Penn State coach James Franklin details the why behind Olu Fashanu's low snap count against Delaware

Penn State starting left tackle Olu Fashanu played the fifth fewest snaps of any Nittany Lions offensive linemen in last Saturday’s 63-7 win over Delaware. It led some fans to ask during the contest if he was hurt. The future first round NFL Draft pick was not. Instead, head coach James Franklin said the program was simply following its pregame plan, which led to Fashanu playing 32 plays against the Blue Hens following a 51-snap effort in the Week 1 win over West Virginia.

“The games are situational,” Franklin said. “If we can get him out, then we wanted to get him out. You look at last week, we wanted to try and get him out as early as we could. But the games, it’s all what the games dictate to allow us to be successful and let him go out and show he’s the best lineman in college football.

“To me, it was managing last spring, and the spring game, and practices, and the games based on situations.”

In other words, Penn State does not have Fashanu on a snap count, so to speak. But, it won’t waste any time removing the Outland Trophy candidate as soon as it feels like it has a contest in hand. Which, makes plenty of sense, considering that he is a key cog in the Nittany Lions’ third-ranked Big Ten offense.

Fashanu returned to Penn State in 2023 despite being projected as a top 10 NFL Draft pick after last season. He is now seen as a candidate to go in the top five this spring, assuming he stays healthy and continues to progress as expected.

More from Penn State coach James Franklin’s Tuesday news conference

Blue-White Illustrated reporter Nate Bauer provides live updates during every news conference Penn State coach James Franklin holds on Tuesday afternoons at Beaver Stadium during the season. See the highlights below:

On King Mack and Jameial Lyons: For Mack, identified early based on testing numbers and everything that he would be involved on defense and special teams. Moved forward and that will continue to grow. He’s fast, aggressive, violent, the ball likes him. Made plays on the ball all training camp. Will continue to see him gain confidence and have a really good year. His role will continue to grow.

For Lyons, right now, still have him in yellow category like a lot of guys that played Saturday. That could change. But part of that is how healthy they can stay. All the yellows can change real quickly. In a perfect world, hope to stay as healthy as they can all season. Making those decisions based on guys moving up depth chart with play. But he’s shown in practice and games that he belongs. Now it’s him continuing to learn and get better.

On Drew Allar being the center of attention/not natural to him: That’s one of the reasons he’s playing so well is he’s not focused on those things. He’s focused on preparing to be the best QB. And they’re not asking that of him in year one. Want him to do the best job he can and play best he can. But he’s spending all time and energy on being best QB for Penn State. It’s similar to a couple of years ago when Yurcich came and offense changed and didn’t take Clifford to Big Ten Media Days. Wanted him to just focus on the job. That’s what Allar is doing now.

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