Penn State Football: Freiermuth Leads Nittany Lion NFL Hopefuls as Draft Rolls into Weekend

Thursday marked a historic night for Penn State football as Micah Parsons and Jayson Oweh gave the Nittany Lions two first-round selections for the first time since 2003. Parsons was selected No. 12 overall by the Dallas Cowboys while Oweh went a bit later in the night at the No. 31 spot to the Baltimore Ravens.

With the first round in the books, Friday and Saturday will be a faster paced affair with the second and third rounds taking place Friday evening starting at 7:00 p.m. and the final four rounds kicking off at Noon on Saturday.

While anything is possible, Friday looks to be a bit more straightforward and less dramatic night for Penn State with only a handful of draft hopefuls left on the board. Here’s how things might pan out in the coming days.

Pat Freiermuth: The tight end seems likely to be a second round selection but if teams are still worried about his fitness following a shoulder surgery he could maybe slip farther down into Friday night for a third round pick. Either way it would be entertaining to see him meet up with former tight end’s coach Tyler Bowen now in Jacksonville. The Jags have the first pick of the second round and have bigger needs than tight end. They also have the 45th pick in the same round.

Shaka Toney: Seems to be on track to hear his name called in the middle of the day Saturday. A solid final season at Penn State will help his cause, just depends on how teams view his versatility. The Philadelphia product would love to follow in the footsteps of former Penn State defensive Shareef Miller, although Miller didn’t see the field before heading out of town to Arizona.

Michal Menet: Experienced, but not overwhelming in the trenches. Menet can carve out a good NFL career but probably will come with a middle round selection. Nothing wrong with that though.

Lamont Wade: He has great athleticism and speed so it’s hard to imagine that Wade won’t get picked up by someone. That said, Wade seems destined for a free agency signing in the hours following the draft. Starting out on special teams could be a good foot in for Wade, but a team looking for safety depth will appreciate his speed.

Will Fries: Can play multiple positions and generally is better than he got credit for at Penn State. Fries probably won’t be off the board before Menet but the duo could find a home in the league for a while. Fries seems like another probable free agency signing, but it might give him more flexibility with the next stage of his career.