Penn State Football: Top-25 players of the James Franklin Era

Penn State Football: Top-25 players of the James Franklin Era

We kick off our top five players during the James Franklin era with a player who walked on to the program in 2011 and would work his way into being a Consensus All-American in 2015. During that 2015 season, Franklin’s second as Penn State head coach, Carl Nassib was named a starting defensive end for the Nittany Lions.

Getting the first starts of his football career, whether high school or college, Nassib set the college football landscape on fire. For the season, Nassib was able to rack up 15.5 sacks, and 19.5 tackles for a loss, and would be named the Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year in the Big Ten. An obvious first-team Big Ten and Consensus All-American selection, Nassib won the Lombardi Award, the Hendricks Award, and the Lott Award, becoming the first player and program history since LaVar Arrington to win three national awards.

CBS Sports named Nassib their National Defensive Player of the Year, and he became only the 13th player in school history to be a Consensus All-American. His 15.5 sacks are still a school record, and while he only had one great season for the Penn State football program, it was one of the best all-time and earned him a spot in the top-5 on our list.