5 questions at Penn State football camp

Penn State football opened training camp Wednesday after months of anticipation and buildup as the Nittany Lions prepare for a 2025 season saddled with sky-high expectations.

Buoyed by a boatload of returning talent and a College Football Playoff semifinal finish last season, James Franklin’s Nittany Lions look like one of the best teams not only in the Big Ten, but in the country.

But even the best teams have question marks. Here’s a look at the five biggest questions facing the Nittany Lions less than a month away from their Aug. 30 opener against Nevada.

1. What will Jim Knowles’ defense look like?

Franklin and Penn State hiring Knowles away from Ohio State after he won a national championship with the Buckeyes was one of the biggest wins of the college football offseason. But Franklin has made it clear that Knowles wasn’t paid all that money to overhaul a unit that ranked seventh nationally in yards allowed per game last year. He was hired to enhance it.

We know that Knowles will run a 4-2-5 system, featuring four defensive linemen, two linebackers and five defensive backs. But in spring camp, we didn’t get to see exactly what it’ll look like. A big part of that had to do with who was available due to injury.

Tony Rojas, a potential breakout star at linebacker, missed spring. Zion Tracy, a candidate to start as Knowles’ nickel corner, missed spring. Alonzo Ford, who could be the other starting defensive tackle next to Zane Durant, missed spring. Durant and defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, a pair of veterans, were mostly held out to avoid injury.

With those players and more expected back, training camp will be big for Knowles’ unit.

2. Who will emerge on the defensive line?

Let’s start with what we know. Dennis-Sutton and Durant are bona fide stars on the edge and interior, respectively. There’s faith that Ford will build on the positive momentum he had before last November’s season-ending injury. And with Max Granville out with a long-term injury, there’s belief sixth-year senior Zuriah Fisher can be a force opposite Dennis-Sutton.

Outside of that, there are legitimate question marks across the defensive front that will have to be answered in training camp — or at the very least before Oregon visits Sept. 27.

At last week’s Big Ten media days, Franklin identified five defensive tackles he’s counting on: Durant, Ford, redshirt freshman Xavier Gilliam, redshirt sophomore Ty Blanding and Michigan transfer Owen Wafle. Gilliam stood out in spring camp. Blanding has appeared in seven games across two seasons. And Wafle did not play at all for the Wolverines last year.

At defensive end, losing Granville hurts. The staff was expecting the sophomore to make a sizable leap in his second season. The Nittany Lions added Texas A&M transfer Enai White, but he wasn’t talked about much in spring camp. A few unproven but talented edge rushers — Jaylen Harvey, Mylachi Williams and Yvan Kemajou — will need to step up.

3. Who will start at right tackle?

There’s confidence in the Lasch Building that Penn State can contend for the Joe Moore Award, given to college football’s top offensive line. And it’s certainly not out of the question. Offensive line coach Phil Trautwein has an experienced, talented group returning. But the toughest call Trautwein will have to make is who starts at right tackle.

Anthony Donkoh and Nolan Rucci are going to battle it out after both were sidelined during spring camp with injuries. Donkoh won the job ahead of the 2024 season and performed well until suffering a season-ending injury last November. Rucci, the former Wisconsin transfer, took over and was exceptional during Penn State’s College Football Playoff run.

Again, the Nittany Lions have some time to figure this out before the Oregon game. Expect both to play and maybe even trade series in the first three games against Nevada, FIU and Villanova. But at some point, Trautwein will have to make a call at right tackle.

4. Who will become Allar’s top target?

With Tyler Warren and his 104 catches and 1,233 yards gone, Drew Allar will have a new No. 1 option in the passing game. Fortunately for the third-year starting quarterback, Penn State attacked the transfer portal and secured a trio of new wide receivers.

Troy’s Devonte Ross (76 catches, 1,043 yards, 11 TDs in 2024) and USC’s Kyron Hudson (38 catches, 462 yards, three TDs) were added in the winter, and Syracuse’s Trebor Pena (84 catches, 941 yards, nine TDs) was added after the Blue-White spring game.

Ross and Hudson participated in spring practice, and Pena caught passes from Allar this summer. So it’s not as if they’re totally new entering training camp. But the next month will go a long way in determining which transfer will emerge as Allar’s go-to target.

And don’t rule out the returning receivers — Liam Clifford, Tyseer Denmark, Kaden Saunders, to name a few — as well as tight ends Luke Reynolds, Khalil Dinkins and Andrew Rappleyea, making a move and securing key roles in the passing game.

5. Who will back up Allar?

Franklin reiterated throughout spring camp that the battle between Ethan Grunkemeyer and Jaxon Smolik for the QB2 job is real. So until we see a material change, we’ll continue to work under the assumption that the quarterback pecking order behind Allar has not been sorted.

One would think Grunkemeyer would have the edge over Smolik after last year. Smolik, now a redshirt sophomore, missed the 2024 season with an injury. Grunkemeyer, a heralded recruit, served as the team’s third-string quarterback. Then, Beau Pribula left before the CFP, and Grunkemeyer was elevated to Allar’s backup as a true freshman.

But after Smolik impressed the coaching staff during the spring, this is a true competition to see who backs up Allar — one that might even extend beyond training camp.