BWI Live: Penn State's new defense explained through James Franklin's comments about one key player

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The Penn State Nittany Lions football team will have a new defense this year under defensive coordiantor Tom Allen. It's a new system featuring new potential combinations.

Or is it?

Today on the BWI Live Show, we discuss how James Franklin's comments about Jaylen Reed last week unlocked our understanding of the plan for the 2024 defense. We'll take you through the history of Penn State's usage of a 4-2 defense and what potential combinations the team could have on the field this upcoming season.

Penn State's new/old plan on defense

Playing a defensive back as a third linebacker is nothing new in college football, whether it's called the Lion, Star, Predator, or any other name. In fact, former Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz had the same plan for the Nittany Lion's defense when he first arrived in 2022. Like Diaz, Allen will play a third safety more often than they have in the last year and a half, according to Franklin's comments, to start spring football.

"We have a number of guys that we feel really good about at the safety position. When you take [KJ] Winston and Jaylen Reed, those two guys have played a ton of football for us. They're both experienced guys, are both playmakers, are both big and strong enough to be physical aspects in the run game," Franklin said.

Both players fit the bill to play a quasi-linebacker role, but Franklin cleared up who will play the Lion this year when talking about the team's third safety, Zakee Wheatley.

"Zakee Wheatley is a guy that we're expecting to take a big step. He's had by far his best offseason. Not even close. That also allows us to maybe use Reed in the nickel position that we're going to call the lion position."

What that tells us about the rest of the defense

From there, we can extrapolate where the rest of the safeties will line up and what this defensive formation will look like. We can also assume that if Franklin is talking about using it more, other defensive combinations will take a step back. However, the team still needs to have those packages figured out for when they're needed during the season. We review the team's base (4-3) defense and the nickel and dime options at cornerback for the upcoming spring football season.

Finally we turn the focus to the offense and consider the team's options on offense.

#PennState #NittanyLions

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Penn State's new defense explained through James Franklin's comments about one key player

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