Three Players To Watch In 2016 Blue-White Game

The Blue White Game is now just a little over a week away, and the Nittany Lions are getting closer to finishing up spring practice. There are a lot of different players that have improved their stock with strong showings this spring, and there are some others that Penn State needs to see improve. Here are three players to keep an eye on in next weekend’s Blue-White Game that, in my opinion, will be vital to the success of the Nittany Lions this fall.

Center Brian Gaia
After beginning his career at defensive tackle, and showing good promise there as a redshirt freshman in 2013, Brian Gaia moved to guard prior to the 2014 season due to depth chart issues. He has had two very up and down years there the past two seasons. In 2016, the redshirt senior will be at another new position, this time manning the center of the offensive line for the Nittany Lion offense.

Gaia was never a good fit at guard, but a move inside to center could benefit him. It will be nice to have Gaia’s experience, ability to identify a defense, and ability to make the blocking calls at center. Gaia has also slimmed down this spring, which should help to make him a little more athletic.

Strength has never been an issue with Gaia, but struggled with his length and footwork at guard. Well, at the center position, length is not nearly as important as it is at guard. Also, the footwork is totally different.

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I am cautiously optimistic that Brian Gaia can become a decent to good center for Penn State this fall. If he does that, it will go a long way toward improving the offensive line play as a whole.

Safety Troy Apke
Marcus Allen will be one of Penn State’s starting safeties this season, and right now redshirt senior Malik Golden is slated to start at the other. However, junior Troy Apke will have a chance to change that, and it would begin with a strong showing in the spring game.

Nov 15, 2014; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions safety Troy Apke (28) during the fourth quarter against the Temple Owls at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Temple 30-13. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O /

Safety is a position that I am slightly worried about on Penn State’s defense. Marcus Allen regressed last year after a strong true freshman campaign in 2014, even though a season-long shoulder injury probably contributed to that. And Malik Golden has proven to be, well, not very good during his time in Happy Valley.

Another problem here is that due to Penn State’s lack of depth at linebacker, I could see the Nittany Lions looking to use more nickel and dime packages this fall, which would require an extra safety being on the field.

Apke has shown flashes over the course of the last two seasons, and Penn State needs him to begin to put it all together on a more consistent basis. Redshirt freshman Ayron Monroe is another player the staff is very high on at safety ,and whom big things were expected out of this spring, but he has missed most of spring practice battling injuries.

Quarterbacks Trace McSorley and Tommy Stevens
Okay so I lied, there are four players on this list. But since McSorley and Stevens are the two competing for the starting quarterback job I lumped them together.

McSorley obviously has the advantage in terms of experience, as he will be a redshirt sophomore and he saw the field last year in mop-up duty. He also had a strong showing against Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl after Christian Hackenberg got hurt. Also, the coaching staff and teammates alike have raved about McSorley’s leadership skills ever since he arrived on campus in June of 2014.

Stevens, on the other hand, will only be a redshirt freshman and has zero game experience at Penn State. However, Stevens is bigger than McSorley and has a stronger arm. Both players are good athletes, which is a huge benefit behind an offensive line question marks. Also, both players have been up and down in terms of accuracy this spring.

While I would say McSorley currently holds a slight edge over Stevens, this competition is far from over and should spill over into camp in August. I am very anxious to see how each of these quarterbacks perform in Joe Moorhead’s offense next Saturday, even though we’ll see a very watered down version in the Blue-White Game.

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