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Penn State redshirt report: Which Nittany Lion freshman is one game away from using a year of eligibility?

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•11/02/23•

GregPickel

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Penn State Nittany Lions defensive end Jameial Lyons (19) pressures Massachusetts Minutemen quarterback Ahmad Haston (16) during the fourth quarter at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Massachusetts 63-0. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Penn State played four freshmen in the team’s 33-24 win over Indiana last Saturday at Beaver Stadium. The team did not need any of them to do anything overly spectacular to come out with a victory. And, it’s also worth noting that one first-year player missed his first contest during the 2023 season.

“Indiana is a great team,” Penn State defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton said. “Obviously, it was a close game the whole game. And then the offense did a great job of scoring and then they just put it on the defense to shut it up. And that’s what we did.

“Last week was a tough game, obviously. We didn’t come out on top. But this week, we just wanted to come together and that’s what we did against Indiana. They were tough team. You know, we had some challenges on offense and defense. But we still made a way to come out on top and I think that’s huge for our team.”

Here’s how each first-year player performed.

Penn State redshirt report: Indiana

Penn State mixed up its quartet of freshmen who played on Saturday against the Hoosiers. Cornerback Elliot Washington II missed his first game of the season. He was listed as out on the availability report that is mandated by the Big Ten. The reason he was out was not disclosed.

Per the usual, linebacker Tony Rojas, cornerback Zion Tracy, and safety King Mack all played on special teams. It marked their eighth game this season. Defensive end Jameial Lyons played in his fourth. If he suits up for one more regular season game, he will use a year of eligibility. None of them had a counting statistic during the contest, however.

Tracking the Nittany Lions’ redshirt plan

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 5:

Eight games

LB Tony Rojas
CB Zion Tracy
S King Mack

Seven games
CB Elliot Washington II

Four games
DE Jameial Lyons

Two games
OT J’ven Williams
OT Anthony Donkoh
TE Andrew Rappleyea
OL Chimdy Onoh
LB Ta’Mere Robinson
LB Kaveion Keys

One game

QB Jaxon Smolik
DT Tyriq Blanding
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

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