Penn State puts five on Phil Steele All-American teams; 11 earn All-Big Ten preseason honors
Phil Steele’s annual preseason college football magazine is out. Penn State is well represented across both his All-American teams and also the quartet of All-Big Ten teams.
Starting with the nationwide rundown, a pair of Nittany Lions received first-team nods. Penn State junior Olu Fashanu was picked for one of the two offensive tackle slots along with Notre Dame’s Joe Alt. A Waldorf, Md., native, Fashanu earns the honor after skipping out on a chance to leave the Lions early for the pros and instead returning for another season in State College.
“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 told On3’s J.D. PicKell. “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.”
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On defense, Penn State junior Kalen King is a Phil Steele first-team All-American pick at cornerback alongside Alabama’s Kool-Aid McKinstry.
In addition to that pair, sophomore linebacker Abdul Carter is a third-team preseason All-American per Steele while defensive end Chop Robinson was a third-team choice and running back Nicholas Singleton a fourth-team preseason selection.
Penn State earns spots on Phil Steele’s preseason All-Big Ten team, too
The Lions are all over Steele’s preseason All-Big Ten teams. The following players made the cut:
- OT Olu Fashanu, first team
- LB Abdul Carter, first team
- CB Kalen King, first team
- KR Nicholas Singleton, second team
- LB Curtis Jacobs, second team
- DE Chop Robinson, second team
- RB Nicholas Singleton, second team
- WR KeAndre Lambert-Smith, third team
- C Hunter Nourzad, third team
- DE Adisa Isaac, third team
- LS Tyler Duzansky, third team
- CB Johnny Dixon, fourth team
