Penn State football announced its team captains for the 2025-26 season. The group of five includes two seniors and three redshirt seniors: quarterback Drew Allar, defensive tackle Zane Durant, center Nick Dawkins, linebacker Dominic DeLuca, and long snapper Tyler Duzansky.
Allar and Dawkins enter their second season as team captains and DeLuca is entering his third. The three-time captain joins an exclusive group of three Nittany Lions who were captains for at least three seasons. Former Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford and linebacker Jonathan Sutherland were each captains for four years.
While punter Riley Thompson was a 2024 team captain, he did not take a sixth spot despite Penn State notably having six team captains in the past. Five is the lowest number in head coach James Franklin's time in Happy Valley since 2018's three-captain season. Durant and Duzansky are joining the trio of multi-year captains for the first time.
Our 2025 Penn State Football Team Captains#WeAre pic.twitter.com/D18ZMHziQd
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) August 16, 2025
Leadership doesn't end with five players, though. The Nittany Lions returned a number of veterans for the 2025 season. Franklin told BlueWhite Illustrated after the spring game in April that he expects his starters to take leaps as leaders for the team, specifically mentioning his third-year starting quarterback on offense.
“On the defensive side, [Durant] has been that type of leader for us for a while. Zakee Wheatley is stepping into that role as well, so is Dani Dennis-Sutton," Franklin told BlueWhite Illustrated. "[DeLuca] has been a captain for like seven years now, so we did lose some significant leadership, but we have a lot of guys that have been a part of that role as well.”
Allar returns as the top Big Ten quarterback across the country with high expectations. While leadership is one thing he needs to take a leap in, Franklin is expecting him to improve his all-around game from rushing to completion percentage to minimizing interceptions.
DeLuca, a former walk-on who earned a scholarship, recorded 40 tackles, four tackles for loss, three interceptions (including one pick six), one pass break-up, and one quarterback hurry in 2024 as linebacker.
Dawkins played the second-most offensive snaps on the team in 2024, started all 16 games, and allowed only two sacks. This season, he plans on rallying the level of talent and experience in his position and putting together one of the strongest offensive lines in the country.
As for Durant and Duzansky, the defensive tackle had a breakout season in 2024 with 42 tackles, three sacks, and one pass break-up. He also had 11 tackles for loss. Duzansky was named to the 2025 Patrick Mannelly Award Watch List for best long snapper in the country as he enters his third season at the position for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State kicks off its 2025 season on Saturday, Aug. 30. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. against the Nevada Wolf Pack at Beaver Stadium.