Ask Around: Which Penn State players exceeded our expectations?

Penn State has developed its fair share of talent over the past decade. After an eight-year drought with no first-round draft picks, James Franklin and his staff have now produced four in the past four years. If all goes to plan this season, the 2024 draft should end up being one of Penn State’s best yet.

But before they get to that level, players have to prove themselves in high school and there’s no shortage of opinions when it comes to evaluations at the prep level. As Sean and I documented last week, there are plenty of players out there who ended up not reaching the levels we thought they would.

There are also plenty of players who have exceeded our expectations, too. In our most recent ‘Ask Around’ roundtable, Ryan Snyder and Sean Fitz give their thoughts on a few players who went on to do more than they expected coming out of high school.

Q: What Penn State player exceeded your expectations?

Sean Fitz: Well, that really escalated last week, didn’t it? We’re back at it this week with another version of why we were wrong and hopefully people love this, too. Missing on evaluations is a two-way street. There were guys that we thought would be dudes who weren’t. Of course, there’s also the other side of that coin, which is usually way more fun for the consumer.

In this case, it means the player has not only exceeded the expectations set by us, but also made people forget somewhat about the original evaluations. I’ll say it for the both of us; we love it when this happens. Ryan and I love seeing guys succeed more than we like to be right. It’s tough sometimes, but we do it. 

Anyway, there are guys out there that are easy choices. Most doubted Trace McSorley (college coaches are not immune from this one) and Allen Robinson is a layup in this category. Let’s go deeper, though. The star rating from my previous institution would not reflect it, but I was not huge on Joey Porter Jr. I give Steve Wiltfong a lot of credit for sticking with that 92 rating on Porter Jr. and going with it. I had concerns.

He obviously had the size, but we had him as a 4.6+ guy – which is still fast – but when you’re 6-2.5, you are left wondering how that will translate. Porter Jr. wasn’t particularly quick and his high school film was solid, not spectacular. I may have even inquired with sources about whether or not he was a take during the process. Of course, I was clearly shouted down. There were questions about his long-term projected position, and I even kicked around him ending up at linebacker like his father. 

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Porter Jr. arrived for his freshman year and ran a 4.46 (second in his group behind Jaquan Brisker) with a 4.15 shuttle (tops among freshmen) and a 10-3 broad (also tops among freshmen). That shut me up pretty quickly. He still redshirted, so I was maybe in the clear there until I checked in with sources prior to the 2020 season and they told me he was in line to start ahead of Keaton Ellis and Marquis Wilson, both of whom did not redshirt the year before despite being in the same class as Porter Jr.

Ryan Snyder: When I had first heard that Penn State was going to host Meadville running back Journey Brown for a visit during the 2016 season, I genuinely thought he was a walk-on target for the staff. I’m pretty sure I even marked him as a walk-on on my visitor list. 

But when he returned for a second visit for the season-finale against Michigan State, that’s when I started to hear that he could potentially end up being a scholarship player. But even then, at the end of November, it still felt unlikely. Despite putting up some of the craziest stats I had ever seen – 220 carries for 2,781 yards – as well as a 10.62-second 100-meter time, Brown’s only offers from Temple, Syracuse and Duquense. That’s it.

Now, I won’t pretend that I ever had a firm evaluation of Brown myself. He committed just a week or two before National Signing Day. Sure, the highlights looked great, but Meadville’s schedule was full of schools that don’t often produce Division I talent.  

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I don’t think you all need a reminder of what Brown became. That Cotton Bowl performance is still one of the more impressive games I’ve seen from a Penn State running back. That’s saying something considering some of the backs that have come out of this program over the past few decades. Ironically he averaged 12.6 yards per carry that day, which is the same number he averaged during that wild high school season in 2016.

Journey, I’m sorry for thinking you were a potential walk-on. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a walk-on at this level, but you showed all of us that you absolutely deserved to play at this level. 

Fitz: I’m fairly certain that Bill O’Brien’s staff had Jason Cabinda pegged as a walk-on when we first saw him at camp, too. It happens. 

I said this the other day, but I was down on Blake Corum after seeing him in person. Seemed like a smaller version of Ricky Slade. First impressions certainly matter. Jordan Addison was another one. He came and camped at Penn State along with Kaden Prather and Prather was not only better, but also a year younger. His 7-on-7 coach told me I was missing the boat on him and I figured it was just lip service. He was right. I was not. Thought he would be a good return man, though. I also thought that Jonathan Taylor would be a solid back.  

Back to Penn State, though, let’s look at the current roster. I think Kaytron Allen was like the sixth or seventh back on my personal board in the 2022 cycle.

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Nick Singleton, Omarion Hampton, George Pettaway, Damari Alston and Quinshon Judkins were a few I had ahead of him. I liked Allen, sure, and that was a class where you really couldn’t go wrong, but he was a full-grown man when he got to campus and he’s all business. He’s well on his way to outperforming expectations. 

Snyder: Corum is a good pick. Another player that pops into my mind is Jesse Luketa. Now, first off, Luketa is one of the best individuals I’ve gotten to know over the years. If you don’t like Luketa, there’s something wrong with you. Everyone loves Jesse. 

But coming out of high school, Luketa was a consensus four-star that I wondered about. At 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, I thought both 247Sports and Rivals likely had him a bit too high as a linebacker. I looked at him as a tweener who would likely struggle a bit with that transition. Honestly, I just didn’t think linebacker was the right spot for him long-term.

I think that largely proved to be true in 2020. Then, when Luketa did get the chance to move primarily to edge in 2021, we saw a much more productive player.

Also, if you had told me in July 2017 when Will Levis camped and earned an offer from Penn State that he would eventually become the 33rd overall pick in the NFL Draft, I would’ve absolutely bet against that. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty to like about Levis, but nothing screamed that this is a future NFL quarterback when I watched him that day. Props to Joe Moorhead on that evaluation.

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