Posted January 08, 2019 at 06:30 AM | Updated January 08, 2019 at 06:32 AM
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The Steelers’ 4-time first-team All-Pro wideout Antonio Brown, here reclining before the Patriots game, has turned into a diva possibly not worth the trouble he’s become. Will he still be around in Pittsburgh in 2019?
By David Jones/PennLive
It’s a new year but some of the faces have changed. In no particular order, here are the coaches, players, key administrators and big-stage performers who’ll make PA news in 2019 and why we’ll be keeping our eyes on them.
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Ricky Rahne during warm-ups before the Indiana game in October.
PennLive/Joe Hermitt
Ricky Rahne
By any measure, Penn State’s rookie offensive coordinator had a rough first year. His receivers could neither get open nor catch the ball with any regularity. His offensive line, which seemed to be progressing at a painfully incremental rate, provided spotty run blocking and pass protection and often couldn’t handle the best opponent D-linemen such as Kentucky’s Josh Allen. And his quarterback Trace McSorley was many times left exposed.
Still, the seminal moment in the season for Penn State’s offense was pretty much all on Rahne. Caught in a timeout-exchanging cat-n-mouse game with Ohio State DC Greg Schiano on a critical 4th-and-5 call late in the game with the Nittany Lions behind by a point, Rahne ended up settling on a read-option run on which Miles Sanders was stopped cold. The next week, his offense was limited to 14 first downs and 17 points in another home loss, to Michigan State.
With McSorley graduating and Sanders and key linemen Ryan Bates and Connor McGovern all declaring for the NFL Draft, Rahne is faced with a tougher task still. He must not only break in a rookie quarterback but decide on whether to start Tommy Stevens or Sean Clifford. And he must adapt the system under which McSorley thrived to fit the pieces he chooses.
