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Penn State Football: Week 3 Studs and Duds against Kent State

By Corey Hunter

STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 15: Trace McSorley #9 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Kent State Golden Flashes during the first half at Beaver Stadium on September 15, 2018 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 15: Trace McSorley #9 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Kent State Golden Flashes during the first half at Beaver Stadium on September 15, 2018 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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GLENDALE, AZ – DECEMBER 30: (L-R) Chasz Wright #77, Will Fries #71 and Steven Gonzalez #74 of the Penn State Nittany Lions walk the field during the Playstation Fiesta Bowl against the Washington Huskies at University of Phoenix Stadium on December 30, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona. The Nittany Lions defeated the Huskies 35-28. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ – DECEMBER 30: (L-R) Chasz Wright #77, Will Fries #71 and Steven Gonzalez #74 of the Penn State Nittany Lions walk the field during the Playstation Fiesta Bowl against the Washington Huskies at University of Phoenix Stadium on December 30, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona. The Nittany Lions defeated the Huskies 35-28. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Right Tackle – Will Fries

You may be wondering how a team that can rack up 297 team rushing yards, including four players with over 50 yards each, could have an offensive lineman on the Duds list.  Well, when your starting right tackle gets beat pretty handily and allows your starting quarterback to get blown up from his blind side, then you make this dubious list.  To be fair, this only happened one time.

The six-foot-six, 306-pound redshirt sophomore has been one of Penn State’s steadier offensive line players over the past two seasons.  He began the season in a timeshare rotation with senior Chasz Wright, but he has since taken over the primary duties.  Fries has arguably one of the most difficult offensive line positions on the field.  He has to protect Trace McSorley’s blind spot when he drops back to pass.

On Kent State’s sack on Saturday, Fries got caught not moving his feet and shoving his man up field.  As a result, a quick move by KJ Sherald and he was around Fries without much resistance.  McSorley didn’t see the hit coming, and he was drilled and lost control of the ball.  Luckily for Penn State, Trace was able to fall on the ball.  Penn State does not yield many sacks.  In fact, the sack allowed by Fries was only the third allowed by the Nittany Lions all season.

Still, with all of the pounding McSorley takes while running the ball, Penn State can ill-afford to have him take unnecessary hits when he’s dropping back to pass.

Aside from that one play, Fries is one of the best Penn State offensive line players, and I fully expect he’ll show that next weekend when the Nittany Lions open Big Ten play at Illinois.  He has been excellent at sealing the edges for Lions rushers and typically displays solid footwork in pass blocking.

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