and their family,” and that he stayed in contact with Wade and his parents throughout the process.
“I had a lot of conversations with Lamont’s mom,” he said. “I had a lot of conversations with Lamont’s dad. I had a lot of conversations with Lamont, and we were able to get to a good place.”
While Penn State is looking to fill a number of holes in its lineup, it won’t have to replace any of its kickers because punter Blake Gillikin, kickoff man Rafael Checa and Jake Pinegar, who handles field goals and extra points, are all returning.
There is, however, a new special-teams coordinator, Joe Lorig.
Lorig said he has reviewed video of Penn State’s special-teams performance last season and quickly picked up on a few obvious issues — he noted that six kickoffs went out of bounds before reaching the end zone and that missed field goals usually came from the right hash mark — but was generally optimistic about the potential of those units.
“I saw a lot of really talented guys who played really hard,” Lorig said.
He has spent the past two decades recruiting southern California and said that, while there’s no guarantee his contacts in that part of the country will translate to Penn State securing some of the talent there, “I do think that can be a help.”
Lorig was more emphatic about the caliber of kickers and punters he intends to help bring into the program in coming years.
“We,” he said, “will get the very best specialists in the country to come here.”
Dave Molinari: dmolinari@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MolinariPG
First Published: March 13, 2019, 6:01 p.m.