While most players continue to grow and develop over the course of the season, it’s in the offseason when the true work can really get done. Players lift, watch film, are healthy and have a chance to hone their craft without all the rigors and pressures of the actual season. With Penn State starting spring camp on Monday afternoon, it’s this time of year when depth charts are slowly formed and the players who will impact the upcoming season start to shine.
Breakout players can come from anywhere on the roster and truly being able to predict them is largely a guessing game. That said, here are five newer faces who could breakout and become even bigger impact players for Penn State this upcoming season.
Receiver Malick Meiga: The 6-4 target found his way onto the field in a few late-game situations as Penn State was searching for a big play, but Meiga spent a portion of last season battling injuries so he never really got into the swing of things. The departure of Jahan Dotson opens the door for all kinds of movement in Penn State’s receivers room and while Meiga won’t be at the top of the list when it’s all said and done, he could make his way onto the field to utilize his size and health down the field as the tallest receiver on the roster.
Defensive Tackle Coziah Izzard: Making seven starts last season and appearing in all 13 games doesn’t exactly qualify Izzard for being completely unknown, but he showed flashes of what might happen given more snaps and more time to develop. Izzard has all the makings of a hyper-athletic defensive tackle and could have the perfect learning partner in a once-again-healthy PJ Mustipher. The game is won and lost in the trenches and Izzard is as good of a candidate as anyone on Penn State’s roster to make an impact in that area. Especially with talent around him, which means he won’t have to do it alone.
Corner Kalen King: The King brothers (Kalen and Kobe) both came to Penn State with a fair amount of excitement surrounding them and while they have plenty of career left in State College, this might be the year Kalen takes that next step at corner. Penn State coach James Franklin has always had high praise for the work ethic that Kalen has shown and another summer of work coupled with a much more wide open coverage unit could make for the moment he needs to burst on to the scene. Working opposite Joey Porter Jr and in front of safety Ji’Ayir Brown is a pretty good situation to be in. King might not burst directly into the starting rotation but he has a chance to impact it far more than he did in 2021-22.
Linebacker Charlie Katshir: Outside of Curtis Jacobs it’s sort of a choose-your-own-adventure at linebacker for Penn State this year with all sorts of options for who might slot into those two others spots. Katshir has played far more special teams than linebacker, but the redshirt senior has size at 6-foot-3 (the tallest linebacker on the roster) and experience around the program. Sometimes that’s all it takes to make a name for yourself.
Offensive Tackle Landon Tengwall: Tengwall made his debut in the back half of Penn State’s season last year and did a solid job up front when the Nittany Lions needed him. Tengwall is far from a secret as a high profile prospect, but it’s one thing to be high profile, another to play like it. Tengwall should see his fair share of snaps this season and could prove to be everything fans are hoping for along the offensive front. No position can impact a game for better or for worse quite like an offensive line and a player like Tengwall can go a long way towards making sure that impact is a positive not a negative.
