Penn State redshirt freshmen report: Which Lions played at Purdue; who traveled but did not?
It’s often said that a college football player makes his biggest jump from year one to year two of his career. That’s not the case for everyone, of course, either at Penn State or elsewhere. But, tracking the redshirt freshmen members of the program’s roster can tell us plenty about how their development is trending.
By Blue-White Illustrated’s count, the Lions sent 14 redshirt freshmen on the road to Purdue. Ten members of that group saw time in a 35-31 Penn State win.
We have a full rundown below.
Penn State redshirt freshmen players who saw time on offense
When including kickoff specialists, five redshirt freshmen members of the offense played for Penn State at Purdue.
We’ll start with the kickoff specialists. As promised by head coach James Franklin prior to game day, Gabe Nwosu and Sander Sahaydak rotated opportunities. Each receiver three chances to boot the ball deep. Nwosu sent two of his kickoffs for touchbacks while Sahaydak had one. The latter slightly outaveraged the former, however, by an average count of 64 yards to 63.7.
Moving on to the actual offense, guard Landon Tengwall played the most snaps of any Penn State redshirt-freshmen player with 39. That was just behind teammate Hunter Nourzad, who earned 42 as the team rotated the pair inside.
Next up on the snap count sheet was Harrison “Tre” Wallace. The Penn State receiver played 20 snaps but had no counting statistics or even targets.
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Finally, receiver Liam Clifford saw only special teams opportunities in the win.
Redshirt freshmen Lions who played on defense
Five Penn State redshirt freshmen who suited up and played at Purdue did so on defense.
We’ll start with Zakee Wheatley. The former corner who is now playing safety had a huge play late in the first half. He punched the ball out of Boilermakers receiver TJ Sheffield’s hands and Lion Joey Porter Jr., recovered. Two plays and 82 yards later, Brenton Strange rumbled into the end zone to give Penn State a 21-10 lead at the break. All told, Wheatley had two tackles and the forced fumble over 26 snaps.
Three redshirt freshmen linebackers played for Penn State. Kobe King (20 snaps), Dom DeLuca (12), and Jamari Buddin (two) combined to make four stops.
Last but not least, defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg was on the field for 18 plays but did not record a counting statistic.
Which redshirt freshmen traveled but didn’t play, or didn’t travel at all?
Here’s that list:
Penn State redshirt freshmen players who traveled by did not play:
QB Christian Veilleiux
TE Khalil Dinkins
LS Tyler Duzansky (walk-on)
DE Rodney McGraw
Schoalrship redshirt freshmen Lions who did not make the trip:
