James Franklin: ‘A lot of confidence’ Zuriah Fisher will have breakout season

The Penn State Nittany Lions are looking for another strong season out of their defense in 2025. To get that, head coach James Franklin knows he’s going to need players like edge rusher Zuriah Fisher to step up.

There are some question marks around Fisher. However, Franklin remains confident. In fact, as he recently shared, the majority of the program has plenty of confidence in him moving forward.

“I think internally within our program, I think there is a lot of confidence that Fish has got a chance to have a big year,” James Franklin said. “He’s like one of those guys that I don’t think anybody’s talking about right now, outside of the program, based on just not seeing him recently, but there’s a lot of excitement internally, with our players, with our staff. I think those things are really apparent.”

Zuriah Fisher came to Penn State as a four-star recruit in the Class of 2020. He was the 320th-ranked recruit overall and the 20th-ranked edge rusher in that recruiting cycle. Since then, he’s played in 24 games, but only 2023 saw him play a full season. He’d then go on to miss 2024 with an injury, making it easy for some outside the program to overlook him.

“And again, you’re talking about another older, mature guy that’s had some adversity that he’s had to overcome,” Franklin said. “Both from a football perspective, as well as some personal stuff as well. I think he’s got a really bright future. I think he’s going to have a chance to have a really, really big year. You say, ‘Cap it off.’ I think technically, I think he has two years left. So, we’ll see how all that plays out. But, we’re excited about what he’s going to be able to do for our defense this year and for our team.”

For his career, Fisher has 22 total tackles and 3.5 sacks. All of those sacks came in 2023. He has also earned Academic All-Big Ten honors.

“He is big, he is long, he’s athletic,” Franklin said. “He’s another one of these guys that’s like a skinny 260 pounds with super long arms. So, we feel really good about Dani [Dennis-Sutton] and Fish being two veteran guys. Obviously, Dani with a little bit more playing experience, but I think Fish is going to surprise some people. I could see by the midpoint of next year, there being a significant buzz about him.”

James Franklin has been tasked this offseason with replacing Abdul Carter, one of the best defensive players in the country. It now appears that he’s going to trust Zuriah Fisher to be part of the answer at edge rusher next season. Hopefully, for the Nittany Lions, he’ll be able to make the leap forward.