Despite Depth, Is Penn State Football One Injury Away from Disaster in 2025?
At Big Ten media days in Las Vegas last week, Penn State Football head coach James Franklin boasted that Penn State is entering the 2025 season with “the best combined personnel [he thinks] we’ve ever had at Penn State … talking about players and staff.”
However, despite this, is Penn State one injury away from disaster in the Nittany Lions’ pivotal 2025 campaign?
One reason that Franklin is so high on the Nittany Lions’ personnel this offseason is the star-studded coaching staff that Franklin has assembled for Penn State heading into the 2025 season. This includes the additions of an extremely highly rated defensive coordinator, former defensive coordinator for the reigning national champion Ohio State Buckeyes Jim Knowles, and veteran running backs coach Stan Drayton and the retention of other key staff, including offensive guru Andy Kotelnicki, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, and key Pennsylvania recruiter and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith, among many others.
The second reason Franklin is so high on the personnel for the Nittany Lions this fall was the “all-in”, “unfinished business” approach of the rising senior 2022 recruiting class, including star quarterback Drew Allar, running back duo Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, and key defensive playmakers Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant.
The Nittany Lions were able to make an impressive effort through NIL to retain key members of the 2024 Penn State class that broke through to the college football playoff for the first time in program history, to bring back a key cadre of playmakers to set expectations sky high this fall.
A final reason that Franklin can be so high on the personnel is Penn State’s approach to the transfer portal filling two glaring holes on the roster, at wide receiver and linebacker.
At the Nittany Lions’ biggest position of need, Franklin went out and found three starting-caliber wide receivers in the transfer portal.
All three of Kyron Hudson, Devonte Ross, and Trebor Pena could start for Penn State this fall, bringing Allar the best wide receiver and his most reliable weapons in his three years starting for Penn State.
On the opposite side of the ball, while Penn State was able to retain most everyone with eligibility to return for 2025, two surprise departures ahead of the 2025 season were Kobe King to the NFL draft and Ta’Mere Robinson to the transfer portal this spring.
To address the hole created by these two departures, Franklin brought in Bonafide starter Amare Campbell from North Carolina to aid the Linebacker U tradition this fall.
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Does Penn State Have National Championship Depth?
However, despite all of the retention and additions to this Penn State team, there is a glaring weakness that could derail the Nittany Lions season unless Penn State can get lucky with injuries this fall, defensive line depth.
Penn State lost a few major pieces to the Nittany Lions defensive line from last season, defensive end Abdul Carter, who went third overall to the New York Giants in the 2025 NFL draft, and defensive tackles Coziah Izzard and Dvon J. Thomas who ran out of eligibility.
To add on top of the depth issues presented by those departures, one key defensive end that was expected to play a major factor in the Nittany Lions 2025 plans, Max Granville, was already lost with a “long-term” injury this spring.
All of this leads to Penn State having an inexperienced, thin defensive line this fall outside of the Nittany Lions four starters along the defensive line. Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant are both expected to be major stars for the Nittany Lions this fall, and Alonzo Ford is expected to play a major role as well in his return from a late-season injury.
However, behind those three, and Zuriah Fisher who is expected to earn the last starting spot on the defensive line, the Nittany Lions are extremely green on the defensive line heading into 2025.
With an injury to one of the key starters mentioned, the Nittany Lions could be pushing for a college football playoff spot and potential national title run starting a defensive lineman who entered the 2025 season with relatively no college playing experience.
To win the national title, or even make the college football playoffs, a team must be both talented and lucky. For Penn State, it will need to be both, especially with injuries on the defensive line.
Penn State will have three “easy” non-conference games to start the season this fall. James Franklin and the Nittany Lions must use these three games to get as much experience into the depth pieces along the defensive line before an injury derails the Nittany Lions promising 2025 campaign.
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