New offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich wants to revitalize Penn State’s offense with an up-tempo attack

An accomplished offensive coach before his arrival at Penn State, Mike Yurcich says he and head coach James Franklin have “a parallel kind of vision, as far as offensive philosophy goes,” and thinks it can revitalize the Nittany Lions attack.

Yurcich, named as the Nittany Lions’ new offensive coordinator on Jan. 8, was introduced Tuesday to the Penn State media over Zoom. He will try to get the offense of his new team out of a rut in which it remained stuck for much of the 2020 season in terms of turnovers, red zone efficiency and a lack of explosive plays.

To facilitate that, Yurcich will bring to the program an emphasis on tempo.

“Tempo’s been something that’s really helped us as an offense,” he said. “The things that are good about tempo are you try to minimize the amount of communication that the defense can have in-between snaps.

“You’re [also] trying to exhaust them. You’re trying to wear them out and get them huffing and puffing. It’s an equalizer. You exhaust and you eliminate communication. Those are the two main goals.”

The Penn State offense has played a no-huddle style through much of Franklin’s tenure, but the quarterback usually checks with the sideline to see if he should run the same play call given what the defense is showing.

Yurcich will work with an offense that struggled in a 4-5 season in 2020. The Lions committed 13 turnovers in their 0-5 start. For the season, they converted touchdowns on only 19 of 37 trips in the red zone, and their average of 29.8 points per game was six points lower than the year before.

“We want to be tough, smart and skilled,” he said. “When we line up, the most important thing is our players, how we line them up in formations, how we get them matched up, and lastly plays. The key to our success is having a physical mindset. The game hasn’t changed in over 120 years or however long it’s been played. It’s still won up front.

“We have to have a guy behind center that can make decisions and be accurate with the football. What kind of quarterback is that? We’ve won with all kinds, guys that can run a little bit better than some. The most important thing is we have to be able to throw it accurately. We have to be smart. We have to be tough. We have to have good leaders at that position.”

In his past stops, Yurcich has worked with Mason Rudolph at Oklahoma State, Justin Fields at Ohio State, and Sam Ehlinger at Texas. The incumbent at Penn State is Sean Clifford, who passed for 1,883 yards and 16 touchdowns last season but committed 12 turnovers — nine interceptions, three lost fumbles.

Yurcich said he did not want to comment on Clifford or any current players until he’s had a chance to see them in spring practice.

As for his ideas about quarterbacks, however, he said the keys are their eyes and their feet.

“We’ll make sure the quarterback’s eyes are right,” he said. “He knows where he’s looking and where he needs to be looking based on whatever scheme we’ll be running. His focal point and his eyes are disciplined so that he’s steady with how he moves through his progressions. And his feet, he has to have a good platform. He has to transfer his weight. Those are things we can control, our eye discipline and our feet discipline.”

He also indicated he might have the quarterback go under center on certain plays instead of the shotgun, that it carries “a tremendous amount of advantages depending on what your schemes are.”

With backup quarterback Will Levis announcing last week that he will transfer, Penn State is down to three scholarship quarterbacks, leading to speculation that Franklin might want to attract an experienced quarterback out of the NCAA transfer portal.

Yurcich said he couldn’t remember how far back he goes with Franklin, but that they have a link to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference: Franklin played at East Stroudsburg, Yurcich played at California (Pa.) and coached at Indiana (Pa.), Edinboro, and Shippensburg.

“We’re like mind, talk a lot of football, and see a lot of things the same way with regards to philosophy of football and coaching,” Yurcich said. “I think from my standpoint, admiring what he’s done, his body of work, it’s very impressive.”