Penn State 1st-year coordinator faces difficulties without spring practice

The time between practice sessions might be longer for Penn State than other programs.

Penn State wasn’t scheduled to start spring practice until March 18. The coronavirus shutdown started six days before that, and it has progressed into its third week with no end in sight.

The last time Penn State met for a full-scale, padded practice was before the Cotton Bowl, which was Dec. 28.

Co-offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen was asked Wednesday about how missing spring practice might impact the team as it prepares to tackle the season.

“It can’t hurt us,” he said. “We can’t allow it to.”

The difficulty is multiplied this year, however, with Penn State only starting to introduce new offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca to the players he will depend on when the games begin.

Ciarrocca, who directed the No. 4 offense in the Big Ten last season at Minnesota (an average of 432 yards per game), has met and talked football with his players over the past three months. But even the optimistic Bowen knows some things just can’t be simulated in a meeting room.

“The one thing you’re going to lose that can’t be made up,” Bowen said, “is watching a guy make a mistake full-speed from the meeting room and then being able to correct it. I don’t know what the answer for that is.

“We can’t let it be an issue. It’s not going to be an excuse.”

Bowen said the players — he meets with the tight ends regularly via Zoom — have approached the situation with what he calls “a level of maturity.”

But nothing can simulate the physicality players will face in games.

“Whenever we get back on the field, we have to utilize our time better than other programs and hit the ground running,” he said.

Ciarrocca, who was born in Pennsylvania, went to Red Land High School and Juniata College and accepted his first coaching job at Temple, offers what Bowen calls a unique perspective.

“He’s one of the few coordinators I’ve been around who really knows every position in great detail,” Bowen said.

“He can go up and be a guy who coaches an offensive lineman on his first two steps and then go talk about the receiver’s split and what release he should take against inside leverage press coverage.

“He’s hand-on in coaching them.”

One of the more interesting projects waiting for Ciarrocca and Bowen is junior tight end Pat Freiermuth, who has recorded 69 catches for 875 yards and 15 touchdowns in two seasons — without making a start.

Bowen said Freiermuth has turned into a “big brother” for the younger tight ends “who don’t know how to work the same way.”

Bowen called Freiermuth “an above-the-line” route runner when compared to other tight ends around the country. But Bowen has another important task for Freiermuth this season.

“The biggest thing he’s focused on is: ‘How can I be the best all-around tight end in the country?’ And that’s the message to him.

“’How can I be the best tight end in pass protection? How can I be the best tight end in the run game? How can I be the best tight in the pass game? How can I be the best tight end in screens?’

“Every facet of tight-end play he has the skill set to excel at. The big thing for him is putting it all together.”