When it comes to Misericordia, Kings, Wilkes football, numbers don’t always tell the story

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Interstate exit dedicated to memory of slain state trooper Cpl. Bryon Dickson

<p>This week, more than most, Penn State is happy to have Brent Pry on staff.</p><p>The linebackers coach for the Nittany Lions has already done an impressive job in getting second-year players Jason Cabinda and Troy Reeder ready for starting roles and heavy responsibilities.</p><p>Now add &#8220;head scout&#8221; to his duties. For this game, at least.</p><p>As the Lions welcome Army West Point to Beaver Stadium Saturday, their main concern is defending the Black Knights&#8217; flexbone offense, a triple-option scheme that racked up 556 rushing yards last week in a win over Eastern Michigan.</p><p>That&#8217;s where Pry comes in.</p><p>Before joining James Franklin&#8217;s staff at Vanderbilt and following him to Happy Valley when he took over at Penn State, Pry was the defensive coordinator at Georgia Southern.</p><p>The head coach there was Jeff Monken, who is now in his second season leading the Black Knights.</p><p>Monken ran the flexbone at Georgia Southern, so Pry is very familiar with the intricacies of the offense and how a defense can best defend it.</p><p>&#8220;Brent always has a strong voice in our game planning,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think Brent probably gets enough credit as he deserves, as well as the rest of the defensive staff. But this week he&#8217;s going to have even a stronger voice just because of the history that he has with defending it.</p><p>&#8220;His experience, I think, is really valuable with that. Obviously we knew we were playing this team at this point in the season. So we did some game-planning and studies this summer to get ahead of it.&#8221;</p><p>Penn State&#8217;s last game against a true triple-option team was against fellow service academy Navy back in 2012. But only three defensive players who saw the field in that 34-7 win are still on the roster &#8212; Ben Kline, Jordan Lucas and Anthony Zettel. A fourth, starting cornerback Trevor Williams, was playing wide receiver that season.</p><p>Much of the pressure will be on the defenders trying to set the edge &#8212; ends Carl Nassib and Garrett Sickels up front and outside linebackers Brandon Bell and Reeder behind them.</p><p>The key will be for those players in particular to maintain their assignments and not overcommit to a possible pitch or sell out for a chance at a big hit on the quarterback. And the defensive backs can&#8217;t get obsessed with coming up to help out against the run, allowing a receiver to run free deep.</p><p>&#8220;We just have to be disciplined,&#8221; Sickels said. &#8220;Everyone has to take care of their job. Defensive line, linebackers and in the back end. We have to do our job every play and we should be fine.&#8221;</p><p><strong>THREE AND OUT</strong></p><p><strong>Banged-up backs</strong></p><p>Army could be without its top weapon as quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw &#8212; who leads the Knights in both rushing and passing &#8212; is dealing with an ankle injury that kept him out of the second half of last week&#8217;s win.</p><p>The Times Herald-Record of Middletown, New York, reported that senior backup A.J. Schurr took first-team reps with the offense on both Tuesday and Wednesday at practice.</p><p>As for the Lions, Franklin hasn&#8217;t tipped his hand about the status of his own backfield. Saquon Barkley (ankle) appears to be in far better shape than Akeel Lynch (knee), but it wouldn&#8217;t be a surprise to see the freshman sit out a week to heal up for the bulk of Big Ten play.</p><p>Barkley was not with the Lions during the brief period of Wednesday&#8217;s practice that was open to reporters.</p><p>&#8220;Obviously if you&#8217;re a senior who&#8217;s played a lot of football and you haven&#8217;t practiced much that week, you can play,&#8221; Franklin said afterward. &#8220;As a freshman, it&#8217;s much harder to do that.&#8221;</p><p>Nick Scott and Mark Allen would be in line for the bulk of the carries if Barkley is held out. Fellow redshirt freshman Johnathan Thomas would also be in the mix after being promoted from the scout team this week.</p><p><strong>Deja vu</strong></p><p>Surprise, surprise, it could be another dreary day in State College.</p><p>Though Saturday&#8217;s forecast isn&#8217;t quite as bleak as it was earlier in the week, there&#8217;s a good chance it will be raining during part of the game for the third time in four weeks. Temperatures are also predicted to be in the upper 40s.</p><p>The Beaver Stadium grass will be put to the test from the fourth straight Saturday with a game on top of the seemingly perpetual rain.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll see how the whole thing plays out,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;But I&#8217;ve got tremendous faith in (the grounds crew) that the field will be in great shape and we&#8217;ll be prepared.&#8221;</p><p><strong>A PSU salute</strong></p><p>Though the weather will likely lead to plenty of empty seats, all of them will have been paid for.</p><p>Penn State announced the game as a sellout weeks ago, thanks largely to the school&#8217;s &#8220;Seats for Servicemembers&#8221; program in which fans could purchase tickets for veterans and their families. More than 6,500 seats were donated for the event, dubbed Military Appreciation Day.</p><p>Playing Army will also hold added meaning to a number of Lions players like wideout DaeSean Hamilton, whose parents have both served in the Marines.</p><p>&#8220;My parents have been excited for this game,&#8221; Hamilton said. &#8220;They taught me a lot of lessons in my life, and I always learned to appreciate what they sacrificed.&#8221;</p><p>Quarterback Christian Hackenberg&#8217;s uncle, J.D. Hackenberg, is an Army alum who served for 12 years after his playing career in West Point.</p><p>&#8220;I have a ton of respect for that program specifically and the things that are asked of those guys following their playing years there,&#8221; Christian said. &#8220;So it&#8217;s something that means a lot to me and my family.&#8221;</p><p>In addition, Penn State recently added a true walk-on to the squad following a tryout.</p><p>According to Franklin, that player is defensive tackle Immanuel Iyke, a 27-year-old former Marine who served five tours of duty before enrolling at Penn State.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State coach James Franklin (center) poses for a photo with members of the university ROTC program ahead of the Nittany Lions&#8217; game vs. Army. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_army-franklin.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State coach James Franklin (center) poses for a photo with members of the university ROTC program ahead of the Nittany Lions&#8217; game vs. Army. </caption0><photoCredit0>Joe Hermitt | AP photo, Pennlive.com </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_army-players.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Penn State safeties Jordan Lucas (left) and Marcus Allen (right) greet members of the school&#8217;s ROTC program after a practice for Saturday&#8217;s game vs. Army. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_army-players.jpg</photo1><caption1>Penn State safeties Jordan Lucas (left) and Marcus Allen (right) greet members of the school&#8217;s ROTC program after a practice for Saturday&#8217;s game vs. Army. </caption1><photoCredit1>Joe Hermitt | AP photo, Pennlive.com </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>PSU GAMEDAY</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Army (1-3)</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>at Penn State (3-1)</strong></p><p>Noon, today</p><p>Beaver Stadium</p><p>State College</p><p><strong>TV</strong>: ESPNU</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/TLdlevarse" target="_blank">@TLdlevarse</a></p></shirttailMeta></div>

Nittany Lions keeping cautious against Army’s triple option