James Franklin built the deepest offensive line in the country at Penn State

There are plenty of flaws in Penn State’s offense, last season, the lack of playmakers was one of the primary differentiators between the Nittany Lions and the other top teams in the Big Ten during the James Franklin era. Yet, against Ohio State in 2023, the struggles of Penn State’s offensive line were a huge reason Drew Allar and those playmakers put up just 12 points in an eight-point loss. 

That unit, which got manhandled in Columbus allowing 23 pressures on Allar and only managing 49 total rushing yards, had a lot of offseason turnover with Olu Fashanu, Caedan Wallace, and Hunter Nourzad all leaving for the NFL. This season, while the top-self NFL talent may not be there for the Nittany Lions up front, there may not be a team in the country with as much offensive line depth as Franklin’s. 

The O-line has long been a priority for Penn State, but recruiting ramped up in 2022 when Franklin and offensive line coach Phil Trautwein landed commitments from Drew Shelton, now his starting left tackle, Vega Ioane, his starting left guard, and JB Nelson, who spent the offseason battling for starting reps at left guard with Ioane. Then in 2023, Franklin added five-star tackle J’ven Williams, who will serve as a depth piece this season. That year, he also brought in four-star Anthony Donkoh, who has spent the summer locked in a fierce battle with 2024 Wisconsin transfer Nolan Rucci at the right tackle spot. 

At center, Nick Dawkins, a 2020 recruit and redshirt senior, narrowly beat out five-star freshman Cooper Cousins, and Sal Wormley is the true vet of the group, a two-year starter at right guard who came to Happy Valley back in 2019. That group constitutes Penn State’s top-eight offensive linemen and as Franklin told StateCollege.com’s Seth Engle, they’re all going to play.

“I think we’ll have more than two tackles play. I think we’ll have at least three guards play, and I think we’ll have two centers play. So, how much? We’ll see. We’ve still got a ton of work to do between now and then, but I think we have probably a little bit more depth than we’ve had in the past. That’s a good thing.”

A little bit is quite an understatement. Now that the transfer portal has presented more avenues for the backups, who have typically represented program depth, to see the field, there aren’t many teams in the country that could reasonably survive three or even four injuries to their offensive line. It’s something that two-time national championship-winning head coach Kirby Smart has called “the deterioration of college football.”

Penn State, which has typically used its NIL resources for retention more than acquisition, couldn’t solve every problem on its roster in the transfer portal this offseason, but the Nittany Lions also prevented new problems from arising. This college football season will be the longest in the sport’s history, if you keep winning, so that depth on the offensive line could be tested.