ESPN released its 2025 preseason college football All-America team selections. Offensively, there are no surprises as to which Penn State players made the first and second team lists. However, the absence of Nittany Lions on the defensive preseason teams is a bit jarring.
Nicholas Singleton and Vega Ioane make ESPN's 2025 preseason All-America First Team Offense
Penn State's run game is going to be lethal in 2025 with the combination of its offensive line and backfield, and Low's first team selections highlighted that.
Nicholas Singleton earned one of the two first team running back spots. The rising senior accumulated 1,099 rushing yards on 172 carries in 2024. He had 12 rushing touchdowns and added an additional five scores and 375 yards on 41 receptions. That's just the baseline for what Singleton plans on accomplishing this upcoming season.
"There's no shortage of power and speed in Penn State's running backs room. Singleton will team with Kaytron Allen to give the Nittany Lions the best one-two punch in the country," Low wrote.
Vega Ioane also earned the sole offensive guard spot on the preseason All-America First Team Offense. The surprise class of 2022 signee turned into an essential piece of Penn State's offensive line.
"Ioane blossomed into one of the Big Ten's best interior offensive linemen last year in his first full season as a starter," Low wrote of the guard.
He was one of five starters from 2024 that returned and was one of the Nittany Lions' leading blockers. Ioane didn't allow a single sack on the line and let only one quarterback hit slip through. The run game is going to be a problem for Penn State's opponents, and Ioane on the offensive line deserves some credit for it too.
Kaytron Allen makes ESPN's 2025 preseason All-America Second Team Offense
Allen didn't make the cut for ESPN's preseason first team as Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love took one of the two top spots with Singleton. Wherever Singleton is, though, Allen is right there with him and the RB2 was one of two second team selections. On 220 carries, he posted 1,108 yards and eight touchdowns. He added 18 receptions for 153 yards and two receiving touchdowns as well in 2024.
Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant were absent from ESPN's preseason All-America teams. Clemson's T.J. Parker and Auburn's Keldric Faulk were selected as the first and second team defensive ends, respectively. Alabama's LT Overton and Miami's Rueben Bain earned the first and second team spots for defensive tackle.
Dennis-Sutton is an elite edge rusher prospect, coming off a season with 42 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, four passes defensed, and three pass break-ups. However, out of the two Nittany Lion defensemen, Dennis-Sutton isn't the most jarring of the two.
Durant is especially a huge missing piece to the All-America defensive teams. In 2024, he had 42 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and three sacks. He was named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List for National Defensive Player of the Year and the Outland trophy Watch List. His breakout junior season is a look into the bare minimum of what he'll accomplish as a senior, and not earning a first or second team preseason accolade is an unfortunate miss for ESPN.