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Which Penn State players have made big strides since the 2022 season ended?

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•06/08/23•

GregPickel

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Penn State football head strength and conditioning coach Chuck Losey.

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State head strength and conditioning coach Chuck Losey and his staff kicked off summer workouts with the Nittany Lions on Monday. Speaking Thursday, the second-year assistant athletic director for performance enhancement covered plenty of ground inside of the Lasch Building team meeting room, including how things have progressed since winter workouts concluded and spring practice ended.

“The progress has been good,” Losey said. “We had a great training cycle throughout spring ball. It was good to see those midyear enrollees perform, and they’ve all thrived and continue to thrive.

“The summer enrollees are here, they have three and a half weeks under their belt, and they’re all in the system. For the most part, everybody is doing great now.”

Summer is a time to build on past strength, conditioning, and speed gains. It’s also a time to find leadership. Losey said the team is thriving in that area, too. He signaled out the work of captains Olu Fashanu, Dom DeLuca, and Keaton Ellis, among others, in that department.

Losey also picked a pair of players who have made the biggest strides between the end of the 2022 season and now.

Pair of Penn State players have made big strides this winter and spring

Asked to single out any players that came to mind as taking huge steps forward between the Rose Bowl and now, Losey focused on a pair of defenders. The first is sophomore safety KJ Winston.

“As it stands today, I’m really happy with a guy like KJ Winston,” Losey said. “I think KJ Winston, ever since we broke from the season, he’s been working at a high level. He seems like he’s training with a lot of intent. Not wasting any time. Not that any of our guys do, But, he just seems unbelievably intentional.”

The other player Losey mentioned was redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg.

“I think he’s a guy who it’s starting to really click with,” Losey said. “He’s been good in all areas since he’s been here. But now, he’s starting to put all the different pieces of performance together at the same time.

“He’s weighing around 302 pounds right now. He’s strong as a bull, and he’s another guy that just kind of jumps out the mind, that I’m really happy with.”

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