Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1507572
O C T O B E R 2 0 2 3 13 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M PSU Pushes Back On Academic Report, Citing Graduation Rate After SpotlightPA reported in late Au- gust that the Penn State football team's academic progress rate had "plummeted to its lowest point in more than a decade" during the 2021-22 academic year, coach James Franklin reaffirmed his commit- ment to players' classroom performance and noted that PSU's football gradua- tion rate continues to exceed the national average. The story, published Aug. 24, noted that PSU ranked last among Big Ten pro- grams with an academic progress score of 914 for the 2021-22 school year. Three years earlier, Penn State had posted a per- fect score of 1,000. Responding to the report at his weekly press conference on Aug. 29, Franklin said he and athletics director Patrick Kraft have prioritized athletes' academic suc- cess, calling it a point of "tremendous pride" for Penn State. "We're going to spend a lot of energy and resources on getting it back where we want it to be. Pat is aligned on that. I'm aligned on that. So is our staff," Franklin said. "We take a lot of pride in it, and we'll get it right. "If you look at our graduation rates, our graduation rates have really been good. The actual graduation rates, not the pre- dictor of graduation." Brandon Short, a former Nittany Lion All-America linebacker and current alumni-elected member of Penn State's board of trustees, raised concerns with the report and the narrative it presented. Short supplied Blue White Illustrated with a lengthy statement detailing his challenges. "PSU football's current graduation rate is 89 percent, which is nine points higher than the Division I football average and is a two-point increase from 2021," Short noted. "The football program's 89 percent graduation rate is in line with our his- toric graduation rate under the late, great Joe Paterno. While academic progress is important, the most important factor in changing our student-athletes' lives is graduating from Penn State." — Nate Bauer OFFENSE LEFT TACKLE No. Name Cl. Ht. Wt. 74 Olumuyiwa Fashanu Jr. 6-6 317 56 JB Nelson R-Jr. 6-5 334 LEFT GUARD 56 JB Nelson R-Jr. 6-5 334 71 Olaivavega Ioane R-Fr. 6-4 348 CENTER 64 Hunter Nourzad R-Sr.+ 6-3 320 53 Nick Dawkins R-Jr. 6-4 315 RIGHT GUARD 77 Sal Wormley R-Sr. 6-3 324 71 Olaivavega Ioane R-Fr. 6-4 348 RIGHT TACKLE 73 Caedan Wallace R-Sr. 6-5 328 66 Drew Shelton So. 6-5 306 TIGHT END 84 Theo Johnson Jr. 6-6 260 44 Tyler Warren Jr. 6-6 257 WIDE RECEIVER 1 KeAndre Lambert-Smith Jr. 6-1 185 3 Dante Cephas R-Sr. 6-0 193 7 Kaden Saunders R-Fr. 5-10 175 WIDE RECEIVER 6 Harrison Wallace III R-So. 6-1 194 11 Malik McClain Jr. 6-4 206 WIDE RECEIVER 2 Liam Clifford R-So. 6-1 201 5 Omari Evans So. 6-0 189 4 Malick Meiga Jr. 6-4 203 QUARTERBACK 15 Drew Allar So. 6-5 242 9 Beau Pribula R-Fr. 6-2 203 RUNNING BACK 10 Nicholas Singleton So. 6-0 222 13 or Kaytron Allen So. 5-11 222 DEFENSE DEFENSIVE END No. Name Cl. Ht. Wt. 44 Chop Robinson Jr. 6-3 254 36 Zuriah Fisher R-Jr. 6-3 254 DEFENSIVE TACKLE 91 Dvon Ellies R-Sr. 6-1 298 52 Jordan van den Berg R-So. 6-3 310 99 Coziah Izzard Jr. 6-3 295 DEFENSIVE TACKLE 51 Hakeem Beamon R-Sr. 6-3 290 28 Zane Durant So. 6-1 285 DEFENSIVE END 20 Adisa Isaac R-Sr. 6-4 249 33 Dani Dennis-Sutton So. 6-5 261 OUTSIDE LINEBACKER 23 Curtis Jacobs Jr. 6-1 235 0 Dominic DeLuca R-So. 6-1 218 MIDDLE LINEBACKER 41 Kobe King R-So. 6-1 242 43 Tyler Elsdon Jr. 6-2 229 OUTSIDE LINEBACKER 11 Abdul Carter So. 6-3 249 13 Tony Rojas Fr. 6-2 225 CORNERBACK 4 Kalen King Jr. 5-11 190 5 Cam Miller So. 6-0 183 CORNERBACK 3 Johnny Dixon Sr. 6-0 196 12 Zion Tracy Fr. 5-11 180 SAFETY 1 Jaylen Reed Jr. 6-0 205 6 Zakee Wheatley R-So. 6-2 198 SAFETY 2 Keaton Ellis Sr. 5-11 190 21 or Kevin Winston Jr. So. 6-2 203 BWI's Unofficial Penn State Depth Chart PUNTER No. Name Cl. Ht. Wt. 95 Riley Thompson Sr. 6-1 209 97 Alex Bacchetta R-Fr. 6-2 220 PLACEKICKER (FG) 93 Sander Sahaydak R-So. 6-0 177 91 or Alex Felkins Sr. 6-3 200 PLACEKICKER (KO) 99 Gabriel Nwosu R-So. 6-6 274 LONG SNAPPER 48 Tyler Duzansky R-So. 6-4 215 PUNT RETURNER 7 Kaden Saunders R-Fr. 5-10 175 KICKOFF RETURNER 10 Nicholas Singleton So. 6-0 222 13 Kaytron Allen So. 5-11 222 SPECIAL TEAMS