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We're days away from the first kickoff of the Penn State football season, and now the offseason position battles have been settled, at least for one game. That's right, the first depth chart of the year has finally dropped. There are plenty of interesting takeaways, and a few mild surprises, but overall nothing too shocking.
As we found out earlier this week, highly-touted JuCo transfer Paris Palmer will be protecting Christian Hackenberg's blindside as the offensive line looks to make some major strides in 2015 (it has nowhere to go but up). Mike Gesicki as the first string tight end is interesting, as he has undeniable talent and could be a beast as soon as this year, especially with Kyle Carter not seeming like an imminent threat to playing time. Speaking of tight end, Adam Breneman isn't on the first depth chart, which isn't shocking when you remember he hasn't played in nearly two years. Expect him to work his way up there as he shakes off the rust.
Joining him in the fan favorites who missed list, linebacker Ben Kline's recovery from a season-ending injury in 2014 is still a work in progress, as he misses the depth chart. Other than that, nothing too major on defense, as we see Koa Farmer's return to safety solidified and Grant Haley officially lay claim to CB 1 while being relieved of his special teams duties. Special teams, in fact, may be the most interesting part of it all. With Farmer and Saquon Barkley returning kicks and Mark Allen and DeAndre Thompkins on punts, there should be a lot more juice to the return game than in season past. Those of you longing for the blah consistency of Jesse Della Valle fair catches will be disappointed, but this should be a very exciting return game. Barkley, for his part, is one of only six true freshman to make the depth chart, along with Juwan Johnson, Tommy Stevens, Nick Cox, Brandon Polk, and John Reid.
Anything else in the depth chart interest you? Yell at me in the comments.
Coaches: | HC James Franklin | OC John Donovan | DC Bob Shoop |
---|---|---|---|
Off. | First Team | Second Team | Reserves |
QB | #14 Christian Hackenberg | #9 Trace McSorley | #4 Tommy Stevens |
RB | #22 Akeel Lynch | #8 Mark Allen | #24 Nick Scott/#26 Saquon Barkley |
FB | #34 Dom Salomone | ||
WR-X | #12 Chris Godwin | #13 Saeed Blacknall | #84 Juwan Johnson |
WR-Z | #5 DaeSean Hamilton | #7 Geno Lewis | #80 Matt Zanellato |
TE | #88 Mike Gesicki | #11 Brent Wilkerson | #87 Kyle Carter |
WR-F | #3 DeAndre Thompkins | #10 Brandon Polk | |
LT | #73 Paris Palmer | #58 Chance Sorrell | |
LG | #70 Brendan Mahon | #68 Kevin Reihner | #71 Albert Hall |
C | #66 Angelo Mangiro | #55 Wendy Laurent | |
RG | #72 Brian Gaia | #53 Derek Dowrey | |
RT | #59 Andrew Nelson | #60 Noah Beh | |
Def. | First Team | Second Team | Reserves |
DE | #95 Carl Nassib | #52 Curtis Cothran | #19 Torrence Brown |
DT | #98 Anthony Zettel | #91 Tarow Barney | #93 Antoine White |
DT | #99 Austin Johnson | #41 Parker Cothren | |
DE | #90 Garrett Sickels | #94 Evan Schwan | |
OLB | #11 Brandon Bell | #25 Von Walker | |
MLB | #5 Nyeem Wartman-White | #8 Gary Wooten | |
OLB | #40 Jason Cabinda | #42 Troy Reeder | |
CB | #15 Grant Haley | #29 John Reid | #21 Amani Oruwariye |
FS | #2 Marcus Allen | #28 Troy Apke | |
SS | #9 Jordan Lucas | #6 Malik Golden | #7 Koa Farmer |
CB | #10 Trevor Williams | #1 Christian Campbell | #12 Jordan Smith |
Sp. | First Team | Second Team | Reserves |
K | #99 Joey Julius | #95 Tyler Davis | |
P | #92 Dan Pasquariello | #37 Chris Gulla | |
KR | #7 Koa Farmer | #26 Saquon Barkley | #24 Nick Scott |
PR | #8 Mark Allen | #3 DeAndre Thompkins | #10 Brandon Polk |
LS | #44 Tyler Yazujian | #41 Zach Ladonis | #97 Nick Cox |
H | #37 Chris Gulla | #93 Robby Liebel | #16 Billy Fessler |