New Penn State Football offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki brought the energy to the first day of Spring practice in Happy Valley on Tuesday.
Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki is bringing the energy and intensity on the first day of spring practice.
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And that’s exactly why Penn State head coach James Franklin hired the former Kansas O-coordinator three months ago – to infuse some much needed energy into a sometimes stagnant offense last year and to hopefully create more explosive plays.
He also was hired to help junior quarterback Drew Allar flourish in a passing game that ranked in the bottom half of the country last season.
Allar completed less than half of his passes in Penn State’s three losses last year to Ohio State, Michigan and Ole Miss. In those three games in particular it looked like the Nit’s wide receivers just couldn’t get open.
How Andy Kotelnicki can Revive Drew Allar, Penn State’s Offense
Happy Valley’s version of Coach K implemented a very creative offensive install when he was at Kansas.
Kotelnicki was a genius at creating confusion for opposing defenses with his unorthodox alignments that allowed his quarterback to get the ball in the hands of his playmakers against numerical mismatches that resulted in chunk plays.
“There are things you can do with the wide receivers in terms of motion and alignments like stacks and bunches to help our guys versus man coverage. That’s gonna be really important for us” Penn State head coach James Franklin told reporters on Tuesday.
Under Kotelnicki’s direction last year, Kansas finished sixth nationally picking up an eye popping 7.16 yards per play.
Penn State Football, on the other hand, finished 94th in the nation with 5.6 yards per play.
The Jayhawks also averaged 10.04 yards per pass attempt compared to 6.77 for the Lions.
The Nits also added former Ohio State and Southern Columbia wide receiver Julian Fleming recently, to a receiving core of KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Tre Wallace in hopes of bolstering the aerial attack.
Kotelnicki also has the luxury of two talented running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen at his disposal, and a couple of solid tight ends in Tyler Warren and Khalil Dinkins.
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Will Andy Kotelnicki Thrive Under James Franklin?
It will be interesting how the new offense will fit in at Penn State Football under Franklin’s regime.
The head man has made it clear that Kotelnicki’s playbook at Kansas won’t be the one used at Penn State. So, look for it to be less gimmicky but understatedly, just as creative and aggressive considering the culture shock of the newly expanded Big Ten Conference vs The Big 12 and the varying skill sets of his new players.
At the end of the day though, Penn State’s success will still largely rest on the right arm of Allar and how quickly he can adjust to the changes in the offense.
MORE: 5 Burning Questions for Penn State as Spring Practice Begins
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It was at PRISM where Staszak produced live games and began his career as an on-air reporter.
After a couple of brief stints with CBS-3, WB-17 and WGAL-8 in Lancaster, PA, Staszak began a 12 year stretch at FOX 29 where he became the lead sportscaster in 2007. It was there that Staszak found himself in the middle of Philadelphia Phillies World Series Championship coverage that earned him an Emmy nomination for best sports reporter in 2008.It was one of five Emmy nominations that Staszak earned over the course of his career.
All told Staszak covered three World Series, two Stanley Cup Finals, an NBA Finals and one Super Bowl during his television run.
Staszak left the TV business for 97.5 The Fanatic in 2013, where he enjoyed eight years bloviating his beliefs on how a professional football team should be run.In 2018 when he fortunate enough to be the first sports talk host in the city, along with cohort Zach Gelb, to provide post-game coverage of the first Super Bowl Championship for the city’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles.
Staszak was also a writer for 97.5 The Fanatic along with 4 Philly Sports and now covers Penn State athletics for NittanyCentral.com.
