Depth Chart Released with Few Surprises

Five days to go before opening game day for the Nittany Lions! Today, Penn State released the depth chart for the September 5 Akron game at the Beave.

There are few surprises.

The offensive line that has been working together at practice is apparently set in concrete: Landolt, Stankiewitch, Wisniewski, Eliades, and Pannel. At tight end, the first string is listed as Mickey Shuler OR Andrew Quarless, with Szczerba, Coakley, and Wedderburn backing them up.

At quarterback, as expected, Daryll Clark will be backed up by Kevin Newsome and freshman walk-on Matt McGloin.

There is great depth at running back. Evan Royster is backed by Stephfon Green, Brandon Beachum, and Brent Carter, followed by Joe Suhey and Josh Matzkin.

Starting wide receivers are Brett Brackett, Derek Moye, and Graham Zug.

The defensive front four will be Hayes, Odrick, Ogbu, and Crawford. The linebackers are Sean Lee, Josh Hull, and Navorro Bowman.

At the corners, Knowledge Timmons and D’Anton Lynn will start. Although A.J. Wallace is listed, he’s in the Paterno doghouse, so he’ll be catching some splinter time. Joe must want him to suit up so he can want to be in the game so bad he can taste it, and maybe that will be an effective deterrent to further class-cutting. At the safeties, are Drew Astorino and Nick Sukay.

On special teams, Collin Wagner has emerged as the #1 kicker, while graduate scholar Jeremy Boone remains the punter. Kickoff returners will be Stephfon Green and Chaz Powell, while Drew Astorino got the nod as punt/safe returner.

I’ll be back later in the week with a preview of the Akron game.