Olu Fashanu explains how his fitness has improved at Penn State

Penn State offensive tackle Olu Fashanu has come a long way physically from when he arrived as a true freshman in 2020. Then only 17 years old, he decided he could benefit from a redshirt season to work on getting both his body and game prepared for the next level.

“I came to Penn State around 315, but it was a really bad 315,” Fashanu told On3’s Andy Staples. “A whole lot of fat. I lost a good amount of weight then I just restructured it with a lot more lean muscle.”

Now getting ready to enter his fourth year, Fashanu has seen the results of his hard work. Standing 6-foot-6 and 323 pounds, he is extremely athletic for a player of his size, breaking five seconds in the 40-yard dash.

Fashanu continued, crediting strength coach Chuck Losey for helping him develop a workout plan. It’s about more than that, however, as team nutritionist Leanne Louden has kept his diet on track as he works to reach the next level.

“I give all the credit in the world to coach Losey and our great strength staff,” Fashanu said. “Also Leanne (Louden), our nutritionist, just setting me on the right path. Back to coach Losey and the staff, with the great workout plans they have for us, they make sure that not only do we stay in shape, but we get bigger, faster, stronger and leaner every year.”

Fashanu could have left Penn State this offseason after being projected as a first-round NFL Draft pick. However, he opted to return, giving him an extra year to improve his testing numbers ahead of the NFL Combine.

Fashanu is already expected to be the first offensive lineman off the board in the 2024 NFL Draft. Thanks to help from the Nittany Lions staff, he should enter the league ready to make an immediate impact.

James Franklin told Olu Fashanu to leave for NFL, reveals reason he stayed

When Penn State coach James Franklin sat down with Fashanu following the 2022 season, he advised him to leave the program and enter the NFL Draft. All the data backed up Franklin, but an early departure was never in the plan for the 6-foot-6, 319 pound offensive lineman.

Fashanu responded by thanking Franklin for giving an honest assessment about his NFL potential. But he didn’t just come to Penn State for the football aspect, telling his coach he always intended to stay in college for four years and earn his degree.

“It was somewhat strange,” Franklin told On3’s Andy Staples. “I meet with all these guys that are on the bubble and their parents. We kind of set up a meeting, do a draft analysis, have a bunch of reports from GMs. …We sat down and I told Olu and his family, ‘you should leave.’ Him and his family said, ‘coach, we really appreciate your perspective, but we always planned on being four years. Getting my degree before I left campus was really important.’

“He’s got like a 3.67 (GPA) in supply chain management, one of the best programs in the country. It was really important for him to finish that and come back.”

Fashanu’s return has catapulted Penn State into the conversation to challenge Michigan and Ohio State for a Big Ten title this season. With the season set to kick off in a little more than a month, he’ll hope to live up to those high expectations.