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<p>The quarterback didn&#8217;t have to hit the ground last April to see that Penn State still had some issues up front.</p><p>One of the biggest takeaways from the 2015 Blue-White game was that the Nittany Lions&#8217; defensive line was far ahead of the offensive line, recording five &#8220;sacks&#8221; in the scrimmage, with the plays being blown dead before contact.</p><p>Naturally, the trenches will again be a focus when the public gets its first look at the 2016 squad on Saturday. As it stands, there won&#8217;t be any offensive linemen in the same spots as last spring.</p><p>Tackles Andrew Nelson and Paris Palmer have flipped sides, with Nelson &#8212; now entering his third season as a starter &#8212; manning the left side while former Lackawanna College product Palmer is on the right.</p><p>Fifth-year senior Brian Gaia has worked exclusively at center this spring after starting at guard the last two seasons.</p><p>&#8220;Gaia has transitioned really well to the center position,&#8221; Lions coach James Franklin said.</p><p>As for the guards, redshirt freshman Ryan Bates is the newcomer making a run at the starting job on the left side.</p><p>Another fifth-year player, Derek Dowrey, has taken plenty of reps on the right side with incumbent Brendan Mahon battling an injury.</p><p>&#8220;Dowrey is really maybe one of the more improved guys we have right now,&#8221; Franklin said following practice on Wednesday. &#8220;He&#8217;s always been a big, strong, tough guy, but that&#8217;s how he&#8217;s played. He hasn&#8217;t always played with the best fundamentals and technique.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s really taking coaching right now and doing a nice job. Maybe he&#8217;s improved as much as anybody on the offensive line.&#8221;</p><p>Not that any positions are necessarily locked up already when looking ahead to the fall. Of the five likely Blue-White starters, only Nelson would seem to have a spot nailed down at this point.</p><p>Palmer will be battling Scranton Prep grad Noah Beh at right tackle. Wendy Laurent is pushing fellow senior Gaia at center. Bates, Dowrey, Mahon and redshirt freshman Steven Gonzalez are all in the mix at guard.</p><p>Mahon would seem to have an inside track for a job given his experience at both guard and tackle, but he has set back a bit this spring.</p><p>&#8220;Mahon has missed more reps than I would&#8217;ve liked,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;He&#8217;s had a little bit of an injury and missed some practices. &#8230; I&#8217;d like it to be a four-man competition, but it&#8217;s been at three.&#8221;</p><p>The two other names Franklin said he wanted to discuss were redshirt freshman Sterling Jenkins and true freshman Connor McGovern, the Lake-Lehman grad who enrolled in January.</p><p>While the 6-foot-8 Jenkins is a tackle all the way, the coaches have worked McGovern, a center for the Black Knights, at multiple positions this spring, including right tackle.</p><p>&#8220;Sterling, we&#8217;re looking to see him make a big step this summer,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;And then Connor McGovern is a guy people have been excited (about) so far since his first few days on campus.&#8221;</p><p><strong>The other tackles</strong></p><p>On the defensive side of the ball, Penn State also has question marks at defensive tackle after losing their top three guys in Austin Johnson, Anthony Zettel and Tarow Barney.</p><p>Only junior Parker Cothren returns from last year&#8217;s two-deep, and he was sidelined at the start of spring practice and wasn&#8217;t one of the names Franklin mentioned back in March.</p><p>That changed on Thursday&#8217;s Big Ten spring teleconference, where Cothren was the first name Franklin mentioned. Cothren and redshirt freshman Robert Windsor are working at the nose (Johnson&#8217;s spot) while sophomore Antoine White and converted end Curtis Cothran are at at the three-technique (Zettel&#8217;s spot).</p><p>&#8220;Those four, we&#8217;re excited about,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;And obviously we&#8217;ve got some guys coming in, the two junior college guys at that position (Tyrell Chavis and Brenon Thrift). They&#8217;re a little bit older, more mature, and that&#8217;s gonna help us make that position as competitive as it needs to be to be competitive in the Big Ten.&#8221;</p><p>As far as experience goes, the defensive line as a whole now looks to rush end Garrett Sickels, a junior who is the unit&#8217;s lone returning starter from last season.</p><p>&#8220;Last year, I was the youngest (starting), the young guy just kind of hanging around with Zettel, A.J. and Carl (Nassib),&#8221; Sickels said. &#8220;They kind of all set the tone for practice and I kind of just joined in with them.</p><p>&#8220;This spring, it&#8217;s been different. &#8230; Now I&#8217;m the old guy, now I&#8217;m the leader. But the good thing about it is, everyone that we have back, we&#8217;re all pretty close and we were all in the same grade. We all have a tight camaraderie and we all know what&#8217;s expected of us.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Senior Brian Gaia is looking to anchor Penn State&#8217;s new-look offensive line after moving from guard to center this spring. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_AP_3150257603822016414173346266-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Senior Brian Gaia is looking to anchor Penn State&#8217;s new-look offensive line after moving from guard to center this spring. </caption0><photoCredit0>Abby Drey | AP photo, Centre Daily Times </photoCredit0></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>BLUE-WHITE GAME</strong></p><p>2 p.m., Saturday</p><p>Beaver Stadium</p><p><strong>TV</strong>: 7 p.m., BTN (tape delay)</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State’s offensive line competition heating up ahead of Blue-White Game