Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547542
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 6 3 5 shirt freshman is a good football player. There have been some rough patches, but his physical tools, including excel- lent lateral agility for his size, length and speed, allow him to get away with some of his bad habits. Goodman will lose from time to time, but every lineman does. He was very good against the Lions' top two defensive line matchups, USC and Michigan, after stumbling out of the gate against Sebastian Cheeks at Wisconsin. The issue is that his run blocking hasn't progressed to the point where he can help give Penn State a reliable ground game. He and redshirt junior left guard Trevor Buhr are a combination whose weak- nesses amplify each other. Goodman is also starting for the first time, so our baseline for his abilities is what we see right now. We haven't seen the work behind the scenes he put in as a freshman and this past offseason to get ready for his debut season, which makes this an unfair starting point for evaluation. That said, the end result leaves us with little choice but to include him on this list. The good news is that Goodman has made strides in the run game. Part of that improvement stems from offensive co- ordinator Taylor Mouser learning what Goodman can't do right now and avoiding those calls. He's also executed more and made fewer mistakes in the second half of the season. Trevor Buhr | G Here's what I said about Buhr when ranking the Penn State offensive linemen back in May: "He isn't ultra-consistent. He can struggle with balance in both run and pass blocking, a byproduct of his ag- gressive nature. ... He overshoots blocks at times, giving up easy lanes to the quar- terback and ball-carrier." One of the reasons for optimism ahead of the 2026 season was that you expect some progression from players in the offseason. We saw junior guard Cooper Cousins skyrocket from the bottom of the list of PSU's top players to second among the offensive linemen. Unfortunately for Penn State's offense, Buhr has been in- consistent and at times overmatched by Big Ten competition. The goal was never for the redshirt junior to be the best player on the field. He didn't need to be Olai- vavega Ioane or Juice Scruggs, two former Nittany Lions who are now starting in the NFL. Penn State could have lived with something more akin to what they got from marginal pro prospects like Mike Miranda and Sal Wormley. Buhr has not hit that mark. That lack of development, alongside Goodman's inex- perience, was the foundational problem in the run game prior to the bye week. James Peoples and Quinton Martin Jr. | RB Fans get excited about highlights and project those plays across a full body of work when they want to believe their team has landed something special in a recruit or transfer. That's why I watch the full game film, to see how often those traits actually show up. One of my biggest regrets about this team is backing off my initial concerns about the running backs room. During the offseason, I was skeptical of how the room was built. The plan centered on adding an explosive element to complement senior starter Carson Hansen, a three-down, efficient runner who lacked a proven big-play threat. That job fell to Peoples, a junior who had transferred in from Ohio State, and Martin, a redshirt sophomore slash player who shined for PSU in the Pinstripe Bowl last December. Peoples had left Columbus after losing his job to a freshman in 2025. He was a quality recruit, but he didn't show unique traits when given his shot. Martin, mean- while, was more hype than production and needed to fully commit to adding size in the weight room, something he hadn't managed in two seasons at Penn State. Over the next seven months, sources stayed confident and optimistic about the room and the development of Peoples and Martin. You could see the physical transformation in Peoples, who packed on muscle this offseason and was listed After arriving from Iowa State, junior receiver Brett Eskildsen hasn't been able to develop a consistent connection with quarterback Rocco Becht, limiting his effectiveness in Penn State's passing attack. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL