Like a lot of football players in the Big Ten, Penn State center Michal Menet has dealt with a lot of questions during the past few months.

With the conference initially canceling its 2020-21 season before ultimately deciding to play a delayed and condensed schedule, Menet has had plenty of time to work at his craft and get used to his new offensive line coach, Phil Trautwein.

“There was definitely a lot of uncertainly,” said Menet, who was named to watch list for the Rimington Trophy as the best center in college football. “But I think the main goal of mine was just to continue to try to get better each day. Work on just getting stronger, faster. Kind of continuing to perfect my craft and all that kind of stuff. Especially with (Coach Trautwein) and some of his new techniques. But there was definitely a lot of uncertainty, a lot of back and forth, we are going to play, we’re not going to play. But finally, we got the word that we are going to play, and it’s been a full head of steam from there.”

Penn State’s offensive line will take on a different direction once the season opens Oct. 24 at Indiana. Trautwein, hired in January after a season at Boston College, already is receiving rave reviews from his players.

“I’ve been excited about (Trautwein) since the day we hired him,” Menet said. “Just the experience that he brings from playing in the NFL, seeing people do all this stuff. He’s teaching us live against the best players in the world. Getting on the field, he’s a high-energy guy. Very positive, but he’ll rip into you if he needs to. He demands a lot out of us. Everybody across the board has gotten a ton better so far. I’m just excited to see what we can continue to build and where we’ll be when game one comes around.”

At 34, Trautwein isn’t far removed from his own playing career. A two-time All-SEC selection as a tackle at Florida where he won two national championships, Trautwein carved out a four-year NFL career with the St. Louis Rams, Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers in the late 2000s and early 2010s as an undrafted free agent.

“He’s able to relate to us more, especially him being a little bit on the younger side,” said tackle C.J. Thorpe, a Central Catholic graduate. “He’s not that far removed from where we’re at. He understands where we’re at, so he’s able to really put himself in our shoes to be able to teach us. He’s very understanding. That’s not to say he is soft by any means. But it’s more so, ‘I understand why you messed up because of a bigger reason.’ ”

A native of Voorhees, N.J., Trautwein had a healthy understanding for Penn State’s prominence.

“When I was growing up, Penn State was Penn State,” Trautwein said in April. “Everybody talked about it like it was the school to go to.”

His players seem ready to go with his guidance.

“When it comes down to it, playing (offensive) line kind of revolves to playing the same type of technique things,” Menet said. “Each coach has their own twist to it. Coach (Trautwein), playing off his experience from being around the best, he kind of knows what works and what doesn’t from a lot higher level. Each coach has their own little spin on technique and stuff. But I think the biggest thing for him is just firing off the ball or getting off the ball really quick in the run game. And just playing in your legs … having a good base is probably his biggest key to the run game and pass game.”

“Great coach,” Thorpe said. “Love him. He’s really (passionate) about his craft. He knows what he’s talking about. The tools and tips that he’s able to give to us, his connections, his experience that’s he’s able to pass down to us is immeasurable.”

Menet has yet to coach a game for Penn State, but he already has put his players in a different place mentally.

“I know for a fact we’re going to be the most prepared offensive line in the country probably when it comes to game day,” Menet said. “Just the amount of detail that (Trautwein) puts in game-planning. Just the amount of detail he’s putting in right now on correction notes from practice and pre-practice notes on what we’re doing that day. I can only imagine how his pregame notes are going to be. … We’re going to be really, really prepared, and we’re going to know what’s going on more than we ever have. That’s going to lead to us being a very consistent group from the first man to the last man.”

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