Penn State Season Preview And Julian Fleming's Potential Impact on Penn State | B1G Today

today's big stat is brought to you by Walgreens the Penn State football team starts the year ranked eighth in the country according to the Associated Press pre-season poll despite some key departures in the offseason a total of eight former nitty lions were selected in the 2024 NFL draft including chop Robinson picked up in the first round Olu fashanu another first round selection still a very bright season ahead for Penn State and now we welcome in Audrey Snider the Penn State uh beat writer for the athletic Audrey great to see you very excited to talk some Penn State football how's it going it's going well it's hard to believe we're already in mid August right I know at stores they're already selling Halloween paraphernalia like what is that about absolutely insane insane that it is we've been talking a lot about quarterbacks here on today's show so let's start with Penn State QB Drew Aller coming off what was a good 2023 campaign finished with with a really impressive touchdown to interception ratio right about a 60% completion percentage how does he Elevate now coming in 2024 yeah I mean this is an offense with a new OC and Andy codal Nikki and they need to be explosive that was kind of the thing last year you look at it and you point out the two interceptions but you can also kind of point to was Penn State too conservative and too risk averse you know with not wanting to push the ball down the field and you know so much of this season is going to hinge on this offense and taking one of the least explosive offenses in the country last year and trying to make it one of the most explosive I mean it is a lot is on Drew Aller shoulders uh there's a lot of talent to work with but I'm a little bit more curious about the scheme that they're going to run and just how creative Andy cicki gets with Aller and also with backup quarterback Bo prula because I think he could be a fun uh fun little chess piece for Penn State it's always an interesting balance to strike between taking care of the football and then taking risks and finding those big explosive plays another another big question mark for this offense is who exactly is Aller going to be targeting the wide receiving core certainly the subject of a lot of scrutiny back in 2023 looking at this receiving core who do you expect to step up and do you think that Julian Fleming the Ohio State transfer could be the missing piece I think no doubt Fleming's going to be one of their better receivers um but I think Trey Wallace is probably going to be their top guy I mean this is somebody that you look at last year and you say we heard so much about oh well the offense isn't as explosive cuz tre's hurt right um again just because he hasn't stayed healthy I think there's a lot of intrigue of what Wallace can do when he is healthy but I definitely think Fleming's going to factor in I mean the two players that Penn State has wanted to highlight this Camp publicly at least with the media has been Trey Wallace and Liam Clifford so you have those two uh I still think absolutely Julian Fleming helps you look at his size I mean they need a big body to block on the perimeter but I think he can absolutely do more than that right and Fleming understands what's kind of at stake for him too I mean he came here for a purpose he didn't come here to be a depth piece right this is his last go around of college football and they're going to need a bunch of guys I mean I would think in my head kind of that top pecking order would be Trey Wallace probably uh Julian Fleming vam Clifford somewhere along that line uh but the interesting thing is they do have a lot of depth at tight end so I think Tyler Warren their tight end can help kind of mitigate some of these needs as this receiving cor tries to sort itself out you already mentioned this offense should look very different under first year offensive coordinator Andy codal Nikki what do you expect the biggest change to be I think just the creativity I mean there were so many opportunities last year where the play calling was just baffling I mean you'd look at it and you'd say okay they you know they had a nine yard run you're faced with with second and short and then they'd start trying to do some Gadget plays or you know try to get Reserve receivers involved like there are a lot of moments from last year that just really stood out as just how disjointed the offense was um but but I think Andy understands that he has to work to the strengths of this personnel and yes every offensive coordinator is going to say that but you have to actually be able to do it and I think that's something where that's his track record right he's he did it at Kansas we've seen him do it with less Talent before at previous stops like pretty much he's known for his creativity but also his willingness to work with the talent that they have and that's why I mentioned backup quarterback Bo Pula earlier right this is one of their uh best most speedy guys so they want to find a way to get that athleticism on the field and cotal Nikki said it pretty much Point Blank if you are one of the best 11 players he's going to find a way to get you on the field so I think that part is exciting but I also think it's a matter of understand on paper you've got a lot of talent don't try to overthink things uh rely on Nick Singleton KRON Allen trust your quarterback be able to move the ball down the field set up those shot plays with some complimentary plays and I think he's willing to do that for sure despite losing a number of players to the NFL draft there's no doubt there's Talent on both sides of the ball in this Penn State roster going to the defensive side first year defensive coordinator Tom Allen looking to make his Mark how have you seen him start to develop some of those relationships with his players what do you expect to see schematically from Allen's defense yeah Tom Allen is one of those guys that you always hear about relationships now he Prides himself on it uh before they even hit the practice field this year his voice was already shredded because he's just that vocal uh but one of the interesting things with Allan that he's spoken about is that he's really happy to be back you know as a DC that he's really back studying an insane amount of film just something that he couldn't do as a head coach because you have all these other things on your plate and all these other responsibilities uh but yeah he's someone