James Franklin Gives Update on 3 Penn State Freshman ‘Green Light’ Candidates
Penn State Football head coach James Franklin met with the media after practice Tuesday night in Penn State‘s second week of fall camp ahead of a highly anticipated 2025 season for the Nittany Lions.
While the focus ahead of the season has rightly been on many of the returning stars that the Nittany Lions brought back from the stellar 2022 recruiting class, Franklin did speak this week about three potential freshmen who could enter “green light” territory to burn redshirts this fall. Here are the three players mentioned by Franklin Tuesday night.
Penn State Football’s Freshmen to Watch
Defensive End Yvan Kemajou
Defensive end Yvan Kemajou has turned heads since arriving early on campus in January, receiving plenty of positive feedback from strength coach Chuck Losey, defensive line coach Deion Barnes, and head coach James Franklin.
After practice Tuesday, Franklin continued the hype for Kemajou, mentioning him first among players that could enter green light territory this fall.
This makes sense for Penn State as Max Granville’s injury this spring and Enai White’s move inside to defensive tackle leave little proven depth at the defensive end position behind Penn State’s two expected starters in Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zuriah Fisher.
If Kemajou can continue to show he is ready to see the field as a true freshman during early action against Penn State’s three non-conference opponents, he could carve out a role to burn his redshirt and help the team this fall.
Cornerback Daryus Dixson
Penn State cornerbacks coach Terry Smith has proven time and time again that he is willing to play true freshmen at the cornerback position if they prove they are ready to see the field.
The latest of these young players that could see early playing time is true freshman Daryus Dixson out of Mater Dei high school in California.
Dixson ranked as a top 100 overall recruit in the 2025 recruiting class and enrolled early at Penn State to participate in spring practice.
Dixson also received plenty of praise from the Penn State staff for his early work, including earning a shoutout from Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles as preseason practice 8’s “defender of the day.” From everything we have heard on Dixson, his addition to this list also makes sense as he could see plenty of playing time on special teams and earn a spot in the rotation at cornerback this fall.
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Defensive End Chaz Coleman
Defensive end Chaz Coleman is the “surprise” on this list, if we can even call it that.
On one hand, James Franklin listing Coleman as a potential green light player is surprising because he has only been on campus for about a month, not being among the players to enroll early in January. On the other hand, Coleman’s place on this list is less of a surprise because of how much buzz has surrounded his name since he stepped onto campus for fall camp.
In a very short period, Franklin noted that Coleman has already gained around 25 pounds since enrolling at Penn State, putting the true freshman rusher up to 250 pounds ahead of his freshman season.
Coleman has even earned the nickname the “Chaz-manian Devil” from defensive coordinator Jim Knowles early in his Penn State career. In talking about Coleman, Franklin mentioned Penn State “didn’t know what [they] were going to get” from Coleman because of his limited experience (senior year only) at defensive end after changing positions from quarterback. Still, Franklin noted that Penn State’s staff is “all surprised” by the early success Coleman has had in fall camp.
Like Kemajou, Coleman has a big opportunity in front of him this fall with the defensive end depth chart still shaking itself out behind Dennis-Sutton and Fisher.
Penn State will lean heavily on veterans this fall at most positions after bringing back arguably the best roster in the James Franklin era and one of the best rosters in the country in 2025.
Still, if Penn State can see development and impact from a few key freshmen and underclassmen this fall, it could go a long way to pushing Penn State toward the lofty program goals this fall.
While these three players have stood out the most to head coach James Franklin so far in fall camp, the three non-conference games to start the season will play a big role in showing who will be in green light territory to burn redshirts when conference play begins with the White Out against Oregon in late September.
