Based on spring ball and as much info as we know what’s the projected two deep in the fall that will be chasing the trophy?
Depth Chart
- Thread starter Ian
- Start date
I'll take a shot at it, even if some backups haven't been identified at all by the staff to date.
QB Allar, Grunkenmeyer, Smolik
RB Singleton OR Allen, Martin OR Smith, Wallace OR Hayes
LT Shelton, Boyer OR Sexton
LG Cousins, Birchmeier OR Onoh
C Dawkins, Shanahan
RG Loane, Williams (has practice at Guard and OT so he may end up backing up Shelton)
RT Donkoh OR Rucci (whoever doesn't start may back up both sides and get snaps on both sides)
TE Dinkins, Reynolds, Rappleyea
WR Ross, Ivey OR Howard
WR Hudson, Gonzalez, Brown
WR Pena, Denmark OR Clifford
DE Fisher OR Granville, Williams
DT Durant, Gilliam, Wafle
DT Ford, Blanding, Artis
DE DDS, White, Harvey
LB Rojas, Wylie (* 3rd LB in 3-LB sets), Jackson
LB DeLuka, Speca, Nelson
Dime/Lion Tracey, Mack
S Wheatley, Toure
S Lane, Mack
CB Harris, Collins
CB Washington, Woseley, Dixon
I'll probably tweek this some as I watch the draft......
QB Allar, Grunkenmeyer, Smolik
RB Singleton OR Allen, Martin OR Smith, Wallace OR Hayes
LT Shelton, Boyer OR Sexton
LG Cousins, Birchmeier OR Onoh
C Dawkins, Shanahan
RG Loane, Williams (has practice at Guard and OT so he may end up backing up Shelton)
RT Donkoh OR Rucci (whoever doesn't start may back up both sides and get snaps on both sides)
TE Dinkins, Reynolds, Rappleyea
WR Ross, Ivey OR Howard
WR Hudson, Gonzalez, Brown
WR Pena, Denmark OR Clifford
DE Fisher OR Granville, Williams
DT Durant, Gilliam, Wafle
DT Ford, Blanding, Artis
DE DDS, White, Harvey
LB Rojas, Wylie (* 3rd LB in 3-LB sets), Jackson
LB DeLuka, Speca, Nelson
Dime/Lion Tracey, Mack
S Wheatley, Toure
S Lane, Mack
CB Harris, Collins
CB Washington, Woseley, Dixon
I'll probably tweek this some as I watch the draft......
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Good takes. Here's a question: Do you think the #3 QB (whomever it may be), considers portalling next opportunity or is it too late once they go through Spring ball and Summer workouts? Neither are grad students so they would have to wait for the next portl session.
Might be smart. Here is prediction at QB. Beau Pribula comes back after next year and starts in 2026-2027.
Seems like that right now Grunk is #2, as he had a very good development year as a true freshman when Smolik was injured. With Smolik just this Spring being healthy enough to compete, and Grunk continuing to look like the future PSU starter, Smolik knows he has some ground to make up. But I'd think he would stay and develop at PSU and see if he can overtake Grunk as he continues his recovery and learns grows in the offense. It's also too late to go somewhere and start in 2025 at another program, unless he finds a D2 program that doesn't have a starter. Smolik's resume isn't too attractive at this point to any Top 50 program that already has a couple QB's competing, but he probably could find a landing spot to develop for 2026 and beyond, or possibly in the event of an injury during the 2025 season. But I sure don't understand the way kids go about the portal and every player approaches it different anyway.
Will Martin just get limited snaps as the 3rd or 4th RB? Will he see the field in other ways?? Slot receiver, returner? Wonder if he has bulked up?
Ford showed great progress last year then his injury set him back. Question becomes how long it will take him to fully rehab and play meaningul/impactful reps? That is why they have to spend money for a portal DT that can play immediately.
Is that Freshman Miami QB coming in the summer? I don't see Smolik ever starting. We will get at least two from Grunk in '26 and '27 then in '28 it should be one of the two '26 recruits either Huhn or the guy we just picked up (forget his name). Or maybe the Miami kid coming in now if he is coming has a shot to start.
Franklin hasn't shy'd away from mentioning Ford as being a DT that will be basically a starter with Durant, so he must be very confident that Ford's injury is in the past and that holding him out of Spring practices was precautionary.
What was Ford's injury? Everyone seems concerned he may not be ready. Why? I get he is injury prone but I would think he would be ready certainly as fall camp opens up. We need him to produce for us this year and I think he can.
Beyond Ford we need one of the four RS freshman guys to step up. The highest rated one was Andrews but he may have been rated as an O-Lineman. Still he has great size and is athletic. Gilliam's name (RS Freshman) has been thrown out as a guy showing something so far. There also is Blanding who may be a Sophmore but has at least a couple years in the program already. I don't think a ready made DT with P4 starting experience is walking through the door via the portal.
The talk, mainly here, about Martin being uses as a slot receiver or otherwise in addition to RB seems like it was just here and due to the weak WR 2023-24 production and the fact that Belle Vernon had another excellent RB and used Martin all over the place. Sure he can catch footballs (short or long throws), especially when he was playing against 2A defenses and he was twice the athlete as anyone on the defense trying to defend him. But Franklin has never waivered from the fact that Martin is a RB at PSU, period. Will he catch passes out of the backfield? Sure. Will they use him in 2 RB sets and possibly get him the ball on jet sweeps? Possibly.
We'll see who lines up as punt and KO returners in 2025. But the other RS Fr RB, Smith, may have better moves and speed that translate into a more explosive KO returner. Hope Singleton doesn't return KO's this season.
