As Penn State Football broke camp, coach James Franklin’s list of play-now freshmen was narrowed to two candidates, he announced on Monday.

Rookie offensive lineman Cooper Cousins and safety Dejuan Lane will have the green light designation going into Saturday’s opener at West Virginia, but others could have a chance to join them in future weeks.

As counter as it might run to the plight of young offensive linemen, Cousins’ play has gotten buzz through his first training camp. He has the look and feel of a veteran offensive lineman already with his 6-foot-6, 316-pound frame while also earning praise for his aggression and willingness to go toe to toe with anyone who lines up against him.

But, the drive Cousins has to play at a high level can best be described as uncommon, though Franklin had another word for it when he spoke with reporters at the beginning of training camp. It’s almost to the point where Penn State has to take measures to physically keep Cousins out of the film room and off the practice field at odd hours.

“I walk into my office and he’s out there on the field every night at like 9:45 with headsets on doing pass sets,” Franklin told Tyler Donohue of Lions247. “It’s kind of weird, to be honest with you, but he is as driven and committed as a young player I’ve ever been around, and specifically on the O-line, because it’s hard to play those grown-man positions — O-line and D-line — as a true freshman. But he’s going to be hard to keep off the field.”

With the green light designation, Franklin has decided not to try. And with Sal Wormley ahead of him on the depth chart at right guard, Cousins will get a chance to play in a rotation and maybe get more significant run in games where the Lions can build big leads. Franklin is going to invest in him with as many game reps as he can get, paving the way for Cousins to likely start in 2025.

In mentioning Cousins and Lane earlier this week, Franklin laid out all the factors that go into making such a commitment before the season begins. Position depth (or lack thereof) is one of them, and so is a player’s maturity level and how ready he might be for the pressure of playing good, mistake-free football. The latter category seems to be working in Lane’s favor on the safety depth chart.

“Overall, just him as a player, him as a person, he’s the same guy every day and willing to learn every day,” starting safety K.J. Winston told PennLive’s Johnny McGonigal. “That’s what I think allowed him to keep elevating throughout camp and be ready to go.”

Lane was a consensus four-star talent coming out of Gilman High School in Baltimore, but he didn’t appear in national rankings from On3, 247Sports or Rivals. Part of that scouting report might have been his size (6-2, 211) and a lack of clarity about his future position, whether he was a linebacker or safety. Penn State started him at safety, and Lane thrived right away with the help of a coachable, steady approach.

With DaKaari Nelson’s move to linebacker, Lane becomes a more prominent figure on the safety depth chart and should be in the top-4 rotation this weekend at West Virginia.

As far as the rest of Penn State’s freshman class, a handful of players are candidates to burn their redshirts either through their own development or through injury or personnel changes.

NittanyCentral’s updated Penn State Football traffic light projection following Franklin’s Monday announcement.

GREEN LIGHT

OL Cooper Cousins

S Dejuan Lane

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YELLOW LIGHT

Any injury at all to Drew Allar or Beau Pribula might force Franklin’s hand with Ethan Grunkemeyer, who looks ready for the mental and physical work of being the program’s QB3 with Jaxon Smolik sidelined … Quinton Martin and Corey Smith should both get an opportunity to audition for the RB3 job, but we like Martin to eventually emerge … Luke Reynolds is a physical marvel who might quickly graduate to green light status by playing like a man amongst boys. … cracking the rotation at wide receiver will be a challenge, but Denmark is the most likely to force his way onto the field.

RB Quinton Martin

TE Luke Reynolds

WR Tyseer Denmark

RB Corey Smith

S Vaboue Toure

QB Ethan Grunkemeyer

LB Kari Jackson

LB Anthony Speca

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RED LIGHT

Penn State might be as little as one injury away at cornerback from having to consider a promotion for Jon Mitchell, Antoine Belgrave-Shorter or Kenny Wosely Jr. … the Lions have far too much veteran depth to consider most of its freshman offensive or defensive linemen, barring extenuating circumstances.

CB Jon Mitchell

CB Antoine Belgrave-Shorter

CB Kenny Wosely Jr.

DL Liam Andrews

WR Josiah Brown

DE Jaylen Harvey

OL Donnie Harbour

OT Garrett Sexton

DE Mylachi Williams

DT Xavier Gilliam

OL Eagan Boyer

OL Caleb Brewer

DT De’Andre Cook

DT T.A. Cunningham

DE Max Granville

WR Peter Gonzalez (injured)

MORE: Penn State’s Breakout Picks, Defensive Darkhorse for 2024 Season

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