Olu Fashanu explains decision to return to Penn State

One of the biggest gets for Penn State on the 2023 roster didn’t come from the recruiting ranks or the transfer portal. Instead, tackle Olu Fashanu‘s decision to return to Penn State for another year helped bolster the Nittany Lions’ offensive outlook considerably.

Fashanu is an anchor on one side, and he should make life easier on first-year starting quarterback Drew Allar.

Importantly, Fashanu said he feels better than ever after entertaining some self-doubt a year ago. That’s a good place to be in now, no longer worried about it.

“I would say last year I had high expectations for myself but the pressure did come with that and it would affect me mentally, just a lot of self-doubt would creep in,” Fashanu explained. “But this offseason I’ve done a lot of work with myself mentally with where I’m at and how far I’ve came since I was at Penn State. So going into the season, even though I have high expectations, I don’t really feel any pressure.”

Fashanu is going to be a key piece up front in his return to Penn State.

In 2021, Fashanu started seeing time on offense and special teams with one start. Then, as a sophomore in 2022, he started eight games at left tackle. In those appearances, he didn’t allow a single sack against the Penn State offense in just over 280 snaps.

So how did coach James Franklin get his star lineman to return to Penn State?

“It’s interesting (that), in today’s NIL world, everybody’s like, ‘Well Penn State must have gone crazy to try to keep him’. And the reality is I met with Olu and his family. I meet with all those guys. And (I) basically told them that he should leave. And all the feedback I was getting was first round,” Franklin said. “Olu and his family were like, ‘Hey, we’re staying. We always planned on being here for four years.’”

“What a lot of people don’t understand is when I was having this meeting with Olu, he had been at Penn State for three years. But when I was having the meeting with Olu and his family? Olu was only 19 years old at the time. So, Olu had just turned 20 years old. That played a factor in it as well for the family,” continued Franklin. “Olu wanted to get his degree. He’s got a chance to be an academic All-American. That’s something that’s really important to me and the family as well. He’s probably got the highest GPA on our team.”

Fashanu echoed a lot of those sentiments.

In the end, it was his comfort level with a return to Penn State and the existing coaching staff that made him want to come back and do it one more time before collecting a (likely very large) NFL paycheck.

“With the process of coming back it came down to the fact that over these last three years it’s been such a great time here at Penn State,” Fashanu said. “Coach Franklin and his staff have been great to my family and myself, so having another opportunity to come back to suit up with all my brothers one more time, combine that with the fact that I had the opportunity to graduate early, those two choices made everything a lot easier.”