Who are the first three Penn State football captains for the 2023 season?
STATE COLLEGE — The Penn State football program will have all new captains this season. On Saturday, before the Blue-White game, the first three were revealed.
Junior offensive lineman Olu Fashanu, senior safety Keaton Ellis, and redshirt sophomore Dominic DeLuca walked out of the south end zone tunnel with locked arms. There was no coin toss before the intrasquad scrimmage, of course. But, they will represent the offense, defense, and special teams, respectively. Others will eventually join them as the program’s player leaders. But, on the Penn State Coaches Show, head coach James Franklin suggested that he might make a decision to pick the first trio as spring practice finishes up.
“I like to kind of have an idea going into the summer where we’re at,” Franklin said. “What I may do is name one offensive guy, one defensive guy, and one special teams guy going into the summer. And then, wait until the end of training camp [to announce the rest]. But, this will give us a good idea who the players view as leaders at this stage.”
The 10th-year leader of the Nittany Lions did exactly that.
Meet the first three 2023 Penn State captains
Fashanu is an expected first-round NFL Draft pick next year. He could have gone to the pros after the 2022 season but instead returned to Penn State to raise his draft stock, finish his education, and anchor the Lions’ offensive line on the left side.
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Ellis is having his best spring yet, by his own admission, and appears set to be one of the starting safeties this season. He is one of the oldest members of the roster and a State College native.
“My leadership style is just lead by example,” Ellis said recently. “Show everybody, and especially the younger players, what it means to be a part of this team and what it takes and how your work ethic at practice. I think a step that I took is just speaking up when needed to speak up in some aspects. I’m not the most super outgoing and talkative person and don’t have a huge personality.
“I feel like we’ve done a great job of, collectively the older guys, everybody has kind of stepped up at their position and is leading their position really well. I think that’s just a difference. We have more guys who are stepping up in within their position groups and within the defense and the offense this year.”
Last but not least, DeLuca plays on numerous special teams units. He is now on scholarship.
Penn State could add three more captains, Franklin said, during the summer.
