Penn State Nittany Lions Season Preview | Expectations, Position Intel, and More!

Hype Video we're good let's just play our brand of football everybody got [Music] me it's Singleton opening 10 by [Music] touchdown they now un thrown in Long how over the middle it's picked off jayen Reed gets underneath touchdown a lot of excitement Introduction surrounding Penn State this year so we welcome in our friend Tyler Donahue of lions 247 Tyler a lot of changes to the college football landscape in general this year and let's be real some that really benefit Penn State right you don't have divisions anymore in the Big 10 which means no more playing Ohio State and Michigan every single year and also an expanded playoff so so more room for people to party but with all that fun how much extra pressure does that potentially put on a coach like James Pressure on James Franklin Franklin I think it legitimately legitimately puts a lot more pressure on him because a lot of the built-in excuses that you could understand and kind of rationalize they are now out the door now there's 12 teams invited to this thing Penn State's kind of been the poster child for one of those programs that's been perennial Le left on the doorstep a lot of new year six bowl games 11 win Seasons but no playoff appearances and big part of that reasons is they have shared the east division with Michigan and Ohio State they haven't beaten the Buckeye since 2016 when they won the Big 10 last they haven't beaten Michigan since 2020 so naturally to get rid of one of those teams on your schedule would seem like a footstep in the right directions a match up against Washington at one point looked a lot more dicey than it does now because that program has gone through some changes they've got a road trip to Southern cow to bring in that pack 12 flare so there are some interesting Dynamics here West Virginia is kind of a sneaky opener on the road um and then a tricky trip to Wisconsin later on in the season so there's opportunity for pitfalls but there's a good chance where you can bounce back from two losses for so long now it's felt like James Franklin's been walking on eggshells once you get that first loss you can't lose again or you got no shot to get to Indianapolis in the Big 10 championship game now you can probably afford to lose two losses along the way and find yourself right there the mix to play in the postseason the pressure really is relative but uh we can both assume too there might be a little bit on a guy like Drew Aller as he enters his second Expectations for QB Drew Allar year as the starter what are the I guess let's go with realistic expectations for him in year two under Center well you'd think a big step forward with the offensive coordinator change James Franklin did this for a reason and part of it is to give the best opportunity for this former five-star recruit to flourish in his third year on campus Andy codal Nikki was recognized by 247 Sports as offensive coordinator of the year for what he did at Kansas last season enter uh that into the equation where he just saw his fired offensive coordinator before thanks giving I mean no one saw that coming when they got off to a strong start last year dler threw for 325 yards in the season opener big performance in a win over West Virginia he didn't reach 240 passing yards go over that Mark again until after Thanksgiving kind of hard to believe but that's how kind of uninspiring the offensive attack was through the air during the year and that's a big part of the reason why Mike yich lost his job he had a 25-2 touchdown to interception ratio which you'll take 10 times out of 10 for any freshman but any first year starter I should say but during that sophomore campaign failed to complete 50% of his passes in five different games three of them happened in losses and you can look at a lot of different reasons but when you're the former number one quarterback in the country at 247 Sports and you're stepping up to the plate expected to elevate an offense that Sean Clifford had led for the last four years and that doesn't happen people are expecting a big jump in year three and cotal Nikki is a big part of that equation as well speaking of recruiting and recruiting rankings it certainly helps Penn State's recruiting pitch to say hey look we had two guys Position Intel drafted in the first round this past year in offensive tackle Olu fashanu and the defensive end chop Robinson unfortunately though that means for the current pen State nney Lions they don't have them so who steps up to replace those two guys yeah well look Olu is going to be a hard spot for anyone to fill a two time an All-American two-time all big 10 player uh you know Player of the Year kind of candidate but they got guys who have experience in Drew Shelton you know he stepped up for Olu fashu back in the 2022 season start started the last five games when fashion was sidelined that included a rose bow Victory he played 300 plus snaps last year as the primary backup on both sides of the offensive tackle equation so he's in play but he missed spring practice he was sidelined for undisclosed reasons recovering from an offseason procedure and that opened the door for Javin Williams a former five-star Prospect to get a lot of work at left tackle he started the spring game with the first team unit he's a guy that has a lot of the physical intangibles you look for but unlike Shelton we just haven't gotten a look at him in power four action and then on the right side Anthony Dona was a late bloomer last year he focused on guard for much of his first year on campus but uh in place of Kaden Wallace in the second half of the Peach Bowl really impressed and that was his first game high school level or college level playing the offensive tackle position his momentum is carried through Spring ball we're all curious to see what it means for the summer but he also faces competition Nolan Ruchi came in by way of transfer he's a former five-star Pennsylvania High School product Nittany Lions Legacy who opted to go to Wisconsin to begin his college football career didn't see a lot of action but he got some work in their bowl game last year seemed to give him some confidence so him and Anthony Dona are two to watch in the right tackle spot I think Phil TR Phil Trout the offensive line coach has the pieces and then at defensive end uh you you actually got a plethora of options that they're really excited about even with losing chop Robinson and then the third round pick Adisa Isaac who went to the Baltimore Ravens you've got a former freshman All-American who turned into the first team all big 10 linebacker last year and Carter now making his move as an edge rusher and everyone's excited for this we didn't get to see Micah Parsons play a junior season because of what happened in 2020 he was one of the many stars