Penn State was able to empty the bench in its 45-0 Week 1 blowout of Marshall, but didn’t quite have the same opportunity in a less impressive 27-9 win over Temple last Saturday. Week 3 should look more like the former than the latter, as the Nittany Lions are 40.5-point favorites over Buffalo.
If everything goes to plan, garbage time should start early at Beaver Stadium. With Big Ten play looming in Week 4, it might be the last chance (depending on exactly how bad some of the conference’s bottom-feeders are this year) for a few of the Nittany Lions’ reserves to make a case for more playing time in the games that matter and a spot on the roster next season.
5. QB - Alex Manske
The pressure on Manske is quite different than the rest of the players on this list. He’s in no way in jeopardy of relinquishing his chokehold on the QB2 spot at Penn State; his competition is the allure of the transfer portal this offseason once Rocco Becht heads to the NFL.
Some second-half garbage-time snaps against Buffalo won’t be the determining factor in whether Campbell sticks to his plan of Manske as the heir apparent, but if he plays poorly, that’s not an irrelevant data point. Everything is easier for this program if Manske looks the part as next year’s QB1.
4-3. DE - Jackson Ford and Liam Andrews
Max Granville is set to miss the rest of the season with a long-term injury after missing all of 2025. While it’s a pretty major blow for Penn State’s defensive line, it will open up more snaps for Ford, the most interesting defensive lineman from the 2026 freshman class, and Andrews, who has moved from defensive tackle to defensive end. Matt Campbell said as much this week.
Yvan Kemajou, Caleb Bacon, and Ikenna Ezeogu will be the primary rotation at edge, with Alexander McPherson the next in line from there, but if Ford or Andrews want to carve out a few snaps for themselves in the meaningful games this season, they need to look dominant in whatever their opportunity on Saturday.
2. WR - Karon Brookins
Could it be possible that Penn State’s wide receiver room has too many good players to get on the field? That might be a bit of a stretch, but this group has the type of depth that eluded James Franklin in his final years at the helm.
Koby Howard, Chase Sowell, and Brett Eskildsen are locked into their roles, Zay Robinson has been electric in his limited work out of the slot, and true freshman Amarion Jackson is raw but has clearly impressed the staff.
That leaves Karon Brookins as the next wide receiver in line. Surprisingly, he’s played two more snaps than Robinson so far this year, but has just two targets. At 6-foot-5, he should be too much for Buffalo to handle physically; it may just be a matter of how much Penn State is throwing the ball once he gets into the game.
1. RB - Quinton Martin Jr.
Quinton Martin Jr. didn’t play a single snap in Week 2, and it wasn’t because things were going so well for Penn State on the ground. James Peoples is clearly the passing-downs back, but RB1 Carson Hansen has struggled to get going. Yet, it was Cam Wallace who spelled Hansen for a few early-down carries against Temple, not Martin. That was not expected coming into the year.
Maybe Martin is just out of the rotation flat-out, but if he gets any touches in Week 3, he’ll understand what’s on the line.
Add us as a preferred source on Google