Penn State redshirt report: Which Lions could burn a year at Northwestern?
Another blowout Penn State victory allowed numerous first-year players to see time in the Nittany Lions’ 31-0 demolition over Iowa. It means that some of them could officially burn a year of eligibility when the team travels to Northwestern this weekend.
“We had a great crowd; 110,800 – second-largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history,” Penn State coach James Franklin said after the win. That was awesome. When you look at the game, I just thought we played really good complementary football, offense, defense and special teams.
“Obviously, our defense played a suffocating style of D, and were able to get turnovers that were extremely ball-aware, but the other thing is, again, we didn’t turn the ball over on offense either. Special teams, I thought we did a really nice job.”
Six Penn State first-year players were on the field for the win.
Penn State first-year player snap counts against Iowa
Per the usual, we’ll note that Pro Football Focus does not track special teams snaps. Thus, some of the players listed below saw more action than their final numbers indicate.
For the fourth time this season, safety King Mack, linebacker Tony Rojas, and cornerbacks Zion Tracy and Elliot Washington II were part of numerous special teams units. Mack and Rojas did not see defensive snaps. But, Tracy and Washington II did. The former played six and the latter one. None of these four finished with any counting stats.
“Elliott has great strength and power,” Penn State cornerbacks coach Terry Smith said last week. “Zion has great footwork, and technique, and fundamentals. We’re just super excited about the future of these guys and to be able to groom them under guys like Kalen King and Daequan Hardy and Johnny Dixon. We just want to keep the room going and just have good bodies to learn from.
“Those [freshmen] are taking it in. We want to have them ready when that time comes. One day, they’re going to be called to the carpet and they’re going have to go out there and perform in front of the big stage. We want to have them ready when that time comes.”
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In addition to those four, Penn State also inserted offensive linemen J’Ven Willams and Anthony Donkoh. Both played in the fourth quarter. Each played 15 snaps.
Nittany Lions 2023 redshirt tracker
Thanks to an NCAA rule change, players can now suit up in four regular season games and an unlimited number of postseason games while still preserving a year of eligibility. So, Penn State would need to use a freshman in five of 12 regular season games to burn his redshirt this fall.
Here’s where the Penn State tracker stands after Week 4:
Four games
LB Tony Rojas
CB Elliot Washington II
CB Zion Tracy
S King Mack
Two games
DE Jameial Lyons
OT J’ven Williams
OT Anthony Donkoh
One game
QB Jaxon Smolik
TE Andrew Rappleyea
OL Chimdy Onoh
DT Tyriq Blanding
LB Ta’Mere Robinson
LB Kaveion Keys
CB Lamont Payne
S DaKaari Nelson
Zero games
RB London Montgomery
RB Cam Wallace
WR Carmelo Taylor
TE Joey Schlaffer
OL Alex Birchmeier
DE Joseph Mupoyi
DE Mason Robinson
