Andy Kotelnicki stood by himself behind the end zone Saturday, reflecting on his first game as Penn State’s offensive coordinator.
Several people in the team’s traveling party quickly congratulated him after the Nittany LIons’ impressive 34-12 win over West Virginia at Mountaineer Field.
Kotelnicki responded with a thank you and a smile and why not. He and Penn State’s offense faced so many questions in the weeks and months before the season opener and they answered them, at least for one game.
“I love it, man,” running back Nick Singleton said. “You can see we have a lot of different weapons. You can see how we’re all playing. Coach K has been really good with his schemes. All the stuff’s been opening up.”
Singleton scored once and rushed 13 times for 114 yards, including his first two 40-yard runs since his marvelous freshman season in 2022.
Drew Allar looked comfortable and unbridled, completing 11-of-17 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns and rushing six times for 44 yards and three first downs.
Harrison Wallace III made five catches for a career-high 117 yards and two TDs, all in the first half.
“Obviously we want to try to get everybody involved in the run game and the pass game,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “Overall we did some really good things.”
The offense produced 457 total yards, averaged 7.6 yards per play, 19.6 per completion and 13.1 per pass attempt, all robust numbers.
Franklin hired Kotelnicki with the hopes of increasing Penn State’s explosive plays. Last year the Lions ranked among the worst teams in the nation with just eight plays of at least 40 yards; they had half that total alone Saturday.
“When you’ve got players who can make plays in space and who can scare you with their speed, that’s huge,” Franklin said. “Nick was able to bust a few that were able to change the stats. That was good for us.”
Kotelnicki showed creativity in his play calls and his personnel groupings, resulting in Singleton, Wallace, Kaytron Allen, Omari Evans and Tyler Warren finding open real estate.
He used one back, two tight ends and two wide receivers, like Penn State often did under former coordinator Mike Yurcich. He used one back, one tight end and three wideouts; two backs, one tight end and two wideouts; and even two backs and three tight ends, but not in short yardage.
He lined up 6-4, 348-pound guard Vega Ioane in the slot three times and ran him in motion.
He used Allar and fellow quarterback Beau Pribula at the same time on about 15% of the snaps. Pribula ran three times for 25 yards and threw a 19-yard TD to Warren, which was important in order to show future opponents that he’s a passing threat.
“Beau is going to have a big part in the game plan,” Franklin said. “That was a big reason why we called the 2-point play (after Penn State’s first TD), to get him involved as early as possible in the game. Beau’s going to be a big part of what we’re doing going forward.”
The one negative was that only two wide receivers made catches. Evans, who has great speed, hauled in a contested 55-yard bomb from Allar. Wallace’s five receptions were all at least 14 yards.
He and Allar connected on two pretty completions, one along the sideline for 17 yards on a third-and-15 and the second a back-shoulder pass that Wallace caught with his foot down in the end zone with seconds left in the first half.
Wallace looked like the No. 1 receiver that Penn State needs.
“You guys haven’t seen anything yet,” safety KJ Winston said about Wallace. “I’ve seen way harder catches all through camp. I just knew he was about to come out here and make plays.”
It’s only one game, but Kotelnicki’s imprint on the offense was evident. Who knows what we might see the rest of the season.
“That was only a little bit of it,” Singleton said with a smile. “There’s more to come.”
Source: Berkshire mont