Analyzing Penn State’s tight end situation without Nick Bowers

Nick Bowers will miss the entire 2016 season, the entire Penn State community began to search for answers. Not answers about how, but about why.

Nick Bowers was expected to be a significant part of the Nittany Lion offense in the passing and ground game. With his absence, Penn State is now forced to find a replacement who has much promise as the 6’4″ big man.

With Bowers now out for the year, Mike Gesicki will take over at tight end. The 6’6″ junior played in 11 games for the Nittany Lions last season but wasn’t a productive part of the passing attack. With only 13 catches for 125 yards and a touchdown, Gesicki did not contribute much via the air. This season, Gesicki will need to be a bigger contribution in the passing game. With a new quarterback in Trace McSorley, Gesicki doesn’t have a choice but to help through the air.

Paired with Gesicki will be a redshirt junior, Tom Pancoast, will be the backup. Pancoast has had zero success at Penn State. As a redshirt junior, Pancoast has only appeared in one game. He has never recorded a college reception and has almost no NCAA experience.

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Without Bowers, this Penn State offense doesn’t have much of a tight end game. Gesicki may be able to produce once given the opportunity. But he hasn’t shown real potential thus far in his college career.

For Pancoast, he’s shown nothing. As a junior, you’d expect a player to have some playing experience, and one game isn’t a true evaluation of talent. It’s hard to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that once he gets on the field he may produce something when he’s a junior. A redshirt junior nonetheless.

If the Nittany Lions expect for the 2016 season to be as successful as hoped, then these two players need to be much more than their past suggests.

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They don’t need to be superhuman football players or become the biggest offensive contributors on the team. But they do need to be able to make plays for McSorley and be reliable enough to take pressure off of wide outs, Saeed Blacknall and Chris Godwin. If they can accomplish this, they’ve done all they need to. And if they do more, then this offense can be even more dangerous than the NCAA expects.

Now, why Bowers will miss the 2016 season is still unanswered. No one has released any details on whether he’s been injured or if there has been disciplinary action. If it’s disciplinary action, Penn State may decide that Bowers can return at some point in the season. If he is able to then Gesicki and Pancoast will fall back into their backup roles.

It’s one giant mystery about how well these players will do come September 3rd. Even with Bowers, there was no college experience to base any potential off of.

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Penn State’s tight end position is clearly something they hope works out, but expectations are unknown. For now, they can’t expect much. As the try to figure out the final decisions on who will line up next to tackle each week, the entire Penn State community will be waiting to see if these young players can pan out.