Penn State fall camp has nearly come to a close, and while the Nittany Lions are yet to release an official depth chart, there aren’t many outstanding questions on the roster. Two that continue to linger are the three-man left tackle battle and Brock Riker’s ability to transition from the Sun Belt to the Big Ten at center.
During his Tuesday media availability from the Lasch Building, Campbell seemed to answer both, naming former five-star redshirt freshman Malachi Goodman as one of his many fall camp standouts, presumably giving him the edge to start on quarterback Rocco Becht’s blindside, and highlighting Riker’s incredible 35-pound weight gain since arriving from Texas State.
If Goodman is playing well and Riker is keeping on weight, then a new-look offensive line should be ready for Big Ten play when Penn State finally hosts Wisconsin in Week 4. That’s not to say this group will be without issue all season, but Campbell’s comments certainly quell the two biggest concerns.
Penn State’s rebuilt offensive line seems ready for Week 1
Once they arrived in Happy Valley, head coach Matt Campbell and general manager Derek Hoodjer’s plan to reload was to bring plenty of transfers with them from Iowa State, and especially on offense, the field will be littered with former Cyclones when the Nittany Lions host Marshall in Week 1.
Penn State brought back Becht and his top five pass-catchers from last season, but along the offensive line, four players followed their head coach and offensive line coach, Ryan Clanton, and only one, Trevor Buhr, is expected to start in 2026. That meant, even with solid retention, most of the question marks on that side of the ball lie in the trenches.
Along the right side, multi-year starter Anthony Donkoh is back healthy and slated to start at right tackle, while former blue-chip recruit Cooper Cousins will finally crack the starting five at right guard. With Buhr at left guard, that left Campbell and Clanton to fill the two most important positions along the offensive line: center and left tackle.
Brock Riker needs to keep his weight up to stick as a Big Ten center
In the middle, Penn State tabbed Riker, a freshman All-American who started Year 1 at Texas State, but who weighed just 270 pounds. That can work against Sun Belt competition, but anchoring against 325-pound defensive tackles in the Big Ten is a different story. The talent is there, but he had to put on the weight, and that’s not always easy.
However, Riker quickly packed on the pounds in spring, and throughout fall camp, he’s continued to add mass. He’s listed at 295 pounds on Penn State’s roster, but on Tuesday, Campbell told the media that he’s up to 305 pounds.
It’ll take work to keep that weight on throughout a grueling season, but that’ll play in the Big Ten, and if he retains the quickness and athleticism that made him so effective when he was undersized for the position, he could just be starting to tap into a pretty high ceiling.
It seems Malachi Goodman has won the left tackle job
Speaking of a high ceiling, Goodman was a five-star in the 2025 class and one of the most important retentions for Campbell and his staff once they arrived. Now, it appears as though he has the edge over Garrett Sexton and Owen Aliciene in a left tackle battle that may extend into the regular season with Penn State’s soft non-conference schedule.
“I think Malachi Goodman has had a phenomenal camp,” Campbell said as he practically went down the entire roster, naming preseason standouts. He did not, however, single out Goodman’s competition, Sexton or Aliciene.
The best-case scenario for Penn State was for Goodman to win the job, and not by default from his recruiting ranking. It seems he’s gone out and grabbed it, which should bode well for his introduction to college football as a redshirt freshman.
How well Goodman will play is another question, as it is with the entire line, but that he is likely slated to play is positive, as is Riker’s ability to match the physicality he’s bound to meet in Power Conference football.
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