Penn State hasn’t won a college football national championship since 1986, yet the Nittany Lions will enter the 2025 as one of the favorites to win it all. After taking the program to its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance, a postseason run that ended in the CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl, James Franklin was able to retain much of his talented roster, setting the bar sky high for his 12th season in Happy Valley.
Maybe the biggest headline of the offseason was the return of Drew Allar, who despite a fourth-quarter interception against Notre Dame that ended Penn State’s season, will be in the Heisman Trophy conversation all offseason. However, the key to the Nittany Lion’s offense is almost always the ground game, and that’ll be the strength again under second-year offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.
Like Allar, both Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen will also return for their senior season, opting not to enter their names into the 2025 NFL Draft along with Penn State stars Abdul Carter and Tyler Warren, two All-Americans and surefire first-round picks. As a tandem, they’ve been one of the best in college football for three years, but as seniors, ESPN has predicted that they’ll both receive massive individual recognition.
Chris Low reached out to college coaches, NFL scouts, and reporters to assemble ESPN’s way-too-early All-America team for 2025, and three Nittany Lions were featured on the offensive side of the ball, all key components of the run game. Singleton and left guard Olaivavega Ioane were both listed on the first team while Allen was named as a second-team way-too-early All-American.
Ioane drew national attention in 2024 when Kotelnicki began sending him in motion before the snap and lining him up out in the slot to add creativity to Penn State’s run game. The rising redshirt junior will be one of four returning starters along the offensive line with left tackle Drew Shelton, center Nick Dawkins, and right tackle Anthony Donkoh. Only right guard Sal Wormley expended his eligibility, and that continuity will do wonders for the Nittany Lions on the ground.
Both Singleton and Allen are within striking distance of Penn State’s all-time rushing record of 3,932 yards set by Evan Royster from 2007-10. Singleton is currently 10th in program history with Allen at 11th and both needing just over 1,000 yards. In 2024, the duo was the first in Penn State history to each clear the 1,000-yard threshold, though it didn’t hurt that the Nittany Lions played 16 games, the most ever.
Even with Allar back at quarterback, success on the ground could be more important than ever. Penn State’s three leading receivers from 2024 all departed the program, Warren to the NFL and Harrison Wallace III and Omari Evans to the transfer portal.