Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1538407
2 4 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M P enn State returns roughly 15 starters this year, depending on how you count partial-year first-teamers like offensive tackles Anthony Donkoh and Nolan Rucci and rotational players such as run- ning backs Nicholas Singleton and Kay- tron Allen. In most cases, these are play- ers who could have left school early for the NFL but decided to stay. The group makes up the core of a Nit- tany Lion football team that is ranked No. 2 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 and has the highest expectations since the James Franklin era started back in 2014. Most of the key players are being discussed adequately, if not ad nauseum. However, the man in the middle of it all — quite literally in a number of ways — rarely gets his due. That's largely because super senior center Nick Dawkins isn't like a lot of his fellow veterans in some key respects. Unlike seniors Singleton and Allen, for example, he didn't play as a freshman. Unlike senior quarterback Drew Allar, he didn't take on a high-profile role as a sophomore. And unlike redshirt junior guard Olaivavega Ioane, he didn't move to the top of the depth chart at his position group during his third year on campus. It didn't happen in Year 4, either. Instead, it wasn't until Dawkins was in his fifth sea- son that he finally became a starter. To Penn State fans of a certain age, Dawkins was perhaps best known prior to last year as the son of the late Dar- ryl Dawkins, a 14-year NBA veteran who was part of the great Philadelphia FOLLOW OLLOW THE THE LEADER EADER Center Nick Dawkins commands the respect of everyone in the Penn State football program G R E G P I C K E L | G R E G . P I C K E L @ O N 3 . C O M