Ahead of the 2023 Rose Bowl, it was unclear whether star offensive lineman Olu Fashanu had played his final game at Penn State. Fashanau not only played in Pasadena but returned to Happy Valley for his senior season.
Again, Fashanu’s status for the Peach Bowl was unclear, and this time he decided to opt out of the season finale to preserve his health for the NFL draft. Fashanu is likely to be a top-10 pick in the Spring and was a consensus All-American this season, but some fans were unhappy with his decision not to play today.
Chop Robinson and Johnny Dixon opted out prior to gameday, but it was not known that Kalen King and Fashanu would be out until the pregame availability report surfaced. That left many fans confused and frustrated, but to add to the confusion Fashanu’s father responded to reports that his son opted out or “quit” on Twitter.
SMH 🤦♂️ Nobody except the coaches and family knows whether he’s playing or not, so for anyone to say Olu quit on the team today is just ridiculous, irresponsible and wrong. It’s really upsetting .
— Anthony Fashanu (@tonyfashanu) December 30, 2023
Fashanu was in uniform during warmups after being listed as OUT pregame. That tweet from Anthony Fashanu could mean his son will be protecting Drew Allar’s blindside one more time today.
Either way, Anthony was defending his son from those saying that he quit on the team as Penn State looks to become the first team in college football history to win all six New Year’s Six Bowl games.