Penn State to use rotation at left guard to open season

Penn State will split time at left guard between redshirt senior Anthony Whigan and senior Eric Wilson, the Harvard transfer, when the 2021 season opens at Wisconsin on Saturday, coach James Franklin said Tuesday afternoon.

“Both have shown some really good things,” Franklin said over Zoom during his weekly news conference. “Obviously, Whigan has been with us for a while and has really had the right attitude and the right approach and has worked his tail off, and Eric’s a young man who transferred in. I think it was an adjustment when he first got here but continues to get better. So they will both play. They’ll both play on Saturday.”

The 6-foot-4, 316-pound Whigan has appeared in 11 games, primarily on special teams, over the past two seasons at Penn State. He joined the Nittany Lions in 2019 after spending the first two years of his college career in the junior college ranks at Lackawanna College. He played high school football at Great Mills in Southern Maryland.

The 6-foot-4, 307-pound Wilson played in 22 games for Harvard, but he hasn’t played in a game since 2019 because the Crimson — and the rest of the Ivy League — did not have a 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Entering the 2021 season, left guard was the lone unsettled spot on the Penn State offensive line. Redshirt junior Rasheed Walker and redshirt sophomore Caedan Wallace returned at left and right tackle, respectively, while redshirt senior Mike Miranda slid over to center from left guard. Redshirt junior Juice Scruggs appeared to take control in the competition for right guard.

That left Whigan, Wilson, redshirt senior Des Holmes and redshirt sophomore Sal Wormley among the competitors for the final spot along the offensive line.

Earlier Tuesday, Rasheed Walker was asked about the competition at the left guard spot, and he acknowledged that he wasn’t supposed to answer personnel questions. But he still dutifully ran down the main players in the competition at the position and complimented each on their work and development at the spot.

“Everyone stood out to me,” Walker said. “I would say that everyone who’s been taking our reps has been doing a hell of a job. Guys like Anthony Whigan, Saleem Wormley, those guys have been making impacts. We had a guard that transferred from Harvard named Eric Wilson. He’s been doing his thing. His transition from when he first came in the summer to now has been unbelievable. He looks like a whole different person. Des Holmes is doing very good, so it’s kind of like, everybody’s doing what they got to do at the guard position.”

Penn State is not releasing weekly depth charts this season, so there was some mystery surrounding who would ultimately take the opening snaps at the left guard spot this weekend. Before Franklin spoke, Walker said everyone might just have to wait and see until Saturday’s kickoff to learn who the left guard was.

But Franklin provided at least a partial answer to how at least one spot in the Penn State starting lineup will shake out Saturday.