Better or Worse? Penn State offensive line

Now we’re getting down to it; the final few positions that will determine the biggest impact on the Penn State offense in 2023. We’re finishing up our look at each position group on the Penn State roster in our Better or Worse series. We’ll focus on the Penn State offensive line with training camp weeks away. 

After a dreadful few years, this unit showed signs of progress in 2022, despite injuries that set the group back for the season’s final month. So let’s answer the big question; Will the Penn State offensive line be better or worse than last season? 

Penn State running backs play a big role in the narrative

As much as we try to isolate each position from one another, football is such an interconnected sport that it’s nearly impossible. For example, did the Penn State offensive line take a step forward last season? Or were the Penn State running backs just better?

SeasonExplosive runs (15+ yards)Yards on explosives202113315202229962

Unsurprisingly, Nick Singleton’s 18 explosive runs last season are more than all 2021’s runners combined. It’s not a surprise, but that’s still a shocking difference. The outsized impact of one player on the perception of an entire unit is palpable when we discuss the running game. 

But the team was better on the offensive line in 2022. The issue is that offensive line metrics are often unreliable and nonspecific because it’s tough to encapsulate their duties. However, if we gauge rushing yards before contact last season, we see an improvement. 

As you can see, Penn State’s improvement from 54th the year before is that this group’s progress landed them squarely in the middle of the pack for production. 

Pass Protection analysis 

Interestingly, the offensive line’s pass protection stats, which are more quantifiable, are roughly the same as in 2021. The most significant difference is that the group gave up half as many sacks, 12, compared to 20 in 20221. From a holistic perspective, Penn State’s improved running game allowed the team to avoid bad situations and resulted in fewer negative plays via sacks in obvious passing situations. 

While the aggregate production of the offensive line was comparable, individual performances were not. The emergence of Olu Fashanu was a clear indicator that the line’s overall talent improved last year. Juice Scruggs’ underrated performance at center is also a notable difference from previous years. 

However, the injuries to Landon Tengwall, Fashanu, Caedan Wallace, and Hunter Nourzad create a gap in our evaluation. All of those players are back this season in starting roles. We know what to expect from Fashanu and Wallace, but can Tengwall take the step from promising young talent to a productive left guard? Is Nourzad ready to run the offensive line at center? 

Baptism by Fire creates optimism 

As we showed, Penn State’s offensive line made a quantifiable improvement despite losing three-fifths of its starters last year. The other aspect that breeds positivity is that Penn State’s Class of 2022 offensive linemen seemingly push for playing time. Drew Shelton already proved he can hang at the college level and should be a regular spelling Fashanu in non-critical situations. 

An interesting battle is brewing at right guard as well. Saleem Wormley has been a quality player when healthy, but Vega Ioane’s talent presents a potential challenge to the starter. Wormely struggled as a pass protector last season, giving up a team-leading 25 pressures, which his hard to do as a guard. He also was poor in critical situations, giving up four sacks in true passing sets to lead the team.

If Ioane proves he’s a capable pass protector, keeping him on the bench will be hard.

So as much as we dug deep into last year’s offensive line production, the analysis of better or worse is simple. The offensive line is healthy now, and they return more deployable depth than last year. The likelihood of relying on true freshmen J’ven Williams, Anthony Donkoh, or Alex Birchmeier is much lower. 

As for every position in our Better or Worse series, health is the unstated underlying caveat. Last year’s offensive line proves that injuries can upend those projections in a heartbeat, no matter what you think about a unit. If Penn State’s offensive line is healthy for most of this upcoming season, they’ll surely be better than last year. 

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