New ‘way too early’ Top 25 is way wrong on Penn State Football

2. Veteran players making a group decision to come back and finish what they started 

We have seen from the past few college football national champions that sometimes the perfect team is sprung from a few key players deciding to give it one more go at the college level before heading off to the NFL.

2020 Alabama saw Devonte Smith, Najee Harris and Alex Leatherwood all return despite being locks to be early round picks in the 2020 NFL Draft. The came back to Bama and won a ring, Smith won a Heisman and the rest is history.

This is not to say that Penn State Football will be following in the footprints of Alabama, but safety Jaquan Brisker told BWI, that a facetime call between himself, wide receiver Jahan Dotson and cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields led to their decisions to return for 2021.

"“It’s going to be better than what we did last year,” Brisker told BWI. “We’re coming back for a reason.”"

Instead of running from 0-5, and leaving what could have been deemed a toxic situation, these veterans decided to come back and change the narrative around the program, and get back to competing for a conference title and the college football playoffs.

Brisker, Dotson and Castro-Fields are not the only impact players returning, as Third-Team All Big-Ten left tackle Rasheed Walker will also be back for a senior season. Walker said he has goals for not only himself but the team to achieve before he is done in the blue and white.

It seems the impact of offensive line coach Phil Trautwein also played an integral part in his decision.

"“I looked at it as, I have time. It’s only my third year,” Walker told the media. “I can leave but I also can come back and invest more in myself by being coached by coach Trautwein for another year to give myself a better shot at the next level.”"