Penn State Football Names 2023 Captains

With the Nittany Lions set to start the season in two weeks, they were ready to make the announcement everyone was waiting for...

Yes, Dom DeLuca is a captain.

DeLuca — along with Keaton Ellis and Adisa Isaac — are your defensive captains, while Olu Fashanu, Theo Johnson, and Malick Meiga are the offensive captains. Given their play on special teams in the past, DeLuca and Meiga figure to be special teams captains as well.

James Franklin has harped on the loss of some major leaders from last season, with multi-time captains like Sean Clifford, PJ Mustipher, and Jonathan Sutherland out the door. But it certainly seems like the natural progression of leadership is happening, with guys like Ellis and Johnson having been pointed out as growing leaders throughout the offseason.

Perhaps one minor surprise is that Drew Allar wasn’t named a captain, which makes him the first Penn State quarterback since the 2016 season to have not been voted a captain. Fortunately, that was also the last time the Nittany Lions won a Big Ten title, so maybe that is a key to success. We’ll see.