Blue White Illustrated

March 2019

Penn State Sports Magazine

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WIDE RECEIVER SIGNEES John Dunmore, T.J. Jones ANALYSIS With Juwan Johnson, Cam Sullivan-Brown and Brandon Polk transferring and DeAndre Thompkins having graduated, Penn State has lost three of its top will need to recruit two players at this position in the Class of 2020. OFFENSIVE LINE SIGNEES Caedan Wallace, Anthony Whigan, Saleem Wormley ANALYSIS With Connor McGovern and Ryan Bates entering the NFL Dra@, Chasz Wright and Zach Simpson gradu- ating, and Alex Gellerstedt opting to transfer, Penn State had only eight scholarship o>ensive linemen on its roster heading into the 2019 o>-season. That group consisted of <@h-year sen- ior Steven Gonzalez, redshirt juniors Will Fries and Michal Menet, redshirt sophomores Des Holmes and Mike Mi- randa, and redshirt freshmen Bryce E>ner, Juice Scruggs and Rasheed Walker. A ninth lineman – redshirt sophomore C.J. Thorpe – played prima- rily at defensive tackle last season but appears to be headed back to o>ense this spring. With so little depth, Penn State wanted to land four o>ensive linemen in this recruiting cycle. The Nittany Lions got three quality four-star prospects in Wallace, Wormley and Whigan. With Thorpe back on o>ense, Penn State has 12 scholarship o>ensive line- men on its roster, a bit short of the 15 linemen it would likely prefer to have. It's possible that the Lions will -season with a pair of graduate transfers. DEFENSIVE END SIGNEES Adisa Isaac, Smith Vilbert ANALYSIS The Lions got what they needed here, landing two quality defen- sive ends in Isaac and Vilbert, and maybe a third in Hakeem Beamon, who shined at the position in high school but is listed as a defensive tackle by Penn State. Isaac is a four-star prospect who was rated by Rivals as the <@h-best weakside defensive end in the Class of 2019, while Vilbert is a three-star player with big potential. Penn State will enter spring practice with good depth at both positions. At the weakside DE position are redshirt juniors Shane Simmons and Shaka Toney, as well as redshirt freshman Jayson Oweh. At the strongside spot are junior Yetur Gross-Matos, redshirt jun- ior Daniel Joseph and redshirt freshman Nick Tarburton. At 6-4, 220 pounds, Isaac is a weak- side defensive end, while Smith should factor in at the strongside position when he enrolls later this year. Their arrival will give Penn State eight scholarship defensive ends in 2019. The sta> has done an excellent job here. DEFENSIVE TACKLE SIGNEES Hakeem Beamon, Joseph Darkwa, D'Von Ellies ANALYSIS With Kevin Givens entering the dra@ and Ellison Jordan and Fred Hansard recovering from injuries, Penn State may have as few as six fully healthy defensive tackles heading into spring practice. Those six are <@h-year senior Robert Windsor, redshirt junior Antonio Shelton, sophomore P.J. Mustipher, red- shirt sophomore Damion Barber, and redshirt freshmen Judge Culpepper and Aeneas Hawkins. Knowing that they had to build depth For daily and breaking news updates on Penn State football recruiting, visit bwi.rivals.com.

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