Which Penn State player does PFF think could start in the NFL this year?
Penn State football has numerous likely 2024 NFL Draft picks. In fact, some mock drafts think as many as three Nittany Lions could be first round picks. One analyst has taken those thoughts a step further, though. Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus recently picked five prospects who could be pros next year that just might be ready to handle that task this season. A PSU player made the cut.
It’s Olu Fashanu. And, the left tackle’s inclusion on this list should not be a surprise. The 6-foot-6, 323-pound junior from Walford, Md., was eligible to leave school after the 2022 slate wrapped up at the Rose Bowl. But, with a desire to complete several unfinished objectives, he returned for another year in blue and white. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t ready for the next step, however, in the mind of Sikkema and many others.
“Fashanu returning to Penn State after this past season was one of the biggest shocks of the 2023 draft cycle,” Sikkema writes. “[He] was draft eligible after a stellar season starting eight games at left tackle, earning an 85.6 pass-blocking grade while not giving up a single sack on 281 pass-blocking snaps. He redshirted his true freshman season two seasons ago, and in 2021 he made just one start. So, the timeline for him to return for a fourth season made sense after just one year of full-time starting experience.
“But if he would have declared, it’s hard to think he wouldn’t have been a top-15 lock — perhaps even OT1 — considering the rest of the offensive tackle class. His foot speed, play strength and balance all project to his being a starting-caliber blindside protector in the NFL.”
Fashanu had no doubts that another season at Penn State was right for him
To Sikkema’s point about Fashanu possibly being the first offensive tackle taken if he entered the 2023 NFL Draft, numerous other experts thought the same and thus were stunned when the lineman decided not to do so. But, the writing was on the wall for quite some time that the blocker would be back in State College this fall, even before an injury kept him off the field for the last handful of games a season ago.
That doesn’t mean, however, that the choice was completely cut and dry.
“I mean, it was a pretty hard decision,” Fashanu said at Rose Bowl media day. “At the end of the day, there are multiple factors that led me to coming back. I don’t want to go into the details. There are many different reasons why I wanted to come back. And, I’m glad I made that decision.
“I’m looking forward to looking forward. I’m looking forward like to working with my teammates in the offseason and getting better.”
