Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1322704
after year after year, and if you expect to compete in the NFL, then you'd better learn to compete on a college campus. I love that guys are embracing that and not fearing that." At the time, it seemed as though their competitive nature would yield its biggest dividends a few years down the road. But by the first quarter of their first college game, Lee and Holmes were run- ning out of guys to compete against. Slade had entered the transfer portal in February, Brown was forced to give up football due to a heart condition that doctors discovered in September, and Cain suffered a season-ending injury on the first offensive possession of Penn State's opener at Indiana. That stagger- ing wave of attrition left Ford as the starter, and then he too was forced to miss nearly two full games due to an in- jury and a death in the family. The result of all the upheaval was that Lee and Holmes ended up nearly at the top of that depth chart to which they hadn't paid any attention back when they were being recruited. Lee finished the Nittany Lions' COVID-shortened regular season as Penn State's leading rusher with 353 yards and three touchdowns on 70 carries, while Holmes was fifth with 150 yards on 39 carries. And they were hardly the only true freshmen to make a big impact for Penn State this season. Through eight games, Parker Washington was the Nittany Lions' second-leading receiver with 35 catches for 473 yards and six touchdowns. Fellow wideout KeAndre Lam- bert-Smith had 14 catches for 127 yards, while tight end Theo Johnson, promoted to the second-team offense after Pat Freiermuth went down with a season-ending injury, caught a pair of passes for 14 yards. On defense, Curtis Jacobs helped shore up a linebacker corps that went into the season without its presumed leader when Micah Parsons opted out to prepare for the NFL Draft, then lost backup Charlie Katshir to a season-ending in- jury. Listed second be- hind Brandon Smith at the Sam outside linebacker spot, Jacobs finished the regular season with nine tackles and a pass break-up. Other true freshmen who made the depth chart at some point during the reg- ular season included Tyler Warren (tight end), Olu Fashanu (right tackle), Malick Meiga (wide receiver), Coziah Izzard (de- fensive tackle) and Enzo Jennings (free safety). Some of those players had been ex- pected to have an early impact on Penn State's fortunes. Washington was one of them. The Lions had prioritized wide re- ceivers in their 2020 recruiting class, and in the 5-foot-10, 205-pound prospect from Sugar Land, Texas, they knew they had landed a good one. On signing day, Franklin gushed about EARLY IMPACT Washing- ton became the first true freshman wide receiver to start a season opener for Penn State since Brandon Polk in 2015. Photo courtesy of Penn State Athletics >>