STATE COLLEGE — Penn State made two major changes on special teams before Saturday’s 27-11 win over UCLA. One of them was by choice and the other one was not. The former came at place kicker, where the Lions opted to give redshirt freshman Ryan Barker his first start over program veteran Sander Sahaydak, who missed two field goals last week and is 2 of 5 on the year. The latter was at punt returner. With Kaden Saunders sidelined with his right foot in a walking boot, Penn State used a combination of walk-on receiver Jake Spencer and defensive back Zion Tracy, with the latter receiving the bulk of the work.

Starting at kicker, Sahaydak has now lost the starting job in consecutive seasons. The competition between he, Barker, and Tulsa transfer Chase Meyer was close in camp, but Sahaydak won it. However, his on-field play this season caused him to lose it. Barker seized the opportunity Saturday. He was perfect on extra point tries and connected on field goals from 25 and 40 yards.

“With Barker, like I mentioned to you guys did last week, it came down to a percentage point all during training camp between those two guys, so we felt like this week, we look at all those guys as well, but it wouldn’t just be this week,” head coach James Franklin said. “It’d be this week plus the totality of everything that’s happened the entire year. So based on it being a tight competition already, and then how the games have gone, from a production [and] execution standpoint, in that phase, felt like it made sense to give Barker his opportunities because, again, [the competition] was within a percentage point.”

It’s Barker’s job to lose now. And, if Saturday is any indication, he doesn’t plan to give it back anytime soon.

More on the Penn State punt return situation

The nature of Saunders’ injury is unclear. We know he’s been dealing with one since training camp. But whether or not it has anything to do with why his foot is now in a walking boot is unclear. At any rate, earlier this week, Franklin suggested that Tracy would be the next man up, and by and large, he was. With that said, it sounds like the Lions will use a combination of him and Spencer moving forward.

“He’s been a part of that competition all year long,” Franklin said. “We did not have Kaden available, and he was the next man up. Jake Spencer still factors in. We used him in a safe situation where you’re probably not going to get a return anyway, just a guy who’s caught some balls already in college games. With Zion, we think he’ll learn from this today and have an opportunity to not only catch the ball, moving forward, but have a chance to be a playmaker. So excited about that.”

Penn State needs more explosiveness out of its punt return game. Tracy is the latest Lion to try and provide it.

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