Penn State vs. Ohio State depth chart: Offense
Penn State faces Ohio State in one of the most important games of the 2022 season. While the Nittany Lions are tight-lipped about injuries, Blue White Illustrated’s reporting can fill in the gaps for fans wanting to know the situations with critical positions heading into Saturday. We also step into the void left by the team not releasing an official depth chart. Check out the offensive breakdown and check out the defensive depth chart coming out later.
Penn State Offense
Quarterback
14 Sean Clifford (Sr.+)+
15 Drew Allar (Fr.)
11 Christian Veilleux (R-Fr.)
9 Beau Pribula (Fr.)
The Lowdown: Starting quarterback Sean Clifford put together one of the best games of his career last week against Minnesota with four touchdowns and 295 yards. The scheme and receivers did a lot of heavy lifting, but Clifford stayed calm and poised to deliver the ball on target. Then, when he needed to, he put the ball up for his receivers to go get in contested catch situations. This week, Penn State will need that mentality and production against Ohio State.
Penn State running backs
10 Nick Singleton (Fr)
13 Kaytron Allen (Fr) OR 24 Keyvone Lee (So.)
38 Tank Smith (R-Jr)
The Lowdown: When things are going right, Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen receive almost perfectly even touches and gain nearly identical yards as they did last week. When healthy, Keyvone Lee fits into the rotation is a secondary concern.
Lions receiver
Wide receiver
1 KeAndre Lambert-Smith (So.)
6 Harrison Wallace (R-Fr.)
80 Malick Meiga (So.)
Slot
3 Parker Washington (So.)
82 Liam Clifford (R-Fr.)
19 Jaden Dottin (R-So)
7 Kaden Saunders (Fr.)
Wide receiver
5 Mitchell Tinsley (Sr+)
18 Omari Evans (Fr.)
The Lowdown: Slot receiver Liam Clifford saw non-garbage time action against Minnesota, so we’re moving him to the primary backup position behind Parker Washington. Whatever the situation with Jaden Dottin was earlier in the season, it hasn’t materialized into anything meaningful.
KeAdnre Lambert-Smith didn’t play last weekend, but he practiced again this week, so we’ll keep him ahead of Harrison Wallace on the depth chart. However, it’s reasonable to expect Wallace to see most snaps as Lambert-Smith works his way back from injury.
Penn State tight ends
86 Brenton Strange (R-Jr.)
84 Theo Johnson (Soph.)
44 Tyler Warren (Soph.)
16 Khalil Dinkins (R-Fr.)
The Lowdown: Penn State’s two-tight end sets finally came to life last weekend in the blowout win over Minnesota. The snap counts were clear when all three players were presumably healthy for the first time all season. Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson are the top two players, and Tyler Warren comes on in relief.
Lions offensive line
Left tackle
74 Olu Fashanu (Soph.)
66 Drew Shelton (Fr.)
51 Jimmy Christ (R-Soph.)
Left guard
64 Hunter Nourzad (R-Sr.) OR
58 Landon Tengwall (R-Fr.)
56 JB Nelson (R-So.)
Center
70 Juice Scruggs (R-Sr.)
64 Hunter Nourzad (R-Sr.)
52 Dominic Rulli (Fr.)
Right guard
77 Sal Wormley (R-Jr.)
71 Vega Ioane (Fr.)
78 Golden Israel-Achumba (R-So)
Right tackle
79 Caedan Wallace (R-Jr.)
72 Bryce Effner (R-Sr.)
51 Jimmy Christ (R-Soph.)
The Lowdown: As always, it’s important to say that we only get a limited view into practice each week. But Wednesday didn’t look great for the offensive line. Left guard Landon Tengwall was nowhere to be seen and right tackle Caedan Wallace didn’t participate in any contact drills while the media was present.
Changes on the depth chart reflect the reality at each position for some time, but injuries are a factor. Ibrahim Traore and Nick Dawkins have been seen in arm slings recently, but Christ was the likely replacement at right tackle anyway. The loss of Dawkins and the situation at guard means that Saleem Wormley’s primary backup is now walk-on Dominic Rulli. Penn State needs to have a healthy game to avoid disaster. If they don’t, freshmen like Drew Shelton and Vega Ioane are on the table to see playing time.