And with Franklin's incessant priority for ball security we may even see Saunders as the punt returner once again. I'm hoping for Denmark. One of the true freshman WR's may be the longer term answer at punt returner, but with Franklin likely prioritizing their redshirts the odds are 100 to 1 against that happening this season.
You are probably right abou a portal DT. Wishful thinking on my part. So two of Gilliam, Andrews, Cook, Blading, and Artis have to be reliable rotation DTs. Franklin has talked alot bout the true Fesman DT Adirika (sp?) as impressing during camp. I expect to see him out there during the OOC and perhaps 1 B1G game to determine if he redshirts or can become part of the rotation in his Feshman year ala Zane Durant.
Franklin has already mentioned Gilliam in the the DT conversation as being in the core group of Durant, Ford and Gilliam. So it seems that the 4 others you mentioned are battling for the 4th and 5th DT depth spots. Odd are probably against Adirida doing anything other than possibly playing in 4 games and redshirting, unless some how injuries and a crazy good camp by him force him playing.
We'll see how serious Franklin is about getting an experienced DT from the transfer portal as that may be the only update we get about the progress of Blanding, Artis, Cook and Andrews towards gaining the confidence of the coaches as being viable options in the DT rotation.
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Going to need more than one dt to step up. They need two just to fillout the two deep. That is without factoring in injuries.
If they have injuries they will move dds to dt.
I'll be shocked if Ross isn't the punt returner. I also like him as a KO returner but Singleton has done well there.
I hope you are correct. He slipped my mind. Wonder if the media has seen him returning punts in their limited views of practice.......
The Roster is Loaded, the potential of 7 5 Star starters 5 on Offense Rucci, Reynolds, Singleton, Allar, Cousins and 2 on Defense Harris and Sutton. PSU has as much Talent on the roster then anyone on there schedule other than OSU maybe Oregon.
He returned punts for Troy, including a punt return TD against one of the best special teams schools in the nation: Iowa.
In this video, Ross catches a ~63-yard TD catch at 00:27 mark. The 77-yard punt return is at 1:16. He scores on another 62-yard bomb at 2:25. Again, one of the better defenses in the nation. Overall, he had 5 catches for 142 yards and two TDs, along with a 77-yard punt return for a TD vs Iowa.
For the year, he had 76 catches for over 1,000 yards and 11 TDs.
Nothing to take away from some of the superstars on our roster, but it isn't "loaded" as long as there are weak links that can be exploited. That's the difference between a typical OSU roster and a typical PSU roster. Has been that way for a long time.
Somehow the coordinators need to use our tight end strength to fill our wide receiver weakness. I think that can be done with the playbook. I don't see big WRs that will make contested catches -- the problem we have had for a while now.
Same goes for linebacker. Defensively I would think that strong run-stuffing defensive tackles are needed if you're going to fill linebacker needs with defensive backs.
By all accounts, Smolik had a great Spring and Grunk as #2 is not certain.
However, it could be coaches blowing smoke so that Smolik stays at least through the season.
No, but it looks like he's likely coming as a Syracuse guy put in a CB for him to PSU. So I just stuck him on there on the assumption that Franklin is likely to get him and he's not likely coming to PSU to sit.....
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Yes, some. Will be interesting to see who the 3rd & 4th backs will be. Wallace's injury set him back last year as he was being talked up. What is the word on his rehab?
He practiced Wednesday I believe. No contact but went through drills. That’s a good sign IMO.
That running back room is so impressive . Does not get the credit it deserves
PSU needs to get Martin in the mix somehow. That won't be easy with Singleton and Allen, especially if Smith is healthy.
Allen and Singleton need to be on the field as much as possible--so unless Martin is playing in the slot he should only be playing when the game is out of reach. That's not an insult to him--but you have two elite backs that both need 15-20 touches--there isn't room for a 3rd guy
IF these young backs can have patience and not portal out then next year is wide open with Nick & Kaytron gone to the NFL. Big IF; hopefully they see the opportunity ahead.
That's why I said it would be difficult. I mentioned him as a slot receiver option last year but I assume they saved his redshirt (6 games but 1 was vs Oregon in BiG title game and another was vs SMU). I think PSU needs to get him some PT this year if he's as talented as his 94 rating.
While I’m rooting for the kid, I’m not so sure that he is their best back after Singleton and Allen.
Predicting future rosters is all fun and dandy but the Portal has really thrown a wrinkle into 2026 rosters and beyond. Many of the current players will be gone and we'll see new stars transferring in and not just at PSU but almost every school.
It's almost impossible to predict future 2 and 3 deep lineups
It's almost impossible to predict future 2 and 3 deep lineups
That's 7 out of 22 starting positions not including special teams.
WR remains a concern. Certainly no Jeremiah Smith in the bunch.
LB is weak after Rojas with just some young 3* kids like Speca, Tasch, & Wylie (+ fresh Arrington)
DT is weak after Durant with only Artis and injury prone Ford.
S is weak after Wheatley. Lane is promising but young. We're counting on King Mack who was rated 95 as a prospect but only 88 as a transfer. That reeks of Julian Fleming at WR last year. I hope I'm wrong.
PSU certainly has some great prospects but expectations are high. Last year we had 3 losses and 2 uncomfortably close wins (USC & Minnesota). There's a fine line between 9-3 and 11-1 when you have teams like Oregon & OSU on the schedule. Even teams like Nebraska and Iowa (with QB Gronkowski) could be difficult.
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