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LCCC held Student Art Exhibit at the College’s Shulman Gallery

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Five charged with theft in Hanover Twp. and Nanticoke headed to county court

<p>James Franklin makes it sound easy enough. But patching up Penn State&#8217;s bruised-up run defense might take some time.</p><p>With multiple injuries already hitting the Nittany Lions&#8217; front seven and not a ton of experience on the defensive line, there are some obstacles to overcome. Which is why, after a 341-yard shellacking by Pitt on Saturday, the Lions are last in the Big Ten and 116th nationally against the run in the early going.</p><p>They have already allowed nine runs of 20-plus yards in the season. They allowed 18 over 13 games last year. In 2014, they spent most of the year ranked No. 1 in the country in run defense.</p><p>Any turnaround will have to start with technique and fundamentals. The good news for the Lions is that things began to improve after halftime at Heinz Field as the Panthers rushing total went from 228 in the first to 113 in the second.</p><p>&#8220;It was dramatic,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;I mean, you look at statistics defensively from the first half to the second half, we played much better. Really it was really as simple as us being gap-sound.&#8221;</p><p>In other words, defenders weren&#8217;t getting pulled away from their responsibilities as much, meaning the holes weren&#8217;t as large or as frequent for James Conner and company to run through.</p><p>Not that 113 yards against in a half is the number a defense wants to aspire to. But it was a start.</p><p>If there&#8217;s a common thread in the first two games, it might be opponents&#8217; use of misdirection plays. Kent State caught the Lions off guard with some trickery in the opener and Pitt constantly used pre-snap motion to throw off Penn State, something the Lions weren&#8217;t able to figure out until after halftime.</p><p>&#8220;I think some of the fly sweeps and motions and shifts that they were doing gave some of our young players &#8230; it made them hesitant,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;And they weren&#8217;t playing as fast or as aggressive as they needed to play.&#8221;</p><p>After the game, players young and old agreed. Without going into too much detail, they said that defensive coordinator Brent Pry and assistants managed to simplify things for them in the locker room.</p><p>Defensive end Garrett Sickels, who watched his three fellow starters on the line from last year graduate to the NFL, said it wasn&#8217;t anything radical.</p><p>&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t so much changing the game plan,&#8221; Sickels said this week. &#8220;I just think we calmed down as a whole unit and really just started focusing. It&#8217;s not getting distracted by what the offense was doing.</p><p dir="ltr">&#8220;Sometimes you just get too excited. You want to make a play, but you have to do your job.&#8221;</p><p>Beyond that is another simple solution for the Lions to get well &#8212; start tackling better.</p><p>It was an issue in the first half of the opener as well. Players on all three levels of the defense weren&#8217;t doing a great job of wrapping up and there were plenty of yards after to contact to be had for Kent State.</p><p>Needless to say, that problem ballooned against Pitt and Conner, the former ACC Player of the Year on offense.</p><p>Franklin said coaching and youth are both to blame for those issues thus far.</p><p>&#8220;We need to do a better job,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;That fine line of what can you do in practice with fundamentals and technique without live tackling, I think that&#8217;s something we&#8217;ve got to do a better job of coaching.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve got to do a better job of emphasizing, embracing and understanding that throwing a shoulder is not good enough when you have big, physical running backs.&#8221;</p><p>Things aren&#8217;t going to get any easier this month. Temple comes to town on Saturday and a trip to the Big House follows against No. 4 Michigan.</p><p>A year ago, the Owls&#8217; Jahad Thomas ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns in a decisive Temple win. Thomas is questionable to play this week because of a dislocated thumb, but understudy Ryquell Armstead has been productive in his absence.</p><p>The Lions are hopeful to get some guys healthy themselves with DT Kevin Givens, DE Evan Schwan and LB Jason Cabinda all nursing injuries. Cabinda had his hand and wrist in a cast last Saturday and would seem to be the least likely to return this weekend.</p><p>Antoine White, Torrence Brown and Manny Bowen would likely be the starters at those respective spots if needed.</p><p>Regardless of who ends up where, Sickels said that it can&#8217;t be an excuse.</p><p>&#8220;The expectation is that if your number is called and you&#8217;re out there, there shouldn&#8217;t be a drop-off,&#8221; Sickels said. &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to lie. I don&#8217;t think it has anything to do with age or experience. I&#8217;m the guy who has the most experience and sometimes I&#8217;ll try to do too much.</p><p>&#8220;It goes for everyone and for every position.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">It wasn&#8217;t just against Pitt &#8212; Penn State had issues tackling against Kent State and freshman running back Justin Rankin (11) in the opening game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_AP995095376365.jpg</photo0><caption0>It wasn&#8217;t just against Pitt &#8212; Penn State had issues tackling against Kent State and freshman running back Justin Rankin (11) in the opening game. </caption0><photoCredit0>Chris Knight | AP photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_AP68204746695.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pitt&#8217;s James Conner spearheaded a 341-yard rushing attack on Saturday against the Nittany Lions that dropped them near the bottom of the country in run defense. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_AP68204746695.jpg</photo1><caption1>Pitt&#8217;s James Conner spearheaded a 341-yard rushing attack on Saturday against the Nittany Lions that dropped them near the bottom of the country in run defense. </caption1><photoCredit1>Abby Drey | AP photo, Centre Daily Times </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>UP NEXT</strong></p><p>Temple at Penn State</p><p>Noon, Saturday, BTN</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State priority: Patching holes in the run defense