Blue White Illustrated

title and a chance to play in the league championship game and College Foot- ball Playo9. Those dreams quickly evaporated when Cain was lost for the season on the opening drive of Penn State's 8rst game. A:er three carries for 13 yards against Indiana, he su9ered a foot injury that forced him to sit out the rest of the year. Brown had also been sidelined, and a few weeks later it was revealed that he would have to retire from football due to a rare heart condition called hypertrophic car- diomyopathy. The personnel losses at running back ended up being a major reason why Penn State began its 2020 season with 8ve consecutive defeats. It was the 8rst time in the program's 134-year history that the Lions started 0-5. Ellis, Isaac, Smith and Wilson all had impactful freshman seasons in 2019. Ellis was John Reid's No. 1 backup at the 8eld cornerback position, totaling 18 tackles and three forced fumbles, and he was considered to be one of the hardest hitting CBs on Penn State's roster. Maybe that's why, going into the 2021 o9-season, there was talk that he might be moved to the 8eld safety position. Isaac played in 11 games as a true freshman, totaling 14 tackles and 1.5 sacks. With Shaka Toney now headed to the NFL, Isaac is the projected starter at the weakside DE position for the 2021 season. Smith was Cam Brown's backup at the Sam OLB position in 2019, totaling 14 tackles and two tackles for loss. This past season, he was Penn State's 8:h- leading tackler with 37 stops, including a team-high eight tackles for loss and two sacks. It's expected that Smith will move to the Will OLB position when Penn State's spring practice sessions (hope- fully) begin in mid-March. Luketa, who started the entire 2020 season at Will, is expected to be moved to middle line- backer in spring practice, where he will compete with senior Ellis Brooks for the starting job. Wilson came on strong in the second half of the 2019 season. He ended up playing in 10 of Penn State's 13 games, totaling 18 tackles and two interceptions and tying for the team lead in the latter category. This past season, Wilson played in all nine games and made 18 tackles. He 8gures to battle Joey Porter Jr., Tariq Castro-Fields, transfer John Dixon and possibly Ellis for a starting cornerback job during the upcoming o9-season. That brings us to Penn State's Class of 2020. It was a large class consisting of 27 signees, and 11 players made the deci- sion to enroll in January. On o9ense, the list included running back Caziah Holmes, tight end Theo Johnson, o9en- sive lineman Nick Dawkins, and wide re- ceivers Jaden Dottin and KeAndre Lambert-Smith. On the other side of the ball, there were six early enrollees: line- backer Tyler Elsdon, defensive tackles Cole Brevard and Fatorma Mulbah, de- fensive end Bryce Mostella and defensive backs Enzo Jennings and Joseph Johnson III. Given the disruption that the pan- demic caused and the presence of nearly 50 underclassmen on Penn State's 2020 roster, it's not surprising that only three of those 11 January enrollees – Holmes, Johnson and Lambert-Smith – ended up playing in more than one game. With Brown forced to give up football and Cain injured, it was all but assured that Holmes would see extensive action. He ended up playing in all nine games, 8nishing the season as the team's 8:h- leading rusher with 227 yards and two touchdowns on 51 carries. Johnson saw his role change when Pat Freiermuth was forced to miss the 8nal four games of the 2020 season with a shoulder injury that required surgery. The true freshman from Canada saw ac- tion in eight games, totaling four recep- EARLY IMPACT Parsons started only one game dur- ing his true freshman sea- son in 2018, but he still led the Nittany Lions in tack- les with 83. Photo by Steve Manuel

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