How Matt Campbell Evaluated His First Spring at Penn State

Campbell assessed the Nittany Lions after a rainy final practice at Beaver Stadium.

Penn State Nittany Lions football coach Matt Campbell watches from the field during the Blue-White Spring Practice at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Matt Campbell didn't get ideal conditions Saturday to introduce his Penn State football roster at Beaver Stadium, where a few thousand hardy fans suffered through a miserable rain to watch practice.

Still, Campbell found a bright spot in the clouds, saying that Penn State got some good work from its final practice of spring. Afterward, Campbell assessed where the Nittany Lions are amd where they're headed on the road to the Sept. 5 opener against Marshall.

Here's a recap of what Campbell said at his post-practice press conference.

On what Penn State accomplished Saturday

Penn State Nittany Lions football coach Matt Campbell looks on from the field during the Blue-White Spring Practice at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Probably in a small way, I couldn't have asked for better circumstances today, right? Fundamentally, have we grown? You got have some precision and detail about yourself today in this kind of weather.

To be honest, it was great to kind of watch our guys execute out there. I thought we threw and caught the ball pretty well. We had the ability to function in special teams really well, and the ability to have to be disciplined in the moment today. I thought that was a great opportunity for us to at least see where our growth and maturity is.

Again, I give our staff, our kids a lot of credit. The last 16, 17 weeks, there's a lot of change. To have the ability to I think really come together, feel like we had the ability to get a base offense and base defense [installed], really understand what we are, evaluate our football team, those are things we feel very confident about ourselves.

The reality,. we all know this, the next 16 weeks of summer, fall camp, they're going to be critical for this team to grow themselves forward. I thought it was a really positive 15 spring practices.

On who took steps forward offensively this spring

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Connor Barry (17) looks on from the field during the Blue-White Spring Practice at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

I think at the skill positions [improved]. I think you saw James Peoples have a couple really good runs. I think he's really flashed. I feel like his spring got better and better and better as he went.

I think [Quinton Martin Jr.] is one of the guys to me, the run he had in the red zone, goal line-ish area, he is playing with a lot of confidence right now. To watch him get better, I'm so excited for where he has the opportunity and ability to go.

The tight end room has shown up at times in camp. You're going to get [Andrew Rappleyea] and some of those guys back. Obviously Ben [Brahmer] made a couple good plays today. I think Finn [Furmanek] is a guy that continues to show up for this football team.

Then that receiver room, you kind of saw it today, there's talent. It's the consistency to keep growing. Koby [Howard] had a couple great catches. Just got to continue to grow forward.

I think as a global piece of it, the running back room I thought had a great spring. The tight end room had a great spring. Then Connor Barry, I thought he did a good job today. For him to have to take all those reps, keep pounding forward, I thought it was really beneficial for all of us.

On where the team needs to grow

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell looks on from behind the line of scrimmage during the Blue-White Spring Practice at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

I still think the biggest growth we can make is our discipline and detail, to be honest with you, in everything we do. Can we continue to have great discipline and detail in our academics and how we finish in the classroom? Can we have great discipline and detail in humility, myself and all of us, in terms of evaluating what we just did?

The end piece of it is probably most important. The storm's coming. We're going to have adversity. Are we as close-knit, tight-knit of a football team that when the tough days come. Can we fight through down 14, can we fight through adversity, a bad quarter, a bad half? All of that stuff's coming, right?

The key to our success is are we together enough to be able to fight through hard? I think those are great growth opportunities for us. We'll have to continue to pound through as we work through the rest of the summer and certainly fall camp.

On what's next for Penn State

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Rocco Becht looks to throw a pass on the run during the Blue-White Spring Practice at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

The starting point, we kind of started it a little bit last week, is from nutrition, strength and conditioning, athletic training, our strength staff, every position coach. Boy, we've got 17 weeks of, like, great evaluation of every young man in our program. Where are his strengths and weaknesses? They have two weeks to finish in the classroom with finals. Where are their gaps?

Knowing that the storm of a college football season's coming, how are we all aligned, everybody in our program, to what the communication style is going to be to every one of our players? We'll meet with every player Tuesday. We've already met on every player. Then on Wednesday through the finals, I'll meet with every player.

I think the key is everybody being aligned to where is the growth, what do you have to do? Then our coaches will go recruiting. When we come back at the end of May and all of June, we'll put a lot of time and effort schematically where does our growth have to go. What do we have to be prepared with as we come back July and August and really try to pound a way forward as we get ready for the early part of the season.

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