Penn State Nittany Lions experimenting with wildcat formation in fall camp

New Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin is never one to shy away from trying something new or implementing different offensive schemes. So, it should come as no surprise that early on in Penn State’s fall camp there’s already some experimenting with different personnel going on.

What is surprising is what kind of experimenting is going on. According to a tweet from BTN.com’s Tom Deinhart the Nittany Lions offense has been experimenting with—the wildcat formation.

James Franklin ran some Wildcat formation at Vandy. And he will here. Have already seen Hackenberg split wide. pic.twitter.com/l1wBVbQqUs
— Tom Dienhart (@TomDienhart1) August 9, 2014

According to Deinhart that formation includes quarterback Christian Hackenberg splitting himself out wide.

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Considering the traditional offense the Nittany Lions have always run and the overarching sense of tradition within the program it may be a shock to the system to see such “new” innovations come to Happy Valley.

However, one has to consider this as a potential way to get multiple running backs on to the field at the same time. Not only do the Nittany Lions feature a near 3,000-yard passer in Hackenberg, but the team has three very capable running backs that need playing time as well.

Leading rusher Zach Zwinak led the team last season with 989 yards and 12 touchdowns, while former receiver turned running back Bill Belton added another 803 yards on 157 carries and third-string freshman Akeel Lynch added 358 yards and one touchdown on just 60 carries.

Franklin likely sees this as a way to get more of those backs in the game and give opponents a few things to think about heading in to the season and during it as well.