who opted out of a strange season that we weren't sure was going to actually happen but Carter we do get year three we get to see that process of him growing up and unlike Parsons they've already Unleashed him a bit as an edge rusher he broke through with six and a half sacks as a freshman and he followed that up last year with a really strong November it wasn't really the the start to finish dominance that we expected to see from him as a sophomore but I think the stage is set now by the way he finished last season and now what we've seen in some flashes during spring balll and what we've heard from feedback he's ready to maybe rise up as the next first round pick at the defensive end spot for them and Deni Dennis Sutton could join him in round one you look at some of those early 20125 mock round mock drafts the former five star is in the thick of those things and so he's a big Presence at defensive man and then a veteran named Amin vanover year five for him but he is ready to roll he had a big performance in the spring game one another name I'll throw your cuz he could be that next man up maybe the future first round Prospect to follow J lions by way of Philadelphia turned a lot of heads on the practice field during his freshman year showed us some things in the postseason he might be ready to rumble as a complimentary piece off the edge sounds like a lot of great options there I asked you about two guys leaving how about two guys coming in Julian Fleming & A.J. Harris Latest Julian Fleming and AJ Harris what have you seen from those two transfers early on in the spring yeah they're about their business that's kind of the the verdict that we got early on about both of these guys they're at different phases of their career Julian Fleming a former number one overall receiver at 247 Sports when he came out of the high school level coming out of Pennsylvania there were some hard feelings among Penn State fans that he wasn't wearing a NY Lions uniform for the last four years he went off to Columbus he ended up being a starter for Ohio start Ohio State he started 20 of the last 23 games there in Columbus but he shared the room with a bunch of first round picks Heisman Trophy contenders and he admitted to us you know he learned a lot about himself as a humbling experience and un for him although he played a bunch with the Buckeyes he was never healthy he has said this is the healthiest he has been since high school uh surgeries are now passed him and he hopes to really deliver he took advantage of that Co eligibility came back home he's going to have family and friends supporting him and there's a lot of excitement about the leadership he has already brought to the receiver room this is a receiver room that we'll get to it in a bit there's a lot of question marks about it he's maybe stabilized things a bit because of the of his background and then AJ Harris again a former five star so the pedigree is in terms of the prospect profile but he came into Georgia's situation last year as kind of one of their big newcomers defending national champions for the Bulldogs so anytime you're talking about one of their hot shot freshman you want to focus on that guy and he played a bit but was kind of shut down in terms of the cornerback competition as the season progressed and ultimately hit the transfer portal looked for greener pastures and Penn State quickly made a move I think one thing they were impressed by when the staff got on the phone early with AJ Harris was how much he knew already about what Penn State wants to accomplish atically he did his homework and that kind of was a really good first step he came into campus and Not only was he prepared like a professional although he's only a sophomore but he also lit it up in the blue white game he was probably the most impressive defensive player in terms of what they were able to do from start to finish in that spring game and he was playing kind of on the JV unit uh you know a lot of the transfers were over there so he didn't actually have the Arsenal of a great Supporting Cast and he really stood out so I think there's a lot of excitement Brewing about him and ually INF flaming both sides of the ball and they're going to need someone to step up at cornerback they lose about 1500 snaps from their departed top three cornerbacks on last year's Squad you mentioned wanting to talk about the wide Penn State Wide Receivers receiver room you not the only one this feels like a storyline we've been talking about for a while with Penn State I got to ask you how much are we going to continue this discussion as it leads in to the 2024 season I host a podcast twice a week during the offseason and we pretty much hit on it each episode it feels like because it it looms so large in Drew all's development and what Andy codal Nikki is going to be able to accomplish as the offensive coordinator here and even with Fleming in the equation someone who's played a bunch they still don't have a receiver who has a thousand career receiving yards you you thought you had one coming out of Spring ball or going into Spring ball with Keandre Lambert Smith uh we were all kind of surprised that he was with Penn State for year five he used his Co eligibility but he entered the transfer portal after spring bowl by the end of spring bowl and and he's at Auburn now so he's done and Julian Fleming he's got to be healthy that's a bit of an if and you kind of apply that to Harrison Wallace too we were hearing things about Harrison Wallace coming out of preseason camp last year that he was going to be the number one target even with Keandre Lambert Smith on campus he ended up being nicked up in September ended up being nicked up later but he led the team in re receptions with seven of them in the 2023 season opener he then led the team in receptions reached the end zone in the Peach Bowl so him and Drew Allard do have some chemistry going can he be healthy that's the key for both Harrison Wallace and Julian flemingan and just some younger names to know uh you got Kaden Saunders he's going to do some damage out of the slot former top 100 recruit hasn't really done much in the production Department in the last couple weeks uh couple years on campus and then Sean Clifford former quarterback his younger brother is kind of blossomed as a versatile component of this receiver group Liam Clifford he's a fourthe player so they need guys to step up Marcus Hagin is in his second year as receivers coach here he's got some transfer flavor in there they've got a lot of homegrown Talent if they don't get answers there that is going to be the Hot Topic of this season for Penn State thank you Tyler you can check out LIKE & SUBSCRIBE l Lions 247 for all things Penn State from upcoming visit weekends to just getting you ready for the season the crew at Lions 247 has you covered [Music]