The 2021 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented Pennsylvania State University in the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team competed as a member of the Big Ten Conference and played their home games at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania. The team was led by eighth-year head coach James Franklin.

The Nittany Lions had a promising start to the season, going 5–0 and beating a ranked Wisconsin and Auburn, to reach number 4 in the AP poll. However during their game against #3 Iowa, quarterback Sean Clifford was injured, stalling all momentum they had, allowing Iowa to come back and beat them 23–20. The next week they played an unranked Illinois to hopefully regain momentum ahead of playing rival Ohio State on the road, however they lost in a record breaking 9OT. The Nittany Lions would then lose the next four of their last six games, finishing their season at 7–6 after losing to Arkansas in the Outback Bowl.

Offseason

Players drafted into the NFL

1 12 Micah Parsons LB Dallas Cowboys 1 31 Odafe Oweh DE Baltimore Ravens 2 55 Pat Freiermuth TE Pittsburgh Steelers7246Shaka ToneyDEWashington Football Team7247Michal MenetCArizona Cardinals7248Will FriesOGIndianapolis Colts

Preseason

Preseason Big Ten poll Cleveland.com has polled sports journalists representing all member schools as a de facto preseason media poll since 2011, making this the first preseason Big Ten poll since 2010. For the 2021 poll, Penn State was projected to finish second in the East Division. Media poll (East Division) 1 Ohio State 238 (34) 2 Penn State 192 3 Indiana 169 4 Michigan 144 5 Maryland 74 6 Rutgers 77.5 7 Michigan State 52.5

Personnel

Coaching staff +Penn State football current coaching staffJames Franklin Head coachEast Stroudsburg University (1995) 8thBrent Pry Defensive coordinator/linebackers University at Buffalo (1993) 8thMike Yurcich Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach California University of Pennsylvania (1999) 1stAnthony Poindexter Co-defensive coordinator/safeties University of Virginia (1999) 1st Ty Howle Tight ends coach Penn State University (2013) 2ndPhil Trautwein Offensive line University of Florida (2007) 2ndJohn Scott Defensive line Western Carolina University (2000) 2ndTaylor Stubblefield Wide receivers Purdue University (2004) 2ndJa'Juan Seider Run Game Coordinator/running backs West Virginia University (2000) 4thTerry Smith Assistant head coach/defensive recruiting coordinator/cornerbacks Penn State University (1991) 8thJoe LorigSpecial teams coordinator/outside Linebacker Western Oregon University (1995) 3rdDwight Galt III Assistant AD, Performance Enhancement University of Maryland (1981) 8thV'Angelo Bentley Graduate Assistant University of Illinois (2015) 3rdDavid Parker Graduate Assistant University of Arkansas (2015) 1stDeion Barnes Graduate Assistant Penn State University (2014) 2ndWendy Laurent Graduate Assistant Penn State University (2016) 2nd

Roster 2021 Penn State Nittany Lions football rosterQuarterback  2 Ta'Quan Roberson – freshman (5'11, 195)  9 Christian Veilleux – freshman (6'4, 197) 14 Sean Clifford – junior (6'2, 217) 17 Mason Stahl – freshman (6'0, 204)

Running back 10 John Lovett – senior (6'0, 205) 21 Noah Cain – sophomore (5'10, 226) 24 Keyvone Lee – freshman (6'0, 230) 26 Caziah Holmes – freshman (5'11, 209) 28 Devyn Ford – sophomore (5'11, 205) 38 Tank Smith – freshman (5'7, 227)

Wide receiver  3 Parker Washington – freshman (5'10, 205)  5 Jahan Dotson – junior (5'11, 182)  6 Cam Sullivan-Brown – junior (6'0, 191) 11 Daniel George – sophomore (6'2, 210) 13 KeAndre Lambert-Smith – freshman (6'1, 185) 19 Jaden Dottin – freshman (6'2, 190) 29 Henry Fessler – sophomore (5'10, 182) 80 Malick Meiga – freshman (6'4, 198) 80 Justin Weller – junior (6'0, 194) 83 Johnny Crise – freshman (6'5, 201) 84 Benjamin Wilson – senior (6'2, 212) 88 Norval Black – junior (6'1, 178) 89 Winston Eubanks – senior (6'0, 191)

Tight end 16 Khalil Dinkins – freshman (6'4, 226) 44 Tyler Warren – freshman (6'6, 244) 47 Tommy Friberg – freshman (6'3, 210) 82 Zack Kuntz – sophomore (6'7, 258) 84 Theo Johnson – freshman (6'6, 254) 86 Brenton Strange – freshman (6'3, 252) 89 Grayson Kline – sophomore (6'5, 261)

Placekicker 90 Rafael Checa – sophomore (6'2, 203) 92 Jake Pinegar – junior (6'2, 192) 95 Vlad Hilling – sophomore (5'10, 213) 96 Anthony DaSilva – freshman (5'11, 157) Offensive lineman 50 Will Knutsson – sophomore (6'2, 319) 51 Jimmy Christ – freshman (6'7, 298) 52 Blake Zalar – freshman (6'1, 286) 53 Rasheed Walker – sophomore (6'6, 310) 55 Anthony Whigan – junior (6'4, 315) 57 Ibrahim Traore – freshman (6'5, 325) 59 Kaleb Konigus – sophomore (6'2, 291) 63 Collin De Boef – sophomore (6'5, 264) 66 Nick Dawkins – freshman (6'4, 310) 70 Juice Scruggs – sophomore (6'3, 302) 72 Bryce Effner – sophomore (6'5, 301) 73 Mike Miranda – junior (6'3, 301) 74 Olu Fashanu – freshman (6'6, 300) 75 Des Holmes – junior (6'5, 312) 77 Sal Wormley – freshman (6'3, 317) 78 Golden Israel-Achumba – freshman (6'4, 345) 79 Caedan Wallace – freshman (6'5, 313) Nate Bruce – freshman (6'4, 344) Landon Tengwall – freshman (6'6, 321)

