BWI Live: A Penn State football podcast from Blue White Illustrated

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Ranking the Penn State Offense By Position Before Spring Football Mar 19, 2025

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The Penn State football team briefly paused for spring break, but is back in action this week, preparing for the 2025 spring football season. Today, we're reviewing the latest winter workout winners and ranking the Penn State offense by position heading into spring camp. Join the show today at 10 a.m. on YouTube or catch the replay anytime on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel, embedded in this article, or anywhere you get your podcasts.

With practice just around the corner, now is a great time to subscribe to Blue White Illustrated! Join us for just one dollar and get access for a week to try us out.

Penn State Athletic Director up for award

Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft has been a busy man. He's helped push through the long-awaited renovation of Beaver Stadium, secured naming rights for the building, found donors for the project, and enacted other building projects for other sports simultaneously. With the football team reaching the final four last year, he's up for the Athletic Director of the Year award from the Sports Business Journal. We'll discuss Kraft's impact on the program since his hiring.

Next, we'll shift to the team's latest winter workout winners. Penn State broke for spring break last week but is back to finish up winter conditioning before starting spring football next week. Reporter Greg Pickel reviews the latest winners for the award and will point out any standouts or repeat winners from the group.

Penn State offensive positions ranked

Last week, we ranked the Penn State offense by position from five to one, and today, we'll discuss those rankings and take feedback from the chat! Join us during the Live show to give us your rankings and discuss what you think of our list. We'll discuss why the offensive line isn't ranked higher, what factors led the tight ends to take a step back, and more.

Lastly, we'll finish up answering questions from the BWI Mailbag. We didn't get to the entire conversation with fans who submitted questions on the BWI Message board, so we'll answer those to end the show.

Be sure to subscribe to the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel this week so you don't miss any updates or action during the first week of spring cam. Head coach James Franklin speaks with the media next Tuesday, so be sure to hit the subscribe button so you're the first to hear his comments about opening spring football next week!

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Ranking the Penn State Offense before Spring Football

BWI Live: Which Penn State Players Will We Learn The Most About This Spring? Mar 18, 2025

Show notes

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The Penn State football team will start spring football in exactly one week. So, today on the BWI Live Show, we're discussing our ongoing preview of spring camp, the latest football news, and taking your questions on the BWI Mailbag. Join the show at 10 a.m. on YouTube or catch the replay embedded below. Of course, the best way to see all of our shows live is to subscribe to the channel and enable notifications.

Penn State spring football preview

Penn State reporter Nate Bauer has been previewing the team over the last few weeks with his Spring Outlook series. He's resetting each position and discussing the starters, depth and positional imperatives for spring. The latest installment looked at the quarterback position. We'll discuss what he found by digging through quotes from the staff and looking at the roster to start the show.

Next, we'll discuss the latest national news with running back Nick Singleton and head coach James Franklin featured prominently on the cover of College Football '26. What does the positive PR do for the program's national identity? We'll discuss the subtleties of being included in cultural pillars like the game.

Which Players we'll learn the most about

Penn State already made it known that the team will rest veterans during spring football when Franklin spoke about a modified spring schedule this winter. With injured players recovering in the early part of the year and several open spots vacated by veterans leaving for the NFL, there's plenty of places we can learn more about young players over the next month.

We will each pick a player on offense and defense that we think we'll learn more about this spring than we previously knew. Which young players do you think will get the most exposure in March and April? Join the live chat to give your thoughts!

Fitz's recruiting update

After a week off, there's plenty of recruiting news to discuss within our weekly feature with recruiting reporter Sean Fitz. We're discussing the loss of safety prospect Kaden Gebhardt to Clemson, the latest on spring visits, and the pending transfer portal window. Fitz will discuss what he knows about the most important spring recruiting storylines on today's show.

BWI Mailbag

Finally, we turn the show over to you, the listeners and viewers. Join us for the BWI Mailbag to end the show, where we'll take questions from the chat and some pre-selected questions on the Lions Den Message Forum.

Join the BWI Live Show today at 10 a.m. on YouTube!

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Wrestling SHow: Penn State Set ANOTHER Record with Big Ten Championship Win Mar 11, 2025

Show notes

The Penn State wrestling team won another Big Ten Postseason Tournament title last weekend and broke another record on the way. The Blue White Illustrated wrestling show discusses the team's win, the latest news coming out of the tournament and previews the upcoming quest for another NCAA Championship.

BWI Live: Can Penn State Keep Its Recruiting Lead Through Spring Football? Mar 06, 2025

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The Penn State spring recruiting period is open, but how will they attack it? On today's BWI Live Recruiting Show, we discuss the team's plans with Penn State Spring Break starting this weekend and the team beginning spring practice at the end of the month.

