KEY
PERSONNEL
C: Michal Menet*,
Juice Scruggs; G: Nick Dawkins, Golden
Israel-Achumba, Mike Miranda*, C.J.
Thorpe*, Ibrahim Traore, Anthony
Whigan, Sal Wormley; T: Jimmy Christ,
Bryce E=ner, Olu Fashanu, Will Fries*,
Des Holmes, Rasheed Walker*, Caedan
Wallace
LOSSES C: Hunter Kelly; G: Steven
Gonzalez*
RISING STAR
Wormley has been on
an upward trajectory
since arriving on
campus last summer.
He had started out as
a defensive tackle at
Smyrna (Del.) High
but switched to of-
fense as a junior and
developed into a four-star prospect with
o=ers from the likes of Notre Dame and
Oregon in addition to Penn State.
Wormley, who is listed at 6-foot-3, 322
pounds, shared the scout team's O=en-
sive Player of the Year award with quar-
terback Ta'Quan Roberson last season
and was listed as Miranda's backup at
le> guard on the Nittany Lions' spring
depth chart.
BIGGEST LOSS When Penn State faced
Indiana in November 2016, Gonzalez,
then just a redshirt freshman, was
forced to guard due to in-
juries elsewhere on the o=ensive line. He
went on to start 42 of the Nittany Lions'
next 43 games. This past May, Gonzalez
signed with the Arizona Cardinals as an
undra>ed free agent.
NUMBERS GAME Penn State surren-
dered 32 sacks last season, the fourth-
highest total in the Big Ten, and its
average of 2.46 sacks allowed per game
ranked 98th in the Football Bowl Subdi-
vision.
OUTLOOK Penn State should er the Cotton Bowl, in
which PSU rushed for 396 yards in its
victory over Memphis.
But the Nittany Lions have had some
difficulties, too. That's apparent in the
sack numbers cited earlier, and also in
the presence of a new offensive line
coach, former Boston College assistant
Phil Trautwein, who took over when
Matt Limegrover's contract wasn't re-
newed after the 2019 season.
Trautwein, a two-time All-Southeast-
ern Conference offensive lineman dur-
ing his playing career at Florida, hasn't
been in coaching for very long; his first
season as a full-time coach at a Power
Five school was in 2016 when he took
charge of Boston College's offensive
front. But in his three seasons in
Chestnut Hill, he developed three fu-
* Starting experience in 2019
SPOTLIGHT OFFENSIVE LINE
WORMLEY
P H I L ' S T A K E
Without question, this will be Penn State's best o=ensive line during the
seven years in which James Franklin has been in charge of the program. It has
the potential to rival Wisconsin as the second-best o=ensive line in the Big
Ten behind Ohio State. Four full-time starters return: <>h-year senior Michal
Menet at center, redshirt sophomore Rasheed Walker at le> tackle, redshirt
junior C.J. Thorpe at right guard, and <>h-year senior Will Fries at right
tackle. Walker has All-Big Ten potential, and Menet is likely to be taken in the
2021 NFL Dra>. For the tackle,
Sal Wormley at le> guard, Juice Scruggs at center, Anthony Whigan at right
guard and Caedan Wallace at right tackle. Penn State will have 16 scholarship
o=ensive linemen on its roster, the er recovering from an injury he sustained in
a car accident in early 2019.
■
LEFT
TACKLE
NO NAME HT WT YEAR
53 Rasheed Walker 6-6 313 Jr./So.
75 Des Holmes 6-5 317 Sr./Jr.
LEFT
GUARD
73 Mike Miranda 6-3 285 Sr./Jr.
77 Sal Wormley 6-3 322 So./Fr.
66 Nick Dawkins 6-3 311 Fr./Fr.
CENTER
62 Michal Menet 6-4 305 Sr./Sr.
70 Juice Scruggs 6-3 281 Jr./So.
RIGHT
GUARD
69 C.J. Thorpe 6-3 322 Sr./Jr.
55 Anthony Whigan 6-4 318 Sr./Jr.
RIGHT TACKLE
71 Will Fries 6-6 307 Sr./Sr.
79 Caedan Wallace 6-5 335 So./Fr.
72 Bryce E6ner 6-5 295 Jr./So.
