Penn State's secondary making strides, coach says

Going into Penn State's preseason camp, many were focused on the improvement on the offensive line. But the defensive side has made equally large strides, defensive recruiting coordinator Terry Smith said Wednesday.

"We're flying around, executing, communicating well," Smith said. "We haven't been giving up too many big plays. . . . It's been really competitive and really promising."

At cornerback, senior Trevor Williams has impressed, Smith said.

"The secondary's really good," said Smith, particularly safeties Marcus Allen and Jordan Lucas, who played cornerback last season.

The key to that improvement in the backfield, Smith said, lies in the talent of the competition at practice: a strong group of wide receivers, including Geno Lewis and DaeSean Hamilton, as well as quarterback Christian Hackenberg.

"It's tremendous. We're playing the best quarterback in the nation every day at practice," Smith said. "He has the strongest arm we're going to face all year."

"I feel like everybody has to step up after having the year we had last year, especially with a lot of the young guys coming back," Hamilton said.

Hamilton said he worked out a lot by himself in the summer. He sometimes gathered other teammates who wanted to get in a little extra practice. The offense worked on pass protection and the running game.

"I think Penn State you can arguably say is Running Back U," running back Akeel Lynch said. "We want to bring the running game back at Penn State."

"As Coach says, we all have the ability to make the big runs if we continue to do the little things right," including keeping the legs driving through contact, Lynch said.

Hamilton said Lynch has emerged this summer.

"He's stepping up, being more of a leader. He has like 50 young guys behind him," Hamilton said with a laugh. "He's like their stepfather out there on the field."

The team had its first scrimmage Saturday and the players said their hard work at camp seemed to pay off.

"We were in Beaver Stadium - that's always great," linebacker Jason Cabinda said. ". . . Guys were rocking in there, new guys making plays. We had a really good scrimmage, really good day there."