Penn State redshirt subject settled, mostly, as season wraps

With two games left in Penn State’s 2022 season, the redshirt picture is settled. Well, it almost is, anyway. 

Bringing in a 25-man recruiting haul last year, 10 Nittany Lion first-year players have appeared in more than four games. 

On offense, Nicholas Singleton, Omari Evans, and Kaytron Allen have played in every game, while quarterback Drew Allar has appeared in nine of 11 games. Defensively, Abdul Carter, Dani Dennis-Sutton, and Zane Durant have played in every game, while KJ Winston and Cam Miller are in for 10 and nine games each, respectively.

And, as of last weekend in Piscataway, N.J., the club grew by one when left tackle Drew Shelton played in his fifth game. It leaves one player, junior college transfer JB Nelson, who remains in limbo. Having appeared in three games so far this season, nonconference games against Ohio and Central Michigan, and then in relief of an injured Hunter Nourzad at Indiana earlier this month, Nelson can play in one of the two remaining Penn State games to preserve his redshirt. 

As Penn State head coach James Franklin explained recently, though, the process necessary to get there is something of an evolution for the parties involved. Particularly for players coming into the program for their first seasons, attitudes tend to change.

“I think 90 percent of all these kids we recruit, although I try to talk them out of that and see the big picture, every single one of them thinks that they’re going to be three years. That’s just not the path that most guys take,” Franklin said. “If it works out, awesome. But, it’s just not the normal path.”

Given the redshirt rule allowing participation in up to four games, Penn State has 13 players who won’t burn theirs, playing in two-or-fewer games thus far. Offensively, that includes receivers Kaden Saunders (2 games), Anthony Ivey (0), Cristian Driver (2) and Tyler Johnson (0), offensive lineman Vega Ioane (2), quarterback Beau Pribula (0), tight end Jerry Cross (0), linebackers Keon Wylie (2) and Tyrece Mills (0), safety Mehki Flowers (1), and defensive tackle Kaleb Artis (1). Kicker Alex Bacchetta has appeared in two games.

Offensive lineman Maleek McNeil is no longer with the program, playing in no games before his departure. Ken Talley enrolled in August but transferred out within the first weeks of preseason camp. Their departures reduces Penn State’s Class of 2022 to 23 currently enrolled players.

For those players, Franklin said the program works to set a more realistic expectation of how the first season is likely to go.

“I try to sell them on maximizing this experience here and when the time comes, and it’s obvious to everybody, go,” Franklin said. “It’s interesting, the conversations in the summer are very different than the conversations right after training camp when maybe it’s harder than they thought it was going to be. Or, they’re further down the depth chart than they thought they were going to be. So, the conversations when you first get them here are different, then right after camp, they’re different. Then a lot of times still, their tune changes halfway through the season because the season hasn’t necessarily gone how they thought it would go. 

“The obvious ones are easy. We see that. But it’s all those guys that are right on the bubble. I think they all want to play in the beginning of the year, and then late in the year, they’d like to try to preserve the redshirt if they could.”

A settled subject for all but Nelson as Penn State’s 2022 season comes to a close, with Shelton set to play in seven games “with a good percentage of them as a starter,” the balancing act for Franklin and the Nittany Lion coaching staff is no longer necessary.

“It’s a moving target. And for me to sit here and say that I totally can project what it’s going to be like, and how it’s going to go; there’s just too many variables,” Franklin said. “Injuries factor into it with the guys that are ahead of them, early success factors into it, who we play factors into it. There are so many things, so it’s just hard to predict. You just got to take each situation kind of case by case and they’re all unique.”