How Penn State is planning for Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty, and more from PSU’s coordinators

There is no stopping Ashton Jeanty, but limiting him has to be at the top of the Penn State defense’s to-do list for Tuesday’s game.

The Boise State running back, and Heisman Trophy runner-up, ran for 2,497 yards and 29 touchdowns this year. He’s had the most dominant rushing season college football has seen in a decade and there hasn’t been a team that’s kept him below 127 yards on the ground.

Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen’s unit is going to be put to the test by Jeanty, and Allen saw that right away on film.

“He’s special,” Allen said during a Friday press conference. “I’ve enjoyed — well, I don;t know if I’ve enjoyed it — but it’s been impressive to watch his film. Studying him, the thing that sticks out is he just doesn’t go down. He gets hit (and has) tremendous balance. I just think the ability for him to break tackles is really phenomenal. I think I saw 1,944 yards after contact, which is just mind blowing, how effective he’s been after people hit him.

“His toughness, his grit, he just carries the ball so many times. In today’s game that just doesn’t happen anymore. Just so much respect for him. ... To me it’s about finding a way to do the thing that most people can’t do, which is get him on the ground.”

The problems Jeanty creates don’t just exist in the running game, either. He’s so good on the ground that defenses are forced to maximize their resources trying to stop him, leaving openings in the back end for the Boise State passing game to attack.

Quarterback Maddux Madsen has done that well this year, avoiding turnovers and taking shots down the field when necessary.

And when those shots come, they’re often thrown to a player Allen is plenty familiar with — Boise State wide receiver Cameron Camper. Allen recruited Camper to Indiana when he was the head coach of the Hoosiers, and has been familiar with what he can add to an offense.

“I love Cam, man,” Allen said. “He’s a special person, special player. ... He’s a long receiver that can get open. He runs really good routes, he’s very smooth, he’s got tremendous ball skills. He can stretch you. His catch radius is really big, and he’s a tough guy and he just competes. I know him well, and there’s no question we’ve got to do a great job of stopping him and preventing him from making key plays and key conversions and explosive plays down the field. And that’s what they rely on him to do and he’s done a good job of that. He’s definitely another one of those valuable pieces that makes them really, really difficult to defend.”

Despite the issues the defense will present, the Nittany Lions are better positioned than most to do what’s necessary against Jeanty to get a win. And if you ask safety Jaylen Reed, they’re going to do that — and then some.

“We made a joke in practice that we were practicing on Christmas; everybody was a little mad,” Reed said. “But it’s actually a blessing in disguise that we’re able to still practice right now. And still have the opportunity to go win the national championship — which we will.”

Finding offensive growth late in the season

Penn State is heading into its 15th game of the season — the most in program history — and has pulled out all of the stops to get to this point on offense. Andy Kotelnicki has been one of the most creative offensive coordinators in college football all season, and his first season in charge of the Nittany Lion offense has been a resounding success, with him leading the group to No. 10 in the country in ESPN analyst Bill Connelly’s SP+, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency.

But that creativity doesn’t stop just because the Nittany Lions are deep into a season.

While the team will always lean on what it does best, there’s always room for more ideas.

“I really believe offenses have to evolve week to week based off of who you are, what’s been going good for you, the opponent that you’re playing to some degree, and what you trained your players to be like through fall camp and spring football, specifically,” Kotelnicki said Thursday. “I don’t know if adding is the right word; it’s more evolving, which you have to be able to do as an offense. But you can’t lose sight of what you’ve trained your football team to be.

“You have to stay within a certain set of parameters, which we always do. But you have to evolve, to grow, to put new stresses on defenses and not be repetitive, right? And predictable. That’s not what we want to be. We will always grow week to week.”

Adding those wrinkles and doing new things can help an offense, but not if the players within the system aren’t growing too. Kotelnicki is, in part, able to try new things because his players are able to do more and take on more as the year goes on.

That applies across the board, but especially at quarterback where junior Drew Allar has taken a massive stride in his second year as a starter. The 20-year-old signal caller was a part of the team’s wins last season, but this season he’s been much more of the reason why they’re happening.

His impact has only grown, not just from year to year, but within this season, too. That’s because of how he’s matured as a player.

“I think just my confidence in general and the way I prepare,” Allar said when asked where he’s made the biggest strides. “I would just say that goes along with leadership at the end of the day. I feel like that’s where the most steps I’ve taken off the field are, kind of mentally. But as far as physically, I think Coach K [Andy Kotelnicki] does a great job of preparing all of us throughout the week for the reps we’re going to get in the game and the looks that we’re expecting.

“Just taking those as game-like as possible throughout the week, so when the game comes, it’s second nature for me at that point. I’ve made that throw over and over, and I know what to expect. The receivers know how I’m going to throw it, and I know how they’re going to run the routes. I think it really goes into the preparation and our process that we put in throughout the week that has helped a ton.”

Quick hitters

• Allar reiterated what head coach James Franklin and Kotelnicki have both said about the team playing to win by being aggressive. “We’re going out there to play to win, and not playing scared or anything like that,” Allar said. “... I love it. I think it’s the right mentality to have as an offense, and I think it’s part of the reason why we’ve been successful this year on offense so far.”

• Star tight end Tyler Warren said being this far along in the season takes a physical toll on players, but attributed that to being part of the physical nature of the sport.

• Guard Vega Ioane said he’s enjoyed being one of the chess pieces in the offense, especially going in motion on plays. “Every time they call the play, I just tell them I’m ready to do it and line up outside. Motion in and try to kill somebody every play. It’s pretty fun.”

• Ioane said Boise State special teams coordinator Stacy Collins was the biggest reason he came to Penn State. Collins was on staff at Penn State, and is originally from the West Coast — as is Ioane. “I’m grateful for him and everything he’s done for me,” Ioane said.