Penn State center Nick Dawkins makes stay-or-go decision for 2025 season; what will he do?
Penn State redshirt senior Nick Dawkins is in his first year as the starting center for the Nittany Lions. Will he have a second? The Allentown, Pa., native has the option to play one final season in State College. However, he could also move on to the NFL. What will he do? The 6-foot-4, 298-pound blocker made his final decision public on Tuesday: He’s returning for the 2025 season.
“We had a great season this year. But, there is still unfinished business,” Dawkins wrote on Twitter. “That’s why I have decided I will forego the NFL Draft and return to Penn State for my sixth and final season in 2025. We have accomplished so many great things here as a family. But I believe the best is yet to come.”
Dawkins started all 16 games in the middle of the Lions’ line in 2024. He took over for departed center Hunter Nourzad. He had no known injury issues during the season and played one of the highest snap counts on the offense. Dawkins also won the Wuerffel Trophy, which is college football’s top community service award.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s always been about what I do off the field,” Dawkins told BWI this summer. “I think that’s important, because it’s the mark of who I am as a man, not my identity as a football player.
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“But I’ll be honest with you. I have all the confidence in the world that I’m the best center in the country. I’ve worked my dang tail off to be that and to be in the position that I’m in. I think there are a lot of guys in this world who have more talent than I do, but I promise you that they will never outwork me. They’ll never put in the work and the time and the effort that I have put in to be in the position that I’m in now.”
What is the Penn State situation at center in 2024?
The final 2024 unofficial offense depth chart from Blue-White Illustrated featured four centers who are all eligible to return. After Dawkins, the Lions have redshirt sophomore Dominic Rulli, who is a walk-on, redshirt sophomore Vega Ioane, who has played guard and center this season, and freshman Cooper Cousins, who spent most of his first year on campus at guard but also did see some snaps at center. PSU also signed former Texas A&M guard/center TJ Shanahan out of the transfer portal.
In other words, unlike some other positions, Penn State has to feel good about its depth situation here regardless of what Dawkins decided to do. There is no reason for that to not still be the case now that his final decision is in.
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