Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1505736
3 2 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M to win his battle with redshirt junior JB Nelson for the starting job. No. 21 Caedan Wallace | R-Sr. | OT At no point in Wallace's Penn State ca- reer has he been considered an especially consistent performer. He bounced be- tween positions in 2020, took over the right tackle spot in 2021, and held onto it in 2022 until an injury in late October forced him out until the Rose Bowl. As graded by PFF, he had his best per- formance against Minnesota, the same game in which he was injured. If the status quo had remained intact, the fifth-year senior likely wouldn't be on this list. But, by seemingly all accounts, Wallace produced the best set of practices in his Penn State career this spring. Fully recovered from his injury, and with an eye toward an NFL career, he appears ready to meet the moment. No. 22 Dante Cephas | R-Sr. | WR You don't know until you know. Cephas is the personification of that sentiment. He comes to Penn State having won first-team All-Mid-American Confer- ence honors the past two seasons, includ- ing after a sophomore campaign in which he caught 82 passes for 1,240 yards, be- coming the first Kent State player since 1997 to top 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Cephas was brought in to fill a hole at wide receiver, and the expectation from the moment he announced his intention to join the Lions has been that he would step into a starting role and make a sig- nificant impact. That may yet happen. However, a strong showing by soph- omore Omari Evans in the latter stages of spring practice could challenge some widely held assumptions about how the Lions' depth chart will look this fall. Receivers coach Marques Hagans will have some difficult decisions to make, but if Cephas adjusts well to his move to the Power Five, he'll earn his spot on this list. No. 23 Jaylen Reed | Jr. | S Safeties coach Anthony Poindexter re- cently described Reed as "one of the most football-savvy guys" on the Penn State roster. His experience — the Detroit native has played in 21 games during the past two seasons — is a big reason why. As a sophomore, Reed notched 31 tackles, including 2 for loss, a quarter- back hurry and 3 pass breakups. What's more, he did it without starting a single game. Injured early in Penn State's win over Utah in the Rose Bowl, Reed saw limited action this spring, missing out on an op- portunity for further development. He's still a projected starter and is poised to play a huge role for the Lions this season. No. 24 Kevin Winston Jr. | So. | S With more-experienced players bat- tling to replace Ji'Ayir Brown in the starting lineup, including the player di- rectly ahead of him on this list, Winston doesn't appear likely to be a full-time starter. But the possibility can't be ruled out, either. A 6-2, 204-pounder from Colum- bia, Md., Winston has frequently been mentioned this offseason as one of the Lions' up-and-coming young players. In a summer podcast appearance, quar- terback Drew Allar specifically brought up Winston as a defensive player who wasn't being talked about enough. One of the reasons for all the internal excitement is that Winston has a pen- chant for delivering forceful hits any chance he gets. And, maybe more impor- tant, he's around the ball with enough frequency to make that a real possibility. Despite suffering a preseason injury last summer, Winston quickly became a contributor on both defense and special teams as a true freshman. He finished the season with 16 tackles, including 1 for loss, on 114 defensive snaps and another 154 on special teams. No. 25 Zane Durant | So. | DT A January 2022 enrollee, Durant cap- tured everyone's attention from the jump. Even as a true freshman, he offered quickness and playmaking ability at the defensive tackle position. Durant ended up seeing action on 170 snaps in 13 games, finishing with 5 tack- les and a sack. Significantly, he was at his best in the final four games of the year — games in which his quarterback pressures increased, and he became a more consistent force. Durant was listed at 265 pounds a year ago. Now he's up to 280, and his development was one of the reasons that Franklin earlier this summer de- scribed PSU's defensive tackles as "the position I'm most excited about right now." Penn State needs Durant, a former four-star prospect from Lake Nona, Fla., to be as good as advertised. With a year of promising performances under his belt, he has the opportunity to show his potential. ■ Redshirt sophomore Zakee Wheatley will be vying for snaps at safety as part of a secondary that is expected to be one of Penn State's strengths. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE