Could this change help Penn State Football ‘take that next step’?

There has been one constant that has held Penn State Football back over the past eight seasons: the offensive line.

While there are certainly a variety of factors that go into the (lack of) success up front, one that has gotten thrown around has been the strength and conditioning program.

Technique, scheme, and pre/post-communication are obviously all important for the success of any offensive line, but along with those facets, one thing that seems to have held Penn State’s offensive front back is just being outright overmatched physically.

Often times–especially against teams such as Ohio State and Michigan–the Nittany Lions have gotten dominated up front from a pure strength and speed perspective. Opposing defensive linemen have just been bigger, faster, and stronger than Penn State’s linemen.

Former head strength and conditioning coach for Penn State Football–Dwight Galt III–was among the best in the country for many years. Year after year, Penn State had numerous athletic freaks turn heads and test off the charts, both during offseason workouts as well as the combine/pro day.

However, for all the eye-popping measurables that have come out of Happy Valley lately, none of them have been from offensive linemen. So while Galt had an outstanding career and many fans (including myself) have the utmost respect for him, perhaps a change in the strength and conditioning program could prove to be beneficial for the Nittany Lions.

Dwight Galt retired this past offseason, and the mustachioed Chuck Losey III was promoted as his replacement as the head of strength and conditioning for Penn State Football.

Along with his promotion, Losey seems to have made some adjustments that can hopefully help to improve the strength and speed of the offensive line, which would really benefit the offense.

As always, it’s a “believe it when I see it” attitude when it comes to Penn State’s offensive line, but it’s nice to see the staff recognizing the issues and attempting to make some changes as a result.

If Chuck Losey has made the Nittany Lions’ offensive front quicker and more powerful this offseason, this offensive line could finally take that step forward that we’ve been waiting for.

A much-improved offensive line would certainly go a long way towards Penn State Football taking that proverbial next step as a program.