Penn State among nation's best in Athlon preseason ranking

The start of June has welcomed the beginning of college football publication season. And for Penn State, the Thursday entry at Athlon Sports signifies the beginning of heightened expectations ahead of the 2023 campaign.

Released as part of the overall Top 25 preseason overview last week, the Nittany Lions’ full breakdown as the No. 8 team in the country has been unveiled. Within it, the organization believes that the program is “poised to push Michigan and Ohio State for the top spot in the Big Ten this fall.”

Can the Nittany Lions and head coach James Franklin get there? 

Athlon examined the offense, defense, and special teams at Penn State this season with a final prediction for how the Nittany Lions might fare.

Penn State Offense

Like its overall examination of the program heading into the season, the focus begins on offense and the optimism attached to Penn State’s biggest stars. 

Drew Allar, Nick Singleton, and Olu Fashanu are all highlighted as critical elements that could help unlock a more dynamic outfit this year. 

“Optimism is running high in Happy Valley for Penn State to break through and make its first trek to the CFP,” Athlon writes. “Singleton’s big-play ability was on display in a dynamic true freshman campaign last fall and hopes are high for Allar to elevate the passing game with a revamped receiving corps counting on key contributions from a couple of transfers.”

The issue? 

Penn State has uncertainty in the passing game due to Allar’s relative lack of experience and, maybe more important, the struggles of the program “in recent years to develop depth in its receiver corps.”

Penn State Defense

On the other side of the ball, Manny Diaz is being counted upon to help guide the Nittany Lions to even more success than his outstanding debut season with the program. 

Athlon credits the unit as having the “personnel they’ll need to build on last year’s successes” while highlighting Abdul Carter, Curtis Jacobs, Kalen King, Johnny Dixon, Adisa Isaac, and Chop Robinson.

Like the Nittany Lion offense, questions linger regarding the defensive tackle position. Primarily, Athlon points to the lack of size throughout the position group as a cause for concern.

Still, Athlon lands on the same shared sentiment ahead of the season for its overall assessment of the program:

“Even with a young quarterback replacing a four-year starter, this looks like one of Franklin’s better teams. But for Penn State to go from New Year’s Six bowl participant to legitimate playoff contender, it must overcome its toughest divisional rivals.”

Scouting the Big Ten

The Nittany Lions aren’t the only conference program with lofty projections ahead of the 2023 season. 

And at the top of the list, the Big Ten’s back-to-back champion Michigan Wolverines have unseated the traditional favorite Ohio State Buckeyes. Within the rankings, the Wolverines landed at No. 2 and are expected to give head coach Jim Harbaugh another opportunity to return to the College Football Playoff.

Not far behind, Ohio State checks in at No. 5. The Buckeyes need to replace quarterback C.J. Stroud, but with a “loaded backfield” and a top corps of receivers, Athlon is predicting another highly competitive season from Penn State’s Big Ten neighbor to the west.

After those three top 10 entries of Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, the Big Ten has a bigger drop-off. Wisconsin appears at No. 17 for Luke Fickell’s first season back in the conference, while Iowa earned a place among “The Next Tier” as the only two other programs to be recognized ahead of the 2023 season.