Penn State redshirt report: Which Nittany Lions made their debut at West Virginia?
Penn State took numerous first-year players with it to West Virginia as members of the travel roster. The non-conference season opener allowed the team to travel more players than they could for a Big Ten game. That’s why some of the freshmen got their first taste of what a college football road trip is like without seeing game action. All were part of the happy contingent that left Morgantown with a 34-12 victory over the Mountaineers to close out the second half of a two-year home-and-home series with the Big 12 school.
“When you play this type of opponent, I think you’re forced and challenged both both physically and mentally and as coaches right out of the gate,” head coach James Franklin said. “And I think we were gonna be tested. I thought today we were tested.
“We battled through some things, we grinded through some situations. We found a way to create some explosive plays. Same thing on the defensive side of a ball.”
We review the latest redshirt below.
Which Penn State freshmen traveled, and who made their season debut?
The travel roster provided pregame by Penn State included the following true freshmen. As part of the travel roster, all went through pregame warmups, at the very least.
WR Tyseer Denmark
S Dejuan Lane
CB Kenny Woseley Jr.
DE Max Granville
S Vaboue Toure
RB Corey Smith
RB Quinton Martin Jr.
QB Ethan Grunkemeyer
LB Anthony Speca
DE Jaylen Harvey
OL Cooper Cousins
DT Xavier Gilliam
OL Eagan Boyer
TE Luke Reynolds
Three Penn State freshmen made their debuts. And, it was the three we expected to. Cousins played a first-year player-high 13 of the offense’s 62 snaps. He also received special teams work and is clearly going to burn his redshirt this year. The same goes for Lane, who saw lots of special teams action while taking just three of the defense’s 71 snaps. Last but not least, Reynolds did not record any stats over his 12 snaps. He will continue to have a role with backup tight end Khalil Dinkins sidelined with an undisclosed injury.
PSU redshirt tracker after Week 1
First, a reminder: Any member of the roster can play in up to four regular season games and still preserve a year of eligibility. Once you pay in a fifth, you can no longer redshirt. And, most importantly, postseason games do not count against the total. It is a regular season counter only.
One game
TE Luke Reynolds
OL Cooper Cousins
S Dejuan Lane
Zero games
WR Tyseer Denmark
CB Kenny Woseley Jr.
DE Max Granville
S Vaboue Toure
RB Corey Smith
RB Quinton Martin Jr.
LB Anthony Speca
DE Jaylen Harvey
DT Xavier Gilliam
OL Eagan Boyer
CB Jon Mitchell
QB Ethan Grunkemeyer
DL Liam Andrews
OT Garrett Sexton
DE Mylachi Williams
OL Donovan Harbour
RB Josiah Brown
DL T.A. Cunningham
OL Caleb Brewer
LB Kari Jackson
CB Antoine Belgrave-Shorter
WR Peter Gonzalez
DT DeAndre Cook
