Some 68,000 fans shuffled into Beaver Stadium on Saturday for the annual Blue/White Spring Game to get a little taste of football before things really kickoff in the fall.

After a 7-6 campaign a year ago, PSU fans were certainly eager to catch a glimpse of what their squad might look like in 2015.The big question on everyone's mind, including mine, was how the offensive line would perform? The offensive line's inability to protect the quarterback in 2014 was a big reason why the Nittany Lions were so inconsistent. That question was answered and a word best to describe their performance on Saturday would be "improved."Communication looked to be better and their movement was better as well. The offensive line was able to form a pocket around quarterback Christian Hackenberg, which was something that rarely happened a season ago.The PSU "O-line" is returning four of five starters with highly touted left tackle Donovan Smith headed to the NFL Draft a year early. The move looked to be the right one for Smith as he is one of the top rated tackles in the draft and looks to be a lock for the second round.Smith's departure was evident on Saturday as a lot of the pressure that did come at Hackenberg came from the left tackle position. Junior College transfer Paris Palmer, who was the top rated JUCO prospect last season looks like he will fill that position. Sterling Jenkins, a 6-8, 300 pound plus incoming freshman, will also push for that spot when camp starts in August."I think we are way ahead of where we were at this point last year," said Penn State coach James Franklin. "As a group, we have a situation now where we still have guys trying to learn left tackle, which I think showed up at times today. But as a group, four out of the five in totality of it, we still have a lot of work to do."Like I told you guys last year, it wasn't going to be like we were going to be able to flip a switch and it's going to change overnight. I am confident that between now and the start of camp, we can take another step and then continue to grow during camp and be ready to go."Hackenberg got a lot of reps on Saturday and that's because backup quarterback Trace McSorley was held out due to a minor injury. Hackenberg looked pretty solid throughout the day, completing 17 of 29 passes for 180 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.Something that really intrigued me was his mobility. When things broke down and when he didn't feel like he had anyone open he tried to extend the play by running downfield. That's something that could prove pivotal in the upcoming season. That added dimension to his skill set could also set him apart from other pro style quarterbacks in the 2016 NFL draft.The key with how well "Hack" performs this season once again stems from the success of the offensive line. If he is given those passing windows, odds are he is going to have a fantastic junior season. If he isn't you could see a lot of what happened last season."We're always encouraging the quarterbacks to go through their progression," said Franklin. "If the guy is open, throw it to him. If progression one is open, throw it on time. If not, move to progression two. If he's open, hit him. If he's not, hitch up to your progression three, which is typically your outlet and take it. If he's not there, continue that momentum when you hitch up in the pocket, go get us four yards and keep us on schedule.I thought he showed some times of doing that today, which was great. I think overall, his leadership is right on schedule. I see him interacting with his teammates a lot more. I see him interacting with his coaches a lot more."Defensively, it looks like the question mark for the Nittany Lions is going to be at the linebacker position. Replacing Mike Hull, will be Junior Nyeem Wartman. Wartman is moving from outside linebacker to inside linebacker and he didn't play on Saturday because of a minor injury and for precautionary reasons. Other than Wartman, you're looking at a lot of guys that don't have a lot of experience. Brandon Bell, Jason Cabinda, Gary Wooten, Ben Kline, Troy Reeder and Koa Farmer will all be vying for the remaining linebacker spots.All in all, the Penn State defense has the potential to special yet again this season with what is expected to be a strong defensive line unit and a very talented secondary unit.Some question marks have arisen with the defensive end unit after Deion Barnes and C.J. Olaniyan's departure, but I honestly think they will be okay there. Carl Nassib, a 6-7 272-pound senior, I believe will have a breakout season for PSU and other guys like Garrett Sickels, Evan Schwan, and Curtis Cothran all saw time last year. Torrence Brown, a redshirt freshman from Tuscaloosa, Alabama is also a guy to watch out for in 2015.Of course, anchoring the defensive line unit is Anthony Zettel and Austin Johnson, who need no introduction as they ravaged Big Ten offenses a year ago.I think the most positive thing you can see about this Penn State team is that the talent is building at each and every position and it's starting to gain some depth, which has been the obvious problem over the last few seasons.I like James Franklin's plan of recruiting aggressively and trying to make his team and their practices as competitive as possible. That's exactly what the big time programs like Alabama do. They have talented guys at each position and three and four deep at that position. In turn, that pushes guys harder because nobody wants to lose their job or a possible pay day in the NFL."As you guys know, for us to go where we want to go, recruiting is a big priority. That's going to solve a lot of our issues when it comes to competing and having the competitive nature that we want in practice," said Franklin. "We want to get to the point where we want to have the most competitive practices in the country, with a three deep at every position that are competing like crazy to take each other's jobs and make each other better."