Which Penn State defender will 'surprise some people' in James Franklin's mind?

Penn State coach James Franklin has a knack for using either his June news conference or his stop at Big Ten Media Days in July to make a prediction about which under-the-radar player on his roster is sitting on a breakout season. More often than not, dating back to Carl Nassib’s All-American season in 2015, he’s been right. And, since that as the historical reference point, it’s fitting that his pick for who might “surprise some people” this fall is another defensive lineman: Zuriah Fisher.

Two things go without saying. The first is that the Nittany Lions badly need the redshirt senior plus from Aliquippa to have a big year, because their depth is questionable at defensive end, which was true even before news broke that second-year defender Max Granville is dealing with a long-term injury. The second is that if anyone’s earned a big season in blue and white, it’s this 6-foot-3, 258-pound pass rusher. A former four-star in the Class of 2020, Fisher missed almost all of the 2022 season and all of the 2024 slate due to injury. During a healthy 2023 season, he looked primed to break out last fall before suffering a setback last spring. Now, he’s healthy again, and after overcoming plenty of adversity so far in State College, it could finally be his time to break out. Or, at least his head coach thinks it is.

More: Lions enter 2025 with offensive, defensive lines that are among the nation’s best

“I think internally, within our program, I think there’s a lot of confidence that Fish has got a chance to have a big year,” Franklin said last week. “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.”

Fisher is preparing for his first starting role at Penn State

Fisher has suited up in just 24 games over his first five years due to the aforementioned injury. In his only full slate of games, he made 17 tackles in addition to recording 3.5 sacks, a fumble recovery, and a quarterback hurry in 2023. It’s those numbers that had many feeling good about him heading into spring practice a year ago. He probably wasn’t going to start before the injury, but he would have played a starter number of snaps during the 16-game season, without question.

This year, however, he is poised to start opposite Dani Dennis-Sutton. The two aim to lead a pass-rushing group that hopes to continue what has been a multi-year run of success in the sacks and tackles for loss department at the defensive end spot for Penn State. And, if that ends up being the case, Franklin will again be able to say he told you so long before the games began.

“[Fisher] is big, he is long, he’s athletic; he’s another one of these guys that’s like a skinny 260 pounds with super long arms,” Franklin said. “So we feel really good about Dani 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.”