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Public hearing set for Wilkes-Barre’s proposed 2017 budget; mayor to attend

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Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins eager for a three-game stint this weekend

<p>The toughest part of Connor McGovern&#8217;s first college season may have been the most important for him.</p><p>McGovern made his first start on Penn State&#8217;s offensive line in Week 5 against Minnesota, but he really took over at right guard a week earlier, playing all but the first two drives against a loaded Michigan team.</p><p>Just a slight difference from playing Wyoming Valley Conference opponents a year earlier.</p><p>&#8220;There were some hurdles,&#8221; offensive line coach Matt Limegrover said Thursday. &#8220;Once he got through the Michigan game &#8212; and he didn&#8217;t have a great game, and he knew it &#8212; but he could say, &#8216;That was my crucible.&#8217; He had to get through that. And when he did, he had a different attitude. He had a smile on his face. &#8216;If I can get through that, I get through anything.&#8217; From that point, his confidence grew.&#8221;</p><p>Now McGovern enters the second half of his true freshman campaign against another mammoth test with No. 2 Ohio State coming to town Saturday.</p><p>Limegrover, who is in his first season with the Nittany Lions but is a Big Ten veteran from his time at Minnesota, uses the Buckeyes and Wolverines as a measuring stick.</p><p>With McGovern and Ryan Bates already starting &#8212; and other freshman-eligible players like Michal Menet, Will Fries, Steven Gonzalez and Sterling Jenkins on their way up &#8212; Limegrover sees a unit with a very high ceiling. Particularly at guard and center.</p><p>&#8220;The future for the interior offensive line here, they&#8217;re the guys you say, &#8216;OK, that&#8217;s what a Michigan is playing with, that&#8217;s what Ohio State is playing with,&#8217; &#8221; Limegrover said. &#8220;That&#8217;s what we&#8217;re going to get to pretty quickly. That&#8217;s exciting.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s that potential that has him working his players hard in practice and during games.</p><p>McGovern in particular hears it from his position coach because he enrolled back in January and went through a full spring practice.</p><p>&#8220;I get on him big time, &#8216;Hey, you&#8217;re not a freshman any more. Stop making freshman mistakes,&#8217; &#8221; Limegrover said. &#8220;He gets it and he understands.&#8221;</p><p>The entire group will have some added stress on Saturday because of the situation at tackle. With Andrew Nelson lost to a knee injury, the plan is go with the group that finished the Maryland game &#8212; Paris Palmer at left tackle and Brendan Mahon flipping over to take Nelson&#8217;s spot on the right.</p><p>The main issue, Limegrover said, is restoring the chemistry and cohesion that the group had been building through the first six games. Prior to Nelson&#8217;s injury, the only major switch was McGovern taking over full-time for Derek Dowrey.</p><p>&#8220;Unfortunately, Andrew Nelson getting hurt kind of disrupted that continuity,&#8221; Limegrover said. &#8220;The communication was getting better, the understanding. There&#8217;s so much that goes into it as far as getting a feel for how the other guys around you play the game, and I felt like we were really getting into a good place with that.&#8221;</p><p>Palmer struggled with making the transition from Lackawanna College to the Big Ten at the start of last season. He looked better by the end of the campaign but hadn&#8217;t played more than a few snaps this fall until Nelson went down against Maryland.</p><p>For the most part, Palmer held his own against the Terps, though there was one notable play in the third quarter where he was beaten cleanly off the edge.</p><p>The difference is that while the play would almost certainly have led to a sack a year ago, this time around Trace McSorley was able to escape the pressure and actually gain yards with his legs.</p><p>&#8220;I guess the nice luxury that I have is having a guy like Paris Palmer who has started in some games and started some big football games at Penn State,&#8221; Limegrover said. &#8220;He feels really comfortable at left tackle.</p><p>&#8220;When Andrew went down, Brendan Mahon didn&#8217;t skip a beat and looked at me and said, &#8216;Hey, I can move over, no problem.&#8217; &#8230; That transition was a lot smoother than one would expect, just because of Brendan&#8217;s willingness to both play the position and the fact that he had played right tackle in the past.&#8221;</p><p>All in all, the line has seen an improvement under Limegrover and another new assistant, offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead.</p><p>&#8220;Matt&#8217;s done a nice job,&#8221; Lions coach James Franklin said. &#8220;He also came here at the right time because of the depth and talent we&#8217;ve added. We&#8217;re at a much different point than we were two years ago.</p><p>&#8220;Matt&#8217;s experience, Matt&#8217;s knowledge, Matt&#8217;s temperament has been good for us. The young guys are coming on.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Connor McGovern (66) has been a building block on offense for coaches Matt Limegrover and Joe Moorhead (left). </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_mcgovern-moorhead-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Connor McGovern (66) has been a building block on offense for coaches Matt Limegrover and Joe Moorhead (left). </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>UP NEXT</strong></p><p>Ohio State at Penn State</p><p>8 p.m. Saturday, ABC</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Nittany Lions have high hopes for Connor McGovern, young O-linemen