Penn State OT Drew Shelton filled in for Olu Fashanu as a true freshman and now is ready for 2023

Some players get called into their coach’s office. Some get a text or a phone call. Some remember where they were and how they got the news that they were receiving their first career start. But Penn State tackle Drew Shelton isn’t one of those people.

Shelton couldn’t recall how he found out that he was starting against Indiana on Nov. 5. But the true freshman from Downingtown does distinctly remember his emotions going into the game in Bloomington.

“Getting the nod, getting the first start, it was really cool, to be honest,” Shelton told PennLive at last week’s Rose Bowl media day. “It was an exciting time. But going out there and being able to compete, it was just playing ball at the end of the day.”

Filling in for Olu Fashanu — the Nittany Lions’ starting left tackle who was injured against Ohio State the week before — Shelton held his own at Memorial Stadium. He helped Penn State tally four rushing touchdowns and 483 total yards in a 45-14 win over the Hoosiers.

That was the start of something special for the Nittany Lions. They rattled off four straight November wins to finish 10-2. With Michigan and Ohio State reaching the College Football Playoff, that put Penn State in position to play in the 109th Rose Bowl, where James Franklin’s team took care of Utah, 35-21, on Monday.

Shelton was a key part of that run and that Rose Bowl win. Fashanu, a projected first-round pick, is skipping the NFL draft and returning next season. But the All-Big Ten honoree wasn’t healthy enough to play down the stretch after suffering an undisclosed injury in the closing moments of Penn State’s loss to the Buckeyes.

That thrusted Shelton into the spotlight. It was earlier than most would expect for a true freshman lineman in the Big Ten. Only a year earlier, the former four-star and top-150 recruit was dominating the Ches-Mont League in the Philly suburbs. But Shelton had a feeling as soon as August that he would have a role in 2022.

“I knew coming into camp that after taking a lot of reps and getting comfortable in our system, I kind of figured there might be a shot,” said Shelton, who didn’t enroll early, an added layer to his rapid rise. “But I kept grinding every day, trying to give myself that chance to play.”

Shelton cited a tried-and-true Franklin mantra as a reason why he was prepared to burn his redshirt and appear in seven games with five starts.

“Coach Franklin always stresses preparing like you’re the starter. I’ve been trying to do that all year,” Shelton said. “I was learning from older guys like Olu, Caedan (Wallace), Bryce (Effner) and Juice (Scruggs), taking what they’ve got to say. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. But I feel like it was minimal. I feel like having all those resources, watching all that film, I was able to keep my nerves to a minimum.”

“Drew Shelton has really prepared all season,” Franklin said on Nov. 8. “He has been very intentional about how he’s worked, been very mature. Really from a very early point when he arrived on campus, we thought he had a chance to be pretty good.”

Shelton’s season wasn’t without mistakes. The 6-foot-5, 297-pounder allowed 13 pressures in five starts, per Pro Football Focus. But mistakes happen for every offensive lineman, especially freshmen who log 349 snaps on the blindside.

All things considered, Shelton handled himself well, which ought to give offensive line coach Phil Trautwein an extra boost of confidence entering the 2023 season.

Scruggs, the team’s stalwart center, declared for the draft, and Wallace hasn’t announced his intentions. But Fashanu coming back is huge. Landon Tengwall, Sal Wormley and Hunter Nourzad all return after recording starts at guard; Nourzad has the experience necessary to move over to center. And you can’t rule out the possibility of Trautwein bringing in a veteran tackle from the transfer portal.

But the experience Shelton gained in 2022 and at the Rose Bowl is invaluable — especially as he enters an offseason in which he can nail down a starting role.

“I feel comfortable now,” Shelton said days before playing in Pasadena. “But even now there are things you can learn. I have to keep learning, keep figuring out new things every day. You learn something new every day. I have to keep that going.”