5 Penn State Nittany Lions under the most pressure in fall football camp

Penn State’s Week 1 trip to Morgantown, West Virginia is just over a month away, and on Wednesday, the Nittany Lions will open fall camp for the 11th time under head coach James Franklin. This year’s group will face many of the same challenges, namely, Ohio State, but with the expanded Big Ten and expanded College Football Playoff, there are a few new obstacles and a renewed sense of optimism that Franklin can finally lead his team to the CFP. 

On offense, much of the nucleus of last year’s team that went 10-3 with a loss to Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl is back with Drew Allar and the Lawn Boyz the focal points for new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. However, there was turnover at wide receiver, with a new No. 1 option in Julian Fleming, and the offensive line lost Olu Fashanu, Caedan Wallace, and Hunter Nourzad to the NFL. 

The defense, now coordinated by Tom Allen also had to replace plenty of stalwarts, from Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac up front to Kalen King and Johnny Dixon in the secondary. The hierarchy of this new group will be revealed throughout the next month of preseason football and these five Nittany Lions will be under the most pressure to cement their place within it. 

At Big Ten Media Days, James Franklin seemed to walk back Abdul Carter’s move to defensive end a bit, stating that, “We think (Carter)’s got a chance to make a significant impact. Each week will decide where he's going to have an impact for us.”

Still, Carter won’t be a full-time inside linebacker like he was in 2022 and that will mean more reps for true sophomore Tony Rojas who played 122 defensive snaps and finished with 20 tackles as a true freshman last season. Rojas, a former four-star recruit from Fairfax, Virginia has been impressive in his short time in Happy Valley, and especially after Keon Wylie’s offseason injury, Rojas has the inside track to starting next to Kobe King at inside linebacker. 

While there is a very positive outlook for Rojas heading into Year 2, if he stumbles at fall camp, Penn State has veterans, Dom DeLuca and Tyler Elsdon who will be ready to step into a starting role.

It’s pretty clear that Julian Fleming, the former five-star senior transfer from Ohio State will be the No. 1 wide receiver for Penn State this season, but it’s also clear that Andy Kotelnicki will be counting on Trey Wallace to stay healthy and be productive as a redshirt junior. 

Yes, Wallace’s season was derailed at just 15 receptions for 161 yards when he was injured against Indiana and missed the rest of the regular season, but even prior to that injury, his production was limited and he didn’t exactly dominate the Peach Bowl despite finishing with four grabs for 67 yards and a touchdown. On the year, Wallace averaged 1.41 yards per route run which was seventh best on the team, well behind KeAndre Lambert-Smith who endlessly frustrated the fanbase as the team’s No. 1 outside option before he was benched against Ole Miss and transferred to Auburn. 

Allar needs a reliable option outside of Fleming, who himself has never proven to be a capable No. 1 option in an elite offense, and if Wallace doesn’t take a big step forward in the new offense, Kotelnicki could be scrambling to get Liam Clifford, Omari Evans, or even a freshman like Tyseer Denmark up to speed. 

Nolan Rucci, like Fleming, was once the top recruit to come out of Pennsylvania and he left for another Big Ten school. Yet, Rucci could never get on the field at Wisconsin, only playing 70 career snaps over two seasons with the Badgers. Rucci returned to PA for a fresh start, but he’s entered fierce competition for the starting tackle spots. 

Despite losing Fashanu and Wallace to the NFL this offseason, offensive tackle may still be the deepest position on Penn State’s depth chart, at least from a talent perspective. While former elite recruits like Alex Birchmeier, J’Ven Williams, and Chimdy Onoh don’t have much experience, they could all be in the mix for the starting right tackle spot, opposite Drew Shelton who is the presumptive starter on the left side. Even Anthony Donkoh, who replaced Wallace at right tackle in the second half against Ole Miss could win the job. 

If Rucci loses out again, he could be forced to head back into the transfer portal, cut his losses, and drop down to the G5 level to finally get onto the field. This is a make-or-break fall camp for the former five-star’s football career. 

This could be a breakout year for Dinkins, who caught just five passes for 57 yards and two touchdowns last year, and with the departure of Theo Johnson, you could argue that it should be his big breakout. However, Tyler Warren will still be the TE1 and maybe the primary target in Penn State’s offense this season and if Dinkins isn’t on top of his game this fall camp, five-star freshman Luke Reynolds could steal his reps and his big breakout. 

James Franklin has struggled to attract top wide receiver talent to Penn State, but Franklin’s headliner in the 2024 recruit class was Reynolds, the 6-foot-4 220-pound tight end from Connecticut, who could be the program’s best at the position since Mike Gesicki. 

Cam Miller was put in an incredibly tough spot in the Peach Bowl, many times left on an island with Tre Harris, nearly a 1,000-yard receiver in the SEC, but Miller really couldn’t have been worse. He struggled to do anything against Ole Miss’s receivers, routinely getting dominated at the catch-point and his struggle was so visible that Franklin went into the transfer portal for not one but two SEC cornerbacks, AJ Harris and Jalen Kimber. 

Miller has already been bumped well down the depth chart with those two additions, but if he struggles in fall camp, he could be completely out of the mix which would be disastrous for the junior who was expected to be CB1 after King, Dixon, and Daequan Hardy left for professional careers.