Defensive lineman 17 Arnold Ebiketie – DE – senior (6'3, 238) 20 Adisa Isaac – DE – sophomore (6'4, 251) 27 Aeneas Hawkins – DT – sophomore (6'2, 288) 33 Bryce Mostella – DE – freshman (6'6, 248) 44 Joseph Darkwa – DT – freshman (6'5, 293) 46 Nick Tarburton – DE – sophomore (6'3, 252) 51 Hakeem Beamon – DE – freshman (6'3, 292) 52 Jordan van den Berg – DT – sophomore (6'3, 292) 53 Fred Hansard – DT – junior (6'3, 324) 54 Fatorma Mulbah – DT – freshman (6'3, 289) 56 Amin Vanover – DT – freshman (6'4, 279) 91 Dvon Ellies – DT – freshman (6'1, 296) 92 Smith Vilbert – DE – freshman (6'6, 251) 94 Jake Wilson – DE – freshman (6'3, 241) 95 Cole Brevard – DT – freshman (6'3, 312) 97 P. J. Mustipher – DT – junior (6'4, 300) 98 Dan Vasey – DE – junior (6'4, 251) 99 Coziah Izzard – DT – freshman (6'3, 290) Rodney McGraw – DE – freshman (6'5, 254) Derrick Tangelo – DT – senior (6'2, 298)

Punter 93 Levi Forrest – freshman (6'5, 184) 93 Bradley King – junior (6'2, 214) 98 Jordan Stout – junior (6'3, 208) 96 Barney Amor – junior (6'1, 200) Linebacker 12 Brandon Smith – sophomore (6'3, 244) 13 Ellis Brooks – junior (6'1, 233) 23 Curtis Jacobs – freshman (6'1, 226) 34 Dominic DeLuca – freshman (6'1, 202) 36 Zuriah Fisher – freshman (6'3, 244) 39 Robbie Dwyer – freshman (6'1, 247) 40 Jesse Luketa – junior (6'3, 242) 41 Kobe King – freshman (6'1, 236) 43 Tyler Elsdon – freshman (6'2, 230) 45 Charlie Katshir – sophomore (6'3, 231) 47 Alex Furmanek – freshman (6'2, 265) 50 Max Chizmar – junior (6'2, 229)

Defensive back  0 Jonathan Sutherland – S – junior (5'11, 202)  1 Jaquan Brisker – S – senior (6'1, 210)  2 Keaton Ellis – CB – sophomore (5'11, 186)  4 Kalen King – CB – freshman (5'11, 177)  5 Tariq Castro-Fields – CB – senior (6'0, 191)  8 Marquis Wilson – CB – sophomore (5'11, 181)  9 Joey Porter Jr. – CB – freshman (6'2, 193) 15 Enzo Jennings – S – freshman (6'1, 197) 16 Ji'Ayir Brown – S – junior (5'11, 209) 17 Joseph Johnson III – CB – freshman (6'2, 168) 21 Tyler Rudolph – S – freshman (6'0, 203) 25 Daequan Hardy – CB – freshman (5'9, 180) 27 Jaden Seider – S – freshman (5'10, 174) 29 Sebastian Costantini – CB – freshman (5'11, 185) 32 Dylan Farronato – S – freshman (5'11, 187) 48 Cody Romano – S – sophomore (6'2, 207) Jeffrey Davis Jr – CB – freshman (6'0, 174) Johnny Dixon – CB – sophomore (6'0, 183)

Long snappers 49 Michael Wright – freshman (6'1, 197) 91 Chris Stoll – junior (6'2, 242)

Source:

Schedule Spring game Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State did not host their annual Blue vs. White scrimmage. In lieu of the Blue vs. White game, the university invited the freshmen class to Beaver Stadium for what was meant to be the final spring practice on April 17. More than 7,500 Penn State freshmen attended. Following backlash from students and the public, an extra practice was scheduled for April 23, initially limited to Penn State seniors with an in-person class, but soon opened tickets to all seniors, then to the general public.

Regular season The Nittany Lions hosted three non-conference games: the Ball State Cardinals from the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Auburn Tigers (first ever regular season meeting) from the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and the Villanova Wildcats an FCS school from the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).

PSU played Big Ten opponents Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio State, Maryland, Michigan, Rutgers, and Michigan State. The schedule consisted of seven home games and five road games.

Game summaries

At No. 12 Wisconsin

Ball State

No. 22 Auburn

No. 11 (FCS) Villanova

Indiana

At No. 3 Iowa

Illinois

At No. 5 Ohio State

At Maryland

No. 9AP/6CFP Michigan

Rutgers

At No. 12AP/CFP Michigan State

vs. No. 22AP/21CFP Arkansas (Outback Bowl)

Rankings

Awards and honors

All-American Jaquan Brisker 2 3 2 2 None Jahan Dotson 3 - - – None Jordan Stout 3 3 – – None Arnold Ebiketie - - 2 - None The NCAA recognizes a selection to all five of the AP, AFCA, FWAA, TSN and WCFF first teams for unanimous selections and three of five for consensus selections. HM = Honorable mention. Source:

References