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Who were the Penn State winter workout standouts on Thursday?

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•02/15/24•

GregPickel

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Penn State offensive tackle Anthony Donkoh in a winter workout drill. (Courtesy of Penn State Athletics)

Penn State put another round of winter workouts in the books on Thursday. Head strength coach Chuck Losey and his staff had the Lions inside of Holuba Hall before 6 a.m. to continue preparing for both spring practice and the 2024 season via a grueling 45-minute period of conditioning work and competition.

Speaking earlier this week, many of the program’s second-year players said, besides the physical pain, the worst part of this six-week stretch is the early wakeup. Tight end Andrew Rappleyea did not disagree. But the redshirt freshman also offered an interesting perspective on the workouts that was partially inspired by a message from head coach James Franklin.

“You definitely see, not to say anything bad about anybody, can kind of see some guys who handled their business a little bit better preparing for it and whatnot,” Rappleyea said. “Everybody’s grinding, and going to, I hate ot say it, losing what they had the night before. It’s testing everybody’s will

“Coach Franklin said today, and I thought it was actually really interesting, [winter workouts] are everything about football and it’s nothing about football, which is like really true because it’s a true test of your character. We’ve got a tire, and you got a guy straight across yoi. Sometimes, it comes down to strength, and sometimes, it comes down to who wants it more. That’s a good test of when you don’t have the pads on, the kind of person and the kind of player you are.”

Who were the winter workout standouts on Thursday?

Here’s the list. As a reminder, each of the 10 on-field Penn State assistant coaches make a competitor of the day pick after each workout except for offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. He has handed off the quarterback selection to graduate assistant and de-facto quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien.

Quarterback: Ethan Grunkemeyer

Running back: Quinton Martin

Wide receiver: Julian Fleming

Tight end: Joey Schlaffer

Offensive line: Tackle Anthony Donkoh

Defensive line: End Zuriah Fisher

Linebacker: Tony Rojas

Cornerback: Elliot Washington II

Safety: Lamont Payne

Special teams: Tyler Duzansky

Takeaways from Thursday’s picks

Martin, the former standout do-everything athlete at Belle Vernon, earned his first nod since joining the Nittany Lions for the spring semester. First-year Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer also received his first shout-out since enrolling.

Rappeleya said back on Tuesday that Schlaffer has crushed the team’s winter workouts so far, so that selection, his third of the month, was not a surprise. End Zuriah Fisher also earned his second nod of the month as he looks to become a leader up front. And, Elliot Washington II went back-to-back. Last but not least, Julian Fleming earned his first winter workout competitor of the day hinor at Penn State after earning praise from head coach James Franklin on Tuesday.

Past Penn State winter workout winners

Quarterback: Beau Pribula (2/5, 2/7, 2/13), Ethan Grunkemeyer (2/15)

Running back: Cameron Wallace (2/5), Nick Singleton (2/7, 2/13), Quinton Martin (2/17)

Wide receiver: Liam Clifford (2/5), Malick Meiga (2/7), Anthony Ivey (2/13), Julian Fleming (2/15)

Tight end: Joey Schlaffer (2/5, 2/13, 2/15), Tyler Warren (2/7)

Offensive line: Nick Dawkins (2/5, 2/7), Addison Penn (2/13), Anthony Donkoh (2/15)

Defensive line: Zuriah Fisher (2/5, 2/15), Zane Durant (2/7, 2/13)

Linebackers: Tyler Elsdon (2/5), Dom DeLuca (2/7), Tony Rojas (2/13, 2/15)

Cornerback: Cam Miller (2/5), AJ Harris (2/7), Elliot Washington (2/13, 2/15)

Safety: Jaylen Reed (2/5), Zakee Wheatley (2/7), KJ Winston (2/13), Lamont Payne (2/15)

Special teams: Punter Riley Thompson (2/5), kicker Sander Sahaydak (2/7), snapper Tyler Duzansky (2/13, 2/15)

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