Penn State Football: Looking at the 2018 Blue-White Game rosters

Penn State football will be battling itself on Saturday during the annual spring game

The Nittany Lions are gearing up to take the field on Saturday for the traditional Blue-White Game. It will be the 15th practice of the spring session for Penn State football, hence marking the end of practice until summer practices begin. A big crowd is always on hand for the event, and this year shouldn’t be any different.

James Franklin stated earlier in the week that the format of the game would be basically the starters against the reserves. On Thursday, the official rosters for both the Blue and White teams were released.

The Blue is clearly the top unit, with guys like Trace McSorley, Miles Sanders, and DeAndre Thompkins leading the offense. Tight end, Jonathan Holland, who is the de facto starter heading into the year, is also a member of the Blue’s offense.

Wide receiver should be fun to watch Saturday, as two freshmen receivers — KJ Hamler and Mac Hippenhammer — should see plenty of action for Blue.

An interesting note is the fact that McSorley likely won’t play many snaps. Backup quarterback Tommy Stevens is on Blue- but he’s been injured during the offseason. That means that redshirt freshman Sean Clifford will likely be running the offense for much of the day.

On defense for Blue, Koa Farmer, Nick Scott, Shareef Miller, Ryan Buchholz and Kevin Givens are some of the names that stand out. In a bit of a surprise, Ayron Monroe is listed as the other likely starter at safety.

One of the biggest storylines heading into Saturday is true freshman linebacker Micah Parsons. The five-star recruit was one of the most highly recruited players in the country. He’ll line up with the Blue squad this weekend.

Over on the White side, redshirt sophomore quarterback Jake Zembiec will lead the offense. Most of his handoffs will probably go to running back Journey Brown – a speedy player who has a lot of upside. Zembiec will be throwing to several inexperienced wide receivers in Isaac Lutz, Colton Maxwell and tight end Zack Kuntz.

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On defense, the White will feature the likes of Yetur Gross-Matos, Brelin Faison-Walden, and exciting true freshman linebacker Jesse Luke. Something to note is the fact that safety Lamont Wade, who’s in the battle to be a starter this year, is on the White team.

Aside from the players on the field, there will be an interesting guest coach on the sidelines.

Penn State will take the field for the Blue-White game at 3 p.m. on Saturday.