Recruiting reporters Ryan Snyder and Sean Fitz also discuss the latest news from the recruiting world on who will visit the team over the next two months before official visits begin in late May. Join the Show at 10 a.m. to get the details on everything Penn State recruiting! If you can't check the show out live, catch the replay on the channel embedded in this article or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Of course, stay tuned to the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel later today to hear from head strength coach Chuck Losey after the team's final winter lift.

What we learned in February

Snyder recapped what the Penn State recruiting ecosystem produced in the last month earlier this week, and we'll start today's show by talking about what he learned. We'll discuss the acceleration of official visits scheduling, rules changes and more.

Next, we'll discuss the spring visit schedule that's shaping up for regional recruits in the Nittany Lion's footprint. Players like Kaden Gebhardt and Alex Haskell are important targets visiting the program over the coming month and our reporters will discuss the importance of those visits.

How many commitments does Penn State need to secure before the official visit period? The changing landscape may move the number from traditional expectations, but we'll discuss how Penn State can keep pace in the next two months.

More Penn State official visit updates

Finally, we'll discuss some of the recent official visit news that dropped since our last conversation on the show. The official visit window is earlier than normal with late May coming into focus more than the previous years. Does it bode well for Penn State that players like Messiah Hampton and Ryan Mosley are visiting the program on the first available weekend?

However, if you want to get all of the information from Blue White Illustrated faster, join the site right now for just a dollar! That way, you can try us out for a week and see if you want to get the best Penn State recruiting intel anywhere.

Don't see a conversation topic you want to discuss? Join the show at 10 a.m. on YouTube and join the live chat! We'll be interacting with fans live during the show, taking questions and replying to comments.

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Wrestling Show: Penn State Learns Big Ten Tournament Seeding Mar 05, 2025

Show notes

The Big Ten has released pre-seeds for its 2025 wrestling championships. The two-day event is slated for this Saturday and Sunday, March 8-9, at Northwestern. Big Ten Network will televise the opening, semifinal, and final sessions. B1G+ will stream the rest of them. Blue-White Illustrated will have complete coverage throughout the weekend as Penn State seeks its thrid straight conference tournament title.

Below, we have three things we learned from the pre-seeds, which are not finalized until after Friday's coaches meeting in Evanston but are unlikely to change. You can also watch the BWI Penn State wrestling show and find links to the podcast version.

1. The seeds look mostly as expected

Unlike some years, there was little social media outrage about the pre-seeds this year. They look mostly as many anticipated them to. Penn State has five top seeds -- Beau Bartlett (141), Shayne Van Ness (149), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174), and Carter Starocci (184) -- as expected. Gabe Arnold is in for Iowa instead of Angelo Ferrari at 184 and is the No. 4 seed, which means he could meet Starocci in the semifinals after plenty of trash talk was exchanged before the Hawkeyes-Lions dual meet but Iowa went with Ferrari over Arnold opposite Starocci.

Looking back at our roundup of seed projections, there were questions about where sophomore 133-pound starter Braeden Davis would end up. He is at No. 4, which was one potential landing spot. And, while most figured Shayne Van Ness would have the top seed at 149, there was some question about it. But, he did indeed land it.

BWI Live: Top Five Best-Case Scenarios For Penn State Offseason Mar 05, 2025

Show notes

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Despite the lack of news or headlines, the Penn State Nittany Lions Football team is hard at work right now, preparing for the upcoming season. The team must accomplish lots of work between now and the start of the 2025 fall campaign for a national championship. Some of that work will be accomplished through effort and dedication and some will happen by luck or providence. On today's show, we're counting down the top five things that can happen this offseason that would make an ideal run up to the fall.

Reporter Greg Pickel joins the show to discuss the latest Penn Sate football news, including the team's max testing day and the interview with strength coach Chuck Losey coming up on Thursday before the team disperses for Spring Break. Join us at 10 a.m. on YouTube to catch the show live and participate in the live chat! If you can't check the show out live, you can watch the replay on our YouTube Channel, embedded in this article, or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Now's a great time to subscribe to Blue White Illustrated and get access to premium content and intel. The spring will be a busy time in recruiting and BWI is the place to get intel about the team's progress behind the scenes.

Penn State max testing day tomorrow

While it's not truly the max testing day because of the truncated winter workout period, Penn State opens the doors of the Lasch weight room to the media for the annual heavy squat day. As always, BWI will be on hand to observe the team's lift and get feedback from Losey on the team's progress since the end of the postseason.

We'll preview the event, discuss what we want to see and learn about the team. Of course, we'll provide you with updates on social media and on the site during and after the event.