that players have said stands out to them because he genuinely cares uh and that's something that they said like you see Tom Allen he wants to know how you are but not just how you're doing with football but how you're doing with life and he wants to give you a hug and those kinds of things um so so that's great but also you he inherited an insanely talented defense and Abdul Carter is certainly going to be one of those big pieces going to play defensive end also going to move around play some linebacker as well uh but that is one of the Premier uh defensive players in all of college football so Tom Allen inherits a lot um I also think safety KJ Winston is somebody that maybe nationally we're not talking enough about uh because I think he's going to have a really nice year as well all right well Audrey Snider thank you so much high expectations out there in Happy Valley enjoy maybe the quiet before the storm of the college football season I don't know since you're in thalden training camp but once again we appreciate you stopping by you got it take care another program where expectations are Skyhigh this season is the Penn State nney lies and maybe the program that will benefit the most from the expanded college football playoff format going to be very interesting to see exactly how this offense looks under brand new offensive coordinator Andy codal Nikki we were just talking about Drew Aller who came in and had a very good 20 23 season but now you're still working with the new OC you got to develop that relationship what are you expecting to see week one from this Penn State offense in Aller I I got a chance to talk to James Franklin in Indianapolis at Big 10 football media days and I've really made a comparison between James Franklin and Drew Allen because when you're the head coach at Penn State there are immense expectations for high level winning so yes a double digit win season fans kind of yawn at that a little bit a quarterback who was setting records for consecutive attempts without an interception fans yawning at that because you're not seeing the Deep ball you weren't seeing the explosive pass play on the whole though now for year two Andrew Allen while expectations are honestly a little bit more muted this year for the offense as a whole in some ways the team as a whole for Penn State I still believe they're going to be right there in the thick of the championship conversation and part of it is just the development that's anticipated for Drew Aller as a seconde starter as opposed to a first and Andy konika you mentioned that name I mean he's thought of as one of the better offensive mind like young offensive Minds in the game what he did at Kansas very creative and there's some new Weaponry that they're going to have access to now that there is I like that little tease ahead because Julian Fleming is joining this wide receiving CP you also bring back your number two white out in Harrison Wallace who spent some of last season injured Fleming though a five-star Prospect coming out of high school really had to wait his turn and sit behind a ton of talent at Ohio State can he step up and be your number one option I know you just talking to Audrey Snyder about it and as I've talked to everyone in State College it does strike me that Julian Fleming a guy who was at one point the number one recruit in the country coming out of high school and yes things never really panned out for him at an exceptional level in Columbus during his Ohio State Career but just like you mentioned there were so many other talented wide outs that were there first round picks who were getting their opportunity for Julian Fleming this is essentially his last best chance and the best part about it is that he'll be expected to be one of the main cogs in this passing attack they don't have the same type of of Weaponry in State College that he had to sort of sit behind or work alongside of in Columbus there should be an enhanced role a volume role for Julian Fleming in this offense and to me he is one of the main pieces that could end up shaping the Big 10 Championship picture because Penn State's defense will help them win a bunch of games Penn State's Talent at running back will have them in every single game their quarterback Uber talented tight end position really deep if they have a legit number one top flight wide out that's what they've been missing in recent Seasons That's the separating factor between the nney Lions and the Ohio States of the world the Oregons of the world the squads who we know can put 50 on the board in the blink of an eye Penn State can get into that conversation if you see the fully varnished version that the high ceiling version of Julian Fleming question though can having a number one white out okay I like that is that your answer that's your pensive face that you're going to give Audrey was just talking about how maybe taking some more risks in the play calling can help lead this pen team to getting more of those explosive plays this offense was lacking can having a number one wide out impact that and how much I believe it depends on how much faith and confidence they end up storing into Julian Fleming because if if they feel like he's a guy who can go up and get it I was referencing earlier where will Howard needs to sort of throw caution to the wind at times Drew Allard just like Audrey was talking to you about he could benefit from some of that mentality just to give your Playmakers an opportunity to go up and get it I mean you know Tai Warren can be that guy's a tight end also but for Fleming because he's the new piece because he's the piece who's had the highest profile in recruiting he's certainly what I've got my eyes trained on that the harsh glare of expectation in my opinion will be on Fleming to see if he can be the outside playmaker that takes things to another level I hope those opportunities are there in game action to just let him go out and prove it he's got a big formidable body he has shown at times the ability to do that let's see if he can make it happen this is my pensive face I'm going to get it back to you okay all right wheels are turning I like the points you make Anthony right yes exactly we're going to give you a I know the kids call them emojis I'm still an emoticon guy myself wait what is an emoticon now oh is an old school Emoji I think like the first Emoji was known as an emoticon I could be wrong somebody web search stop back in the AOL days or how far back are we talking we're talking di way back with