Penn State redshirt report: Which true freshmen have burned their redshirt, and how many games has each played in so far?
Entering Saturday’s Penn State-Michigan game in Ann Arbor, seven Nittany Lions true freshmen had burned their redshirt. That number now sits at nine.
Before the season began, head coach James Franklin felt confident that the Class of 2022 would send numerous players to the field this fall. How many would be in the ‘green light’ category and lose a year of eligibility by playing in at least five games, however, was up in the air at the start of the season.
Franklin called the discussion about it ‘fluid.’ For those unaware, yellow light status means a player may use his redshirt year but probably would be held out after playing in four games barring injury or other roster concerns. Red light status indicates the player is not expected to cross the four-game threshold under any circumstance.
“I met with those guys last week,” Franklin said in late August. “I don’t know if there’s a ton of value in sharing it with you right now. The reason I say that is because I met with them again yesterday. I said, ‘Let’s just be perfectly clear: just because you’ve been given the green light, if you’re not showing us you’re ready against Purdue, you’re not playing, or you’ve been given a yellow last week but then all of a sudden the lights come on for you and you’re doing some really good things, now you’re trending towards being a green.’
“That’s really a very fluid kind of conversation throughout the year. Obviously it gets to a point, about mid-season, where you kind of got to make some decisions one way or another. Either you’re moving ahead in playing guys or you’re going to try to use the four-game model and save guys.”
Here’s where things stand after Week 7.
Penn State redshirt report
Penn State traveled 14 freshmen to Michigan. That’s notable, as the team can only send 74 players to Big Ten Conference game. The list included Drew Allar, Beau Pribula, Nicholas Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Kaden Saunders, Omari Evans, Vega Ioane, Drew Shelton, Dani Dennis-Shelton, Zane Durant, Abdul Carter, Keon Wylie, Cam Miller, and Kevin “KJ” Winston.
Two of those players saw time in their fifth game of the season and can no longer preserve a year of eligibility. Allar came in for an injured Sean Clifford and completed five of 10 passes for 37 yards. KJ Winston saw four snaps at safety, as well. So, he is in the same boat.
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Singleton and Allen combined 12 carries for 35 yards as each played their sixth game of the year. So too, did Dennis-Sutton, who had three tackles and a quarterback hurry, and Durant, who had no countable stats. Evans was the same. Carter had five tackles (one for loss) in his sixth game.
Game-by-game breakdown
Six games (burned redshirt) – QB Drew Allar, RB Nick Singleton, RB Kaytron Allen, WR Omari Evans, DE Dani Dennis-Sutton, DT Zane Durant, LB Abdul Carter, S KJ Winston
Three games: CB Cam Miller
Two games: WR Kaden Saunders, OL JB Nelson
One game: OL Drew Shelton, OL Vega Ioane, LB Keon Wylie, CB Cristian Driver, Saf. Mehki Flowers,
Zero Games – QB Beau Pribula, WR Anthony Ivey, WR Tyler Johnson, TE Jerry Cross, OL Maleek McNeil, DT Kaleb Artis, P Alex Bacchetta
