Penn State’s Tom Allen led a struggling group in his first home game as the program’s defensive coordinator. Photo by Paul Burdick | For StateCollege.com

Tom Allen got a gift in his first season as Penn State’s defensive coordinator. His unit is filled with future NFL talent, from a likely first-round pick named Abdul Carter to a group of safeties who have established themselves as one of the best in the country, even including team captain Kevin Winston Jr. sidelined with a “long-term” injury.

That said, it’s pretty obvious when one hand doesn’t fit into this prestigious glove. And surprisingly, the weak link in the Nittany Lions’ defense is at the program’s most historically dominant position: linebacker. While Kobe King and Tony Rojas have done their job for the most part, it’s the third starting linebacker spot that’s causing the most concern.

Dominic DeLuca and Tyler Elsdon, who split over the past two weeks, have not performed at a level consistent with the rest of the defense thus far. It could be time for Allen to start promoting alternative options.

“I feel like the group has performed well as a group, but we need more depth. We need more guys coming up, more guys playing, more guys that we can rotate in there that can play at a high level and not have any change in that. So to me that is the challenge for us, and that is certainly the focus now.”

DeLuca started all but one game this season alongside King and Rojas when he was sidelined due to injury. Since returning against UCLA on Oct. 5, DeLuca has seen limited action and struggled with the opportunities he has been given. That includes Elsdon, an undersized veteran who is the team’s second-lowest rated defensive player (min. 12 snaps) according to Pro Football Focus.

The position’s limited depth hasn’t helped Allen in his search for an immediate replacement. Kaveion Keys’ departure from the program didn’t help, nor did an offseason injury to rising talent Keon Wylie, who has yet to play in a game this season. James Franklin said after practice on Wednesday that he is ‘hoping’ that Wylie will return sometime this year.

That puts the microscope on three young linebackers – DaKaari Nelson, Ta’Mere Robinson and true freshman Anthony Speca – who have been asked to accelerate their development. It should be noted that Speca, who excelled in his debut against Kent State, can play up to three more regular season games and still retain his freshman redshirt.

“We’re really trying to emphasize a lot of reps this week; That’s what we’ve been doing the last few weeks,” Allen said. “We need to get some of the younger guys to step up, take their game to the next level and create the depth that we know we need in the second half of the regular season and into the postseason .”

Here’s more on Allen’s media availability on Wednesday.

Move to box feels ‘so much better’

After a narrow 34-27 win over Bowling Green on September 7, Franklin knew things had to change defensively. One of the first big moves he made was convincing Allen to call the game from the coaching box rather than from the field, where he had coached in games for the past fifteen seasons.

Allen also handed over helmet communications duties to analyst Dan Connor, who has since manned the microphone connected to King’s helmet. Allen said the Nittany Lions had some issues with the microphones and communications against West Virginia and the Falcons, so passing it off to Connor gave him “one less thing” to think about.

Allen remains the one calling the plays, and said he feels that doing so from the box puts him in the “best position to have the best opportunity to make our guys the best call possible.”

“I can honestly tell you I feel so much better about what I can see,” Allen said. “Even though you have the iPad on the sideline, it’s not quite the same as seeing it from above, and the flow and the turnovers and also just the pace of the quarterback.”

Lane ‘closer’ to playing a major role

Winston entered the season as a potential first-round NFL Draft pick, so his “long-term” injury suffered against Bowling Green was clearly a major blow to Penn State’s defense and to a safety unit that was already short on depth.

Jaylen Reed, who was supposed to play nickel corner, has been moved back to safety, where he hasn’t missed a beat in the last two weeks. The goal ultimately is to get true freshman Dejuan Lane – who has played in all six games – up to speed quickly enough that he can start safely next to Zakee Wheatley, and move Allen Reed back to the nickel.

“(Lane’s) getting closer to being willing to play a lot of snaps,” Allen said. “There was a lot of focus this week on him getting more reps and continuing to grow himself and so on. You think about all three guys and you think about depth. It’s no different at linebacker. We have some good young players, but they need to be used in a very efficient way.”

Carter is “making progress” at DE

Carter’s transition from linebacker to defensive end was one of the most notable moves of the offseason. While it took some time to find his groove, Carter has hit the ground running over the last four games, tallying four sacks and 8.5 tackles in that span.

His success doesn’t just come on defense either. Carter has also played linebacker and is used to spying on the quarterback, two roles. Allen hopes his star pass rusher will be open to continue playing as the season progresses.

‘I just think he creates fouls because he needs to know where he stands. We don’t want them to know where he will be stationed at the front. He’ll even line up at linebacker and just continue to grow those things,” Allen said. “For me, I think he is developing very well. He has to continue to allow ourselves to be creative with him and allow him to make plays.”