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Penn State, James Franklin want wins to silence critics

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Luzerne Lions’ Hometown Heroes project brings pride, patriotism to borough

<p>CHICAGO &#8212; Nyeem Wartman-White will be back on the field soon for Penn State. In the past he&#8217;s played weakside linebacker and, for one quarter last season before suffering a torn ACL, he manned the middle.</p><p>So which position does he prefer to play in September?</p><p>&#8220;I want to play linebacker,&#8221; the Valley View grad said with a smile on Monday at Big Ten media days. &#8220;Doesn&#8217;t matter. Outside, inside &#8212; I want to play linebacker.&#8221;</p><p>The Nittany Lions are eager to get him back in any capacity.</p><p>&#8220;Having him back is going to be significant for us from a leadership standpoint and from a production standpoint,&#8221; Lions coach James Franklin said. &#8220;Is he going to be limited in camp? Yeah, because it&#8217;s going to be his first live action, obviously, since the opening game last year. So we&#8217;ll work him back into it.</p><p>&#8220;What you have to be careful of is, when you have a significant injury like that, you&#8217;ve got to make sure that you ease them back into the process. Not only physically, but also mentally, having the confidence that he&#8217;s able to play.&#8221;</p><p>Franklin said whether Wartman-White ends up in the middle (Mike) or on the weakside (Will) will be determined in training camp.</p><p>Then-sophomore Jason Cabinda ultimately stepped into Wartman-White&#8217;s spot in the middle in 2015 and received plenty of praise for his work.</p><p>Fellow linebacker Brandon Bell, who will once again play the strongside spot (Sam), said he wasn&#8217;t sure who will play the Mike this fall.</p><p>&#8220;But,&#8221; Bell said, &#8220;my guess would be Jason. That&#8217;s my speculation.</p><p>&#8220;But it does not matter, I would say. Because either guy can come in and do both. It&#8217;s not something I&#8217;m extremely worried about. We&#8217;ll all be prepared.&#8221;</p><p>Wartman-White was held out of spring practice as a precaution and is eager to get back to the field.</p><p>The injury, he said, changed his mindset. Where a year ago he would have been thrilled to make the Butkus Award watchlist, as he did this summer, now he said it doesn&#8217;t affect him.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m over that &#8212; proving myself,&#8221; Wartman-White said. &#8220;One tackle a game and we win? That&#8217;s fine with me. I don&#8217;t care. The next level doesn&#8217;t matter. I&#8217;m gonna remember Penn State more.</p><p>&#8220;Playing at Penn State was more of a dream. The NFL on average doesn&#8217;t last as long as college. You don&#8217;t have the same pride. So I&#8217;m not worried about that. I&#8217;m more worried about what we got here and how we&#8217;re gonna get better.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Eye on Barkley</strong></p><p>Any improvement for the Lions this fall will include the efforts of running back Saquon Barkley, who was voted as one of the top five players to watch in the Big Ten East on Monday.</p><p>Already a record-setter as a freshman, Barkley&#8217;s role could be expanded as a sophomore, with Franklin saying he expects him to play a little special teams.</p><p>Barkley has had an eye on Stanford&#8217;s all-purpose dynamo, Christian McCaffrey, in particular.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s something Saquon has talked about wanting to do,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;He&#8217;s studied the way that guy impacts the game in so many different ways. Saquon would like to do that.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Chavis update</strong></p><p>Penn State is still in a holding pattern with junior college defensive tackle Tyrell Chavis, who has not yet been academically cleared to join Penn State.</p><p>Franklin expressed optimism last month that Chavis would ultimately be with the team but said Monday he wasn&#8217;t sure if it would happen before the start of training camp on Aug. 4.</p><p>&#8220;It could be before camp,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll just see how the situation plays out. We talk on a daily basis and get great feedback, but you never know until you know.&#8221;</p><p>The Lions could certainly use Chavis this season as they look to replace three of their top four tackles from last year, including draft picks Austin Johnson and Anthony Zettel.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wartman-White </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_wartmanMUG-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wartman-White </caption0><photoCredit0></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><strong>Jaguars sign Sam Ficken</strong></p><p>Former Penn State place kicker Sam Ficken has signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, according to the Jaguars&#8217; Twitter account.</p><p>Ficken ended his career as one of the most successful kickers in Penn State history, delivering a game-winning kick in the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl.</p><p>However, success didn&#8217;t come easy. He missed four field goals and had an extra point blocked in a 17-16 loss at Virginia in 2012. One of his missed kicks was a potential game-winner as timed expired.</p><p>Ficken spent last season out of football after no NFL team signed him.</p><p>He will compete against Jason Myers for the Jaguars&#8217; job. Myers was 26 of 30 last season on field goal attempts.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> JnN49Ai_4xw</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnN49Ai_4xw</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> Nyeem Wartman-White talks about the day of his ACL injury.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Derek Levarse</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Nyeem Wartman-White eager to return to Penn State football team