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Penn State football NFL Pro Day primer: 15 Nittany Lions set to participate

nate-mug-10.12.14by: Nate Bauer03/23/22NateBauerBWI
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 04: Penn State defensive lineman Jesse Luketa answers questions from the media during the NFL Scouting Combine on March 4, 2022, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The eve of Penn State’s Pro Day for 2022 has arrived.

For the first time since 2019, the Penn State football program is set to host a full-on Pro Day, having missed entirely the 2020 iteration due to the onset of COVID-19 and limiting the 2021 event to only NFL personnel and agents.

And this year’s crop of participants are plentiful.

Coming off a record six invitations to the Senior Bowl, and eight invitations to participate in the NFL Combine in Indianapolis earlier this month, the Nittany Lions are set to have 15 total participants in this year’s Pro Day.

Led by likely early-round NFL Draft selections Jaquan Brisker, Jahan Dotson, and Arnold Ebiketie, the full list expected to take part in the day’s event is below.

Penn State Pro Day participants

Penn State’s Pro Day participants are as follows: 

Safety Jaquan Brisker, linebacker Ellis Brooks, cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields, linebacker Max Chizmar, receiver Jahan Dotson, defensive end Arnold Ebiketie, safety Drew Hartlaub, kicker Vlad Hilling, linebacker Jesse Luketa, linebacker Brandon Smith, punter Jordan Stout, defensive tackle Derrick Tangelo, offensive lineman Rasheed Walker, receiver Benjamin Wilson and offensive lineman Eric Wilson.

What to watch for at Penn State Pro Day

Will it be Dotson who goes off the board first for Penn State? Brisker? Ebiketie?

Thursday’s Pro Day could go a long way toward setting that lineup with so much unresolved after the combine.

In short, Penn State’s Pro Day participants, possibly more than any year in recent memory, are likely to test out in the 40-yard dash given their relatively muted showings (if at all) in Indy.

While Dotson posted a 4.43, a time likely slower than what Dotson would have preferred, Ebiketie did not run and Brisker put up a 4.49.

Former Penn State strength coach Dwight Galt told BWI last August that Brisker had previously clocked a 4.30 in his testing of the event while a Nittany Lion. Only completing the bench press otherwise, in which he put up 22 reps, Brisker was said to have hurt his back and did not complete any of the other on-field testing of drills during his combine appearance.

Other testing numbers Brisker will have an opportunity to put up would include the shuttle (3.98 seconds) and vertical leap (38.5 inches), neither of which he completed in Indianapolis.

Rasheed Walker did not participate in any testing at the combine. He was still recovering from an unspecified injury that kept him out of the Outback Bowl.

Linebacker Jesse Luketa completed the vertical and ran both heats of the 40. However, he posted disappointing times before bowing out of the rest of the day’s events with a tweaked hamstring.

The day’s event will be the first chance to compete in a combine setting for Derrick Tangelo and Ellis Brooks. Both players participated in the East-West Shrine Bowl. Offensive lineman Eric Wilson participated in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl following his super senior season at Penn State.

Nittany Lions who may do less

Maybe the most impress of Penn State’s NFL Combine participants, Tariq Castro-Fields posted a strong athleticism score in Indianapolis. He ranked second among the combine’s corners with a score of 97 after posting a 4.38 40-yard dash.

Brandon Smith is also coming off a strong testing in his performance in Indianapolis. Checking in at 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, Smith ran a 4.57 in the 40. He also notched a 10-8 broad, and hit 37.5 inches. “You’re talking now about national combine, elite stuff,” Galt said last August, referencing Smith’s impressive testing numbers at Penn State. “He’s a baby Micah Parsons from this perspective.”

Schedule of events

Blue White Illustrated’s coverage of Penn State’s Pro Day from Holuba Hall is set to begin at 10:45 a.m.

With the program’s weight room under construction, earlier work will be done from Holuba Hall. Pro Day participants are expected to take measurements and conduct other weight room testing numbers prior to that.