This Saturday marks Penn State's annual Blue-White Game inside Beaver Stadium. With several things surrounding the spring game, here are a few things to watch from your seat.
Line of Scrimmage
Yetur Gross-Matos, a junior from Spotsylvania, Virginia, returns as one of the top defensive players in the Big Ten Conference. The defensive end has continued to highlight a successful spring for Sean Spencer and his defensive front. On Monday afternoon however, Gross-Matos was quick to credit the standout play of Rasheed Walker on the offensive line.
"Someone who has really impressed me is Rasheed Walker," Gross-Matos said. "He's someone who has really taken a lot of strides this spring and he's a lot better with his technique."
Walker, a product of North Point High School, appeared in four games last season where he was one of 16 true freshmen to make their debut at Penn State University. The lineman saw playing time against Kent State, Rutgers, Maryland and Kentucky in 2018.
If this spring is any indication of Walker's progress on the line, the Nittany lions will continue to push towards replacing a solid foundation up-front from a season ago. With several new faces in the trenches, keep an eye on the individual battles taking place this Saturday.
Penn State Coaching Debut
Gerad Parker and Joe Lorig will be making their Penn State coaching debuts come Saturday; well kind of. While it won't technically be marked on the official stat sheet, Lorig and Parker will enter Beaver Stadium in front of the Penn State faithful for the first time since arriving on campus. When asked about the new duo, Head Coach James Franklin wasn't shy on expressing their early contributions to their respective areas.
"Joe (Lorig) is a career special teams' guy," Franklin stated on Tuesday. "You look at his numbers and what he was able to do at Memphis, they're pretty impressive. It has been a really good transition."
Franklin added, "Gerad Parker has been really good at the wide receiver position. He's done a great job of making those guys mature in a short period of time."
If you need help identifying who is who come Saturday, look no further. Parker will be the vocal guy leading his wide outs, while Lorig will display a calm demeanor around his special teams' unit. Whether in the stands or watching on television, be sure to take note of the new faces surrounding those position groups.
