Penn State Football is now less than one week away from opening the season against West Virginia. With arguably the most talented team James Franklin has put together at Penn State, expectations for the team in 2023 are sky high.
One of the main reasons for the Nittany Lions‘ lofty expectations for 2023 is the top end elite talent that Penn State brought back this season.
Now, with eyes set on the 2023 season and the 2024 NFL draft, Penn State has landed three players in PFF’s “2024 NFL Draft Big Board”.
🚨NEW BIG BOARD🚨
PFF’s Top 50 Prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft⬇️https://t.co/LgaXwRVaJl
— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 28, 2023
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First, a name that should come as no surprise to Penn State fans, Olu Fashanu checks in as the number four overall prospect for the 2024 NFL Draft according to PFF.
Fashanu was a somewhat surprising return for Penn State in 2023 as he “got a first-round grade from the NFL draft advisory board for the 2023 class” but chose to return for one more season in Happy Valley.
On PFF’s Big Board, Fashanu opens the year as the top offensive tackle with top-10 or top-5 potential for the 2024 NFL Draft. Still only 20 years old, Fashanu combines great movement skills, balance, and a high football IQ to put him in the conversation among the best prospects in the nation.
Second, checking in at number eight overall, Kalen King looks to finally break Penn State’s NFL Draft defensive back curse next April.
According to PFF, King’s 2022 “90.6 coverage grade and 93.4 grade in single coverage were both the highest for draft-eligible cornerbacks.” Stepping up as CB1 after Joey Porter Jr. went down with an injury last season, King exceeded expectations and put himself in the conversation of being the top corner in the country.
With “’NFL’ written all over him”, King should be a cornerstone for an elite Penn State defense in 2023 before hearing his name called on day one next April.
Third, Chop Robinson checks in at number nine overall coming into his second season at Penn State.
In year one for Robinson in the Penn State defense after transferring from Maryland, Robinson posted an impressive 20.9% pass-rush win rate to finish second on the team in sacks (5.5) and third in tackles for a loss (10). As a draft prospect, Robinson has “the gravitational pull of the sun” in a position that “gravitates to elite athletes”.
After not starting a single game in 2022, Robinson is now set to start alongside Adisa Isaac to wreck even more havoc in the opposing backfield in 2023.
If Penn State is to reach the lofty expectations set for the program in 2023, Fashanu, King, and Robinson will be key to this success. Look for each to have a major impact in 2023 on the field and then hear their names called next April on day one of the 2024 NFL Draft.
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Education: Saint Vincent College, Penn State Law School
Location: Washington, DC
Experience:Robert Casturo has covered Penn State football for NittanyCentral since 2022. Casturo previously covered Penn State football through a social media presence (@PSU_FB_Thoughts on X) since 2019. Casturo earned his bachelor's degree from Saint Vincent College in 2015, where he was a punter for 1 season on the Saint Vincent College football team and worked in the athletic department for 2 years as a student manager. Casturo earned his JD from Penn State Law in 2018 where he was a senior editor of the Penn State Law Review.
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