Penn State football coach James Franklin and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles have discussed the lack of depth at linebacker from the start of training camp.
They’ve bemoaned that some of the younger linebackers behind Amare Campbell, Tony Rojas and Dominic DeLuca haven’t stepped up.
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The Nittany Lions’ depth now is even thinner with Rojas out for a significant period of time with an injury he suffered last week in practice.
“Whenever you lose one of your better players at a position where we were already lacking depth, that’s going to create some challenges,” Franklin said Monday during his weekly press conference. “That’s going to be a point of attention all week long with our coaching staff and the players.”
Campbell, a transfer from North Carolina, played every defensive snap in Penn State’s shocking 42-37 loss to previously winless UCLA at the Rose Bowl and made 10 tackles, including 2.5 in the backfield.
DeLuca played every snap but one when he had to leave the field after being shaken up. He finished with 12 tackles, including one in the backfield, and had a quarterback hurry, but he also missed a few tackles.
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“If we want to play better, we’ve got to be on the same page,” DeLuca said Saturday. “We’ve all got to do our jobs at a high level.”
Cam Smith, a freshman from St. Joseph’s Prep, replaced DeLuca for one snap. He and redshirt Anthony Speca are expected to receive more work this week at practice.
“We’re going to have to play those guys and develop them,” Franklin said. “Cam is part of that discussion. Speca is part of that discussion. We’re going to have to rotate those guys in there.”
UCLA ran for 269 yards against Penn State, which has allowed 149.4 rushing yards per game (77th nationally). On several scrambles, quarterback Nico Iamaleava had plenty of open space in front of him. He finished with 128 yards on 16 carries.
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“There were times we did some really nice things,” Franklin said about the linebackers. “There were other times when we didn’t. We made some mistakes and had some missed assignments. Playing with confidence right now is a challenge.”
Backfield rotation: Running back Kaytron Allen should have touched the football more against UCLA, Franklin said.
Allen carried eight times for 50 yards and two touchdowns and caught one pass for 8 yards. Former Gov. Mifflin standout Nick Singleton ran 11 times for 39 yards and had two receptions for 16 yards.
The two backs who had 1,000-yard seasons last year continue to alternate series.
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For the season, Allen has 54 carries for 377 yards (7.0 average) and six touchdowns and has six catches for 25 yards. Singleton has 63 attempts for 239 yards (3.8 average) and five TDs and has 10 catches for 89 yards.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that Kaytron is having a good year and has been very productive,” Franklin said. “That’s what we look at each week. It’s not necessarily play count, but it’s also opportunities he’s getting to touch the ball.
“He needs more touches and should have had more touches in that game. That’s a fair question. We had a similar discussion ourselves as a staff.”
Iowa game set: Penn State’s Oct. 18 game at Iowa has been scheduled for a 7 p.m. Eastern kickoff and will be televised by the Peacock streaming service, it was announced Monday.
