Penn State head coach puts a bow on the Nittany Lions' Spring session after a rainy spring game.
The Penn State Nittany Lions wrapped up a whirlwind of a 6-month stretch and finally have the opportunity to catch their breath.
Saturday in Happy Valley was the Penn State Spring Game in a cloud-covered, rainy Beaver Stadium. Attendance was low while the weather was garbage, but that didn't matter as the Nittany Lions went to work.
The team was split into two groups and competed in different settings to make sure that everyone got good work in. When the game concluded, so did the Spring session, and so did a crazy half of a year at Penn State.
Seven months ago, Penn State fired longtime head coach James Franklin as their season unraveled from the seams. They were in the midst of a three-game losing streak after coming off an unexplainable loss to Northwestern. Their quarterback just broke his ankle, and the season was off the rails.
That losing streak would extend to six games before they found themselves on the right side of the ledger in their final four contests.
The firing of Franklin set the Nittany Lions up on a journey that would be a long and windy one.
They would execute one of the worst coaching searches in the country, players would transfer, they would land probably the best coaching option in the 11th hour, they would retain some players, gather a bunch of transfers, build a recruiting base, and then build the foundation of their new program during Spring Ball.
All of this happened since November.
After Saturday's Spring Game, Campbell addressed the football team in their final huddle, thanking them for their time and commitment to the program. He talked about everyone's effort to get them to where they are and then, as every good coach does, dangled the carrot out there that they have a lot of work left to do.
That's the truth. While they got the program back to its feet after a crazy year, that doesn't equate to wins. It is a great story, sure, but that doesn't mean that they are going to win football games because of it.
Ohio State and Indiana don't care all that much for what Penn State has gone through over the past six months and nor should they.
The Nittany Lions are off to a great start, and now the real work gets closer as we inch closer to the start of camp.
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