James Franklin outlines Penn State football's depth chart at offensive line
Penn State Nittany Lions football coach James Franklin outlined the offensive line depth chart that his team will work with at the onset of spring practice.
The first team offensive line at present is as follows:
LT: Olu Fashanu
LG: Landon Tengwall
RG: Sal Wormley
RT: Caedan Wallace
The second team is as follows:
LT: Jimmy Christ
LG: JB Nelson
C: Nick Dawkins
RG: Golden Israel-Achumba/Alex Furmanek
RT: Ibrahim Traore
“Those are the guys that we got working,” Franklin said. “Obviously we got a number of guys coming in over the summer. Those guys are going to get a ton of reps. We don’t have great depth there this spring, so that will be important that we do a great job of how we run practice.”
Franklin noted that he was pleased with how Olu Fahsanu and Landon Tengwall played last season. Both emerged to play key roles for Penn State in its bowl game against Arkansas.
Fashanu is entering his third season on campus, while Tengwall is set to compete for a starting job in year two.
“In the work that they did get, both did some really good things,” Franklin said.
Other Penn State offensive line notes
Sal Wormley is also in line to compete for his first starting job. He didn’t play last season due to an offseason injury and was positioned well preseason to factor into the competition.
Juice Scruggs and Caedan Wallace are both returning starters for Penn State from last season, though Scruggs is moving to center having played mostly guard last season.
Notably, incoming transfer Hunter Nourzad will factor into one of the interior competitions when he arrives from Cornell following his graduation in May.
On the second team, Franklin included junior college addition and early enrollee JB Nelson, as well as Alex Furmanek. Furmanek is a walk-on defensive tackle who is transitioning to the other side of the ball to provide some added depth at guard and center.
“I’m super proud of that kid,” Franklin said. “We’ve asked him to come over to the offensive side of the ball for spring ball and allow us to practice. He put the team first.”
As he often has, Franklin acknowledged once again that the Penn State offensive line wasn’t good enough last season.
He said that he spent time with his coaching staff from the conclusion of the season looking to make the right fixes and map out a plan.
“Really making sure that we’re having detailed conversations about what we’re trying to do schematically, who we are, and what we want to emphasize,” Franklin said.
“We all know that’s an area that we must improve on.”
