Penn State notebook: RB Ricky Slade enters transfer portal

Penn State running back Ricky Slade has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal, according to multiple reports.

The former five-star recruit from Virginia suggested before the Lions’ 53-39 win over Memphis in the Cotton Bowl that he planned to stay with the team moving forward, and yet he is now looking for a new home after completing his sophomore season.

Slade appeared to be the odd man out in a deep running back rotation heading into the 2020 season, just as he was last fall. He carried 47 times for 214 yards and two touchdowns in 2019. Comparatively, Journey Brown led the Lions with 129 carries while Noah Cain had 84 and Devyn Ford 52. All three of those backs are back, and two true freshmen, Caziah Holmes and Keyvone Lee, will be in camp with the team this summer.

A Woodbridge, Va., native, Slade could look at Virginia Tech or James Madison as potential landing spots. Old Dominion, where former offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne is now the head coach, could possibly be an option as well.

Penn State has now lost five players to the transfer portal, as receiver Justin Shorter entered it before the Rutgers game back in November while reserve lineman Hunter Kelly and defensive end Daniel Joseph did in February and corner DJ Brown joined them on Monday.

Coaching carousel

Shortly after Penn State’s Cotton Bowl win, the Lions cut ties with Matt Limegrover, who had been offensive line coach from 2016 through 2019. Enter Phil Trautwein, a Florida grad who coached the offensive line at Boston College last season.

“Obviously we’re very appreciative of the time that we had, and coach (Limegrover) did a great job,” Franklin said. “Coach did a great job. His family is awesome, all those types of things. But I felt like a change was needed, for a number of reasons that I don’t know if are necessarily appropriate in this setting.

“But Trautwein was on the list of guys that I was tracking,” Franklin continued. “There’s people that I know very well in this business that think very highly of him.”

Penn State’s coach added: “I think (Trautwein) has a story. I think he’s got a story that is attractive to our current players and also to recruits in terms of, (he) was not a highly recruited guy, goes to Florida, wins two national championships, starts for multiple years at left tackle, doesn’t get drafted, finds a way to play in the NFL for five years, gets into coaching, trains under a tree, an O-line tree that I respect, and has had success.

“And then you couple all that with the people that I know and trust, and then watching film and then studying the data, it just all kind of made sense and aligned. So far, so good.”

Trouble spot at wide receiver

Franklin is aware that wideout is a potential weak spot for PSU entering spring drills, and he knows what is lacking.

The Lions will need some wideouts to step up in 2020 after dynamic KJ Hamler left school early and declared for the draft. Promising Justin Shorter is now a Florida Gator after bailing on PSU via the transfer portal. Finding more from the Lions’ passing game will be one of new offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca’s top tasks.

“We’ve got to be more consistent,” Franklin said. “That’s in throwing the ball, in accuracy. We’ve got to be able to make the defense defend the entire field.

“One of the things if you look back with Trace (McSorley), we did a great job of attacking that wide-field comeback a lot, taking that access, which most defenses are going to give you a soft corner to the field and try to take the shorter throws away. I thought we did a good job over the last number of years of attacking with our slots.

“I think we’ve done a good job with our tight ends,” Franklin continued. “We’ve got to do a better job getting the ball to our outside receivers, and that is accuracy, that is aggressiveness, that is consistently catching the ball, that is consistently creating separation. It’s not one thing, it’s a little bit of all of it, but we need more production, there’s no doubt about it.”

Fond farewell

Not a big shock, but Franklin acknowledged it was tough saying goodbye to longtime assistant Sean Spencer.

Spencer, Penn State’s defensive line coach, is also a top recruiter. He spent the last six years with Franklin in State College and three with Franklin at Vanderbilt. Spencer’s success at PSU produced an opportunity to coach the New York Giants’ defensive line. And Spencer accepted the NFL invite.

“As you guys know, Sean was kind of one of the few guys left that’s been with me from the beginning, so for me and (defensive coordinator) Brent (Pry), you’re talking about kind of our road dog for 10 years,” Franklin said.

“We’ve been together for a long time. Sean was great, very up front about the whole situation, and obviously, being from the region and his wife being from New York, it just made sense.”