Top Five Best-Case Scenarios for offseason

The bulk of today's show focuses on the upcoming checklist of things that Penn State must accomplish to have the best possible team it can in the fall. What are the most realistic best-case scenarios that can befall the team from March to August? We'll discuss those and outline what the team needs to do to make that happen between now and then.

Join the show to give your top five!

Sunday Film Study

Finally, we'll end the show by discussing what we've learned about Jim Knowles's defensive evolution through his time at Oklahoma State through his final season at Ohio State. What sort of evolution did his style go through in the years since his rise to the Big Ten? We've tracked his progress and explain it on today's show.

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Top Five Best-Case Scenarios For Penn State Offseason

BWI Live: Will The Penn State Offense Have To Carry The Team in 2025? Mar 04, 2025

Show notes

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The Penn State Football team begins spring football in roughly three weeks. The sun is staying out longer, and spring is on the minds of Nittany Lions fans in Happy Valley. So today, we'll continue our spring football preview on the BWI Live Show. Join the program at 10 a.m. as we discuss the latest news, recruiting updates, and more! We'll be featuring your questions on the BWI Mailbag to end the show.

The best way to stay up to date with everything going on with the program is to subscribe to Blue White Illustrated and get access to all of our premium content and intel. If you want to try us out, you can do that for a week for just one dollar. Also, subscribing to the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel is free!

Penn State news and notes

The team will host it's max-testing day later this week. With such an abridged offseason, what are reporters Sean Fitz and Nate Bauer looking for when they get to see the Penn State players up close? We'll preview our conversation with strength and conditioning coach Chuck Losey as well.

Fitz and Bauer didn't get a chance to discuss the addition of Trace McSorley to the staff last week, so we'll discuss what they take from the news that McSorley is joining the program as an assistant QB coach. We'll also wrap up the 2025 NFL Combine and the results from Jaylen Reed's performance this past weekend.

Fitz's Recruiting update

The biggest piece of news from the program this week was that three-star Indiana wide receiver Jerquaden Guilford decommitted from the program over the weekend. While Guilford doesn't have the stars, he's a favorite among the recruiting industry with offers from all the top programs in the country.

How big of a blow is it to Penn State's efforts to rebuild its wide receiver room? Fitz will discuss what he thinks of the news and how concerned fans should be.

Also, spring visits are back up and running this month, so Fitz will discuss the news you need to know about who is visiting the program this month.

BWI Mailbag

Finally, we'll get to the star of the show: you! Join us for the BWI Mailbag, where we answer questions from subscribers on the message board and fans in the live chat. Today, we'll debate if the Penn State offense needs to carry the team in 2025 or if the defense can rise to the occasion again and play up to its lofty standards. We'll also answer your questions about spring football and more!

Don't see a topic you wanted to discuss? Join the show and ask your questions!

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Will The Penn State Offense Have To Carry The Team in 2025?

Penn State In Position to Land a Top 10 Class in 2026? | On300 Update Feb 27, 2025

Show notes

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The Penn State Nittany Lions will restart recruiting visits in just a few days. But before then, new information dropped this week in the form of the On300 update for 2026. We'll discuss the topic in-depth on today's BWI Live Recruiting Show and break down the impact on the Penn State recruiting efforts for this coming cycle. Reporters Ryan Snyder and Sean Fitz discuss where Penn State's committed players moved in the rankings, plus where top targets sit after the February update.

Join the show live at 10 a.m. on YouTube to discuss all of that and more! BWI Live comes to you on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday each week at 10. Subscribe to the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel right now and enable notifications so you don't miss any shows, breaking news, or commitments when they happen.

A programming note for show fans: BWI Live will be off the week of the 10th through the 14th of March for a Spring Break.

The good and the bad of the latest update for Penn State recruiting

The good news for Penn State is that Pennsylvania and the program's larger regional football are loaded with elite talent in this upcoming cycle. The bad news is that the secret is out on many of the team's top targets. Will the extra attention on Luke Wafle, Carter Meadows, and other regional prospects make it more difficult for Penn State to land those players? Fitz and Snyder will discuss that idea, plus give their thoughts on the rankings.

Snyder also spoke with On3, Director of Scouting Charles Power, about the players in Penn State's orbit. Quarterback commit Troy Huhn took a massive tumble down the rankings, and Snyder discussed why that happened for the California passer.

NFL Combine Preview

However, we'll start the show with the latest Penn State football news of the week. The defensive line and linebackers take to the field for the 2025 NFL Combine today in Indianapolis. Kobe King will be the lone representative for the Nittany Lions today after the announcement that Abdul Carter won't be working out this week.

The news last night was that medical tests revealed an additional injury that Carter suffered. We'll give you that info and preview the Combine to start the show.

