An early look at the Big Ten-Part 3

An early look at the Big Ten-Part 3

Brock Murphy takes another look at some of the teams in the Big Ten in part three of his early outlook on the conference.

Penn State:  Linebacker U was expecting to follow the recent legends of Paul Posluszny and Dan Connor with the rising star of outside linebacker Sean Lee, who tallied 138 tackles last year.  However, Lee suffered a knee injury in the spring that is expected to take nine months so the Nittany Lions will have to turn elsewhere to continue their tradition of great linebacking into 2008.

Happy Valley will obviously miss Connor and Lee.  However, the good news is that there was only one other loss on the defensive side of the ball (cornerback Justin king being the other).  State has numerous athletic candidates to fill Connor and Lee's holes. Josh Hull moved inside and will probably be bracketed entering the fall by Tyrell Sales and, in Lee's place, Bani Gbadyu. It should be noted, though, that PSU's top-four 2008 signees were all linebackers (including last year's 4th and 7th-ranked inside linebackers [Brandon Beachum and Mike Zordich, respectively], per Rivals.com).

King's vacancy at right corner is the only other defensive hole.  King's back-up, Brendan Perrett, is also gone. Former back-up free safety, Tony Davis, leads the candidates who will compete to start at right corner when Penn State opens up against Coastal Carolina - a team that will begin only its sixth season of actual existence.

The biggest news on offense is the projected system change back to the spread-like attack the team turned to in 2005 when Michael Robinson was under center. While the system may be new, the staff will have the luxury of turning to a very experienced offensive line (none of the linemen who started the Alamo Bowl graduated) and a very skilled and veteran trio of receivers (Deon Butler, Derrick Williams and Jordan Norwood [142 receptions, 1,646 yards and 12 scores, combined, in 2007]) to break it in.  The Nittany Lions will have to find a new quarterback, however, and will also have to find a replacement for last year's leading-rusher (Rodney Kinlaw [1,329 yards, 10 touchdowns]).

Neither replacement project will be insurmountable. While he was certainly dependable and a good receiver out of the backfield, Penn State turns to two talented sophomores (Evan Royster [6-1, 211] and Brent Carter [6-2, 213]), who combined for 151 carries, 815 yards and 11 scores last season, to fill Kinlaw's shoes.

At quarterback, Anthony Morelli ended 2007 as the nation's 70th-ranked quarterback (pass-efficiency) and, while neither of the likely replacement candidates (Darryl Clark or Pat Devlin) match Morelli's experience level, they bring more athletic potential to the position than Morelli offered.  Clark (6-2, 232) has only thrown 36 passes in his career, the most of the two candidates, and none of them went for a touchdown.  However, he has run for five scores off of 27 career rushes.

Purdue: Despite rumors to the contrary, Purdue's offense does include running plays. In fact, this season, there are indications that the running game may take on added importance.  Regardless, this spring was home to fierce competition between returning start Kory Sheets (859 yards, 11 touchdowns) and Jaycen Taylor (560 yards, 4 touchdowns). By the end of spring, it appeared as though Taylor edged ahead of Sheets due, in large part, to Sheets' tendency to put the ball on the carpet.

Eastern Kentucky's Danny Hope has been brought in to take over the program next season. Hope coached with Tiller at Wyoming and was running a variation of Tiller's scheme at EKU. He will coach the linemen next year and is a very hands-on coach. The linemen, three of whom are returning starters, are buying what he's selling and are absolutely chomping at the bit to get after defenders next year.
The Boilers lose four of their top five receivers, including Dorien Bryant and one of the top tight end prospects in this year's draft, Dustin Keller. Bryant and Keller combined for 155 catches, 1817 yards and 15 touchdowns.

However, while there are holes-a-plenty at wideout, quarterback Curtis Painter (who has thrown for 8,763 yards and 54 scores in his career so far) is back. Painter tossed 29 scoring passes last year against only eleven picks en route to tallying 3846 yards through the air.

The nation's 63rd-ranked total defense lost two of its three linebackers.  Only outside linebacker Anthony Heygood returns and he may be asked to move inside.  If so, then the team will, effectively, have three new starting linebackers in 2008 when the Boilermakers open up 2008 against I-AA opponent, Northern Colorado, before hosting a Dennis Dixon-less Oregon the following week. 

Wisconsin: Gone is defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz (who landed in-conference with Northwestern). "Hank" produced the nation's top pass-defense in 2006 but, despite numerous returning starters last year, the unit was not able to duplicate its dominance. Finishing 54th in pass-efficiency defense (55% completion rate, 12 interceptions and 21 touchdowns) was far from embarrassing but the unit was frustrated by allowing 31 points or more in six different games and that led to Hank's ouster. Dave Doeren was promoted from within.

Kansas State transfer Allan Evridge is everyone's bet to take over for the graduated Tyler Donovan. However, conservative betters may want to sit on their wallets as Evridge has frankly admitted that his decision-making is still not where he wants it to be while Dustin Sherer, a career back-up, has been pushing all spring. Neither player has pulled away from the other so nobody should be surprised to see both take their share of snaps next year.

Whoever takes over the offense will have Donovan's favorite target to shoot at in 2008. Wisconsin received a great gift from leading receiver, Travis Beckum (75-982, 6 touchdowns), who decided to return for his senior year.  A tight-end, Beckum keeps things honest but the team must obviously find somebody who can stretch the field from the outside.

The new signal-caller will also have a bevy of talented tailbacks to use to make the ground game tick. While he has battled injuries each of the last two seasons, P.J. Hill is back and will have to fight off challenges by Zack Brown and Lance Smith.

Hill injured his foot against Indiana last season and missed the Ohio State and Minnesota games. He scored 14 times in 2007 but four of those came against the Citadel. In Hill's place, Brown scored a pair of touchdowns against both Michigan and Minnesota while producing a combined 358 yards against those two teams.

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