Vega Ioane is in a competition to start at left guard for Penn State.
Over the past few years, the position has been an odyssey.
Before the 2023 season, it looked like Landon Tengwall would start at the position and, if all went well, play himself into a high NFL Draft pick.
But days before the season opener, Tengwall announced that he had to medically retire from football.
So for most of 2023, JB Nelson started at left tackle for PSU and performed admirably given the circumstances, being named honorable mention all-Big Ten. But by the end of the season, Ioane was Penn State’s man. Now, he’s battling Nelson for the starting job, and he’s the latest subject of All 105, a Nittany Sports Now series profiling each Penn State player.
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 346 pounds
Hometown: Graham, Washington
Before Penn State: Vega Ioane came to Penn State from the state of Washington after initially being committed to the University of Washington.
At Graham-Kapowisn High School, Ioane helped his team to a 31-1 overall record over his last three seasons and earned second-team All-America honors from Max Preps as a senior. 247Sports, On3, Rivals and ESPN all had Ioane as a three-star recruit.
He committed to Washington in June 2021 but de-committed in January 2022, two months after Washington fired coach Jimmy Lake. He flipped to Penn State on national signing day, Feb. 2.
2022: Ioane redshirted his freshman season, appearing in four games. The coaching staff named him developmental player of the week for the offense the week for Sept. 1.
Last year: Like Nelson, Ioane was an all-Big Ten honorable mention. Although he only started five of Penn State’s 13 games, he always received plenty of reps, ending the year with 670 snaps per Pro Football Focus, which were tied for sixth on the offense with
Caedan Wallace, who started every game and went to the Patriots in the third round of this year’s draft. Ioane got a ton of playing time in Penn State’s last two games, getting 63 snaps in the regular-season finale against Michigan State at Detroit’s Ford Field and 71 in the Peach Bowl against Ole Miss.
Where he stands: Ioane is going to get a lot of playing time in any case barring something unforeseen. A question is whether he or Nelson will be the team’s starting left guard. Based on the end of last season and coach
James Franklin mentioning that Nelson could play right tackle at times this season, it seems Ioane is the favorite for the job right now.
A quote by Ioane: “Last year, starting those games was a big role for me. Carrying that over into the spring was really important. For me, it was all about mental stuff. For this spring, my goal was to have little to no MAs (missed assignments), and I did great.” — Ioane to reporters via Zoom during spring practice.
A quote about Ioane: “A lot of times you see guys on film and you’re not really sure what they’re gonna look like in person. He showed up here and he was 336 pounds, and carried it as well as anybody I’ve ever seen. Probably looked like he was 295. You look at his athleticism on tape, and how quick his feet were, and how light he was on his feet, [I was] just really impressed.” — James Franklin on Ioane at his signing day presser in February 2022.
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