Official Visit updates Pt 3.

The Penn State calendar is already chalked full of official visits for the end of May into June, and new visits are popping up daily. Snyder has been tracking the additions to the summer calendar and discusses the most interesting and meaningful ones on today's program.

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BWI Live: How does Trace McSorley help Drew Allar? | Penn State Combine Preview Feb 26, 2025

Show notes

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The Penn State football team gained a legend and lost a defensive lineman all in the same evening on Tuesday night. Today on the BWI Live Show, we discuss Trace McSorley's return to Happy Valley and Smith Vilbert's decision to enter the transfer portal less than a month before the start of spring practice.

Join the show today live at 10 a.m. on YouTube as we talk about the latest Penn State football news, including an NFL Combine preview and more. Former Penn State offensive lineman Landon Tengwall joins the show today to give his thoughts on those topics and more! Join us live to ask questions of the experts or to give your thoughts on today's rundown.

The best way to stay up-to-date with BWI Live is to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and enable notifications. You can also catch a replay of the show here on the site, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Penn State brings back McSorley as analyst

Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft tipped the news during THON, which became official on Tuesday night. McSorley will rejoin his former team as an assistant quarterbacks coach under Danny O'Brien and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.

Where can McSorley lend starting quarterback Drew Allar wisdom? We'll discuss some tangible aspects of McSorley's game that he can impart to Allar.

McSorley wasn't the only news this week. The team officially announced Dan Connor as the linebackers coach. We'll dive into what that means for Linebacker U and for new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.

Spring Transfer Portal Claims its first victim

The Penn State football team has done an excellent job retaining players and making sure to keep most of its own depth throughout the transfer portal era. Still the team isn't impervious to the portal, which lured resever defensive lineman Smith Vilbert away from the team this week. We'll discuss the impact of his loss, the way the team can replace him and what the plan was for Vilbert this upcoming season.

Penn State at the NFL Combine

Finally, we'll discuss the contingent representing Penn State at the NFL Combine this week in Indianapolis. With Abdul Carter and KJ Winston sitting out for medical reasons, how much juice will the Nittany Lions have to show off the team's strength and development program?

We'll preview what fans should expect from Tyler Warren, Kobe King and Jaylen Reed during their testing and on-field drills this coming week.

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How does Trace McSorley help Drew Allar? | Penn State Combine Preview

Penn State ready to Spend in the Spring Transfer Portal Window? Feb 25, 2025

Show notes

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Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft spoke with the media on Monday morning for the first time since the Big Ten Media Days in 2024. He updated fans on the Beaver Stadium Project, the state of the football program's NIL, and the plans for the athletic department's future. We'll discuss those topics plus more on today's BWI Live Show.

Join us at 10 a.m. on YouTube! The best way to know when we're going live is to subscribe to the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel and enable notifications. You'll receive an alert when we post our breaking news, press conferences, live shows and more. Also, football is exactly one month away from spring practice so now is a great time to subscribe to Blue White Illustrated to get insider info on your favorite team.

Penn State ready to spend with the top teams?

Kraft covered a diverse number of topics on Monday, many of which we'll discuss in our weekly segment, Between the Lines. Today, we'll cover his pivot to focusing on the "marketing" aspect of the new era of college football and player payment. Kraft started out strong, discussing the way things are changing this year with revenue sharing entering college sports. Senior Editor Nate Bauer gives fans context about Kraft's comments and what they should take away from his answers to questions about NIL this past week.

Kraft also mentioned the team's plan for player retention over aggressive portal acquisitions. At the same time, he made it clear that the team won't be bystanders for filling key roles that the team needs to fill. Did he hint that the program will be aggressive this spring to try and win a championship in 2025?

We'll also review his comments about Beaver Stadium, spring football and what's next for the college football calendar.

Fitz's recruiting udpate

The Penn State Class of 2026 got a fresh update on Monday as well. On3 updated the rankings for the upcoming cycle and several targets made serious climbs up the rankings. Meanwhile, other players slid back down the rankings. Recruiting expert Sean Fitz will discuss the situation in his latest Fitz's recruiting update.

Stan Drayton introduction and the BWI Mailbag

Finally, we'll discuss what we learned from new Penn State running backs coach Stan Drayton during his introductory press conference. He spoke for roughly 15 minutes following Kraft on Monday, and we'll give our first impressions.

Finally, we turn the show over to you on the BWI Mailbag. Do you have a question that you didn't make into the Mailbag thread before the show? Join us live to ask your questions and we'll take the best ones from the chat and answer them on the show!

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BWI Live: A Penn State football podcast from Blue White Illustrated

1. The seeds look mostly as expected

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