Now that Penn State-West Virginia has been history for more than 24 hours, it’s time to look at the analytics.
According to Pro Football Focus, 30 players took snaps for Penn State offensively and 27 defenders played.
Winning 34-12 allowed Penn State to get players on the field that wouldn’t see action in a tight game.
Here are the reported snap counts and PFF grades for Penn State, starting with the offense.
PENN STATE SNAP COUNTS
Offense
A storyline throughout camp was who would start at right tackle: Second-year player Anthony Donkoh or veteran Nolan Rucci, a veteran who played his first three seasons at Wisconsin before transferring over the winter. At his first Monday presser of the season, coach James Franklin didn’t reveal who would start but did say both would play. Donkoh ended up starting and played 39 more snaps than Rucci (51-12).
Here’s the full list of Week 1 snap counts for Penn State’s offensive players.
RT Anthony Donkoh: 51
LT Drew Shelton: 51
LG Vega Ioane: 51
QB Drew Allar: 51
C Nick Dawkins: 51
TE Tyler Warren: 49
RG Sal Wormley: 41
WR Harrison Wallace III: 35
WR Julian Fleming: 35
WR Omari Evans: 31
RB Kaytron Allen: 30
RB Nicholas Singleton: 28
TE Andrew Rappleyea: 24
WR Liam Clifford: 21
QB Beau Pribula: 20
LG JB Nelson: 20
C Cooper Cousins: 13
RB Cam Wallace: 13
TE Luke Reynolds: 12
RT Nolan Rucci: 12
LG Dominic Rulli: 11
LT J’ven Williams: 10
WR Tyler Johnson: 6
WR Anthony Ivey: 5
WR Jake Spencer: 4
WR Mehki Flowers: 3
DEFENSE
It’s not often— if ever— that Franklin has a cameo in one of his players’ postgame interviews. But while safety Jaylen Reed was speaking with reporters after the game, Franklin stopped by to offer praise. Reed played 59 snaps and earned Penn State’s highest overall grade among defenders who played at least 20 snaps (more on that later).
Cool moment here.
During Penn State S Jaylen Reed’s post game interview, James Franklin went out of his way to compliment him on his performance in PSU’s win.
“It looked like you were running at a different speed than everybody else at the beginning. It was impressive.” pic.twitter.com/uSTGrpj2rS
— Joe Smeltzer (@joesmeltzer775) August 31, 2024
Only fellow safety KJ Winston played more snaps than Reed, beating him by one. The five Penn State defenders who played the most snaps all came from the secondary, with transfer corners AJ Harris and Jalen Kimber combing for 102 snaps in their Penn State debuts. Harris, in particular, flashed per PFF. Here’s the full snap count list for Penn State’s defense in Morgantown.
S KJ Winston: 60
S Jaylen Reed: 59
S Zakee Wheatley: 55
CB AJ Harris: 54
CB Jaylen Kimber: 48
LB Tony Rojas: 47
DE Dani Dennis-Sutton: 47
LB Kobe King: 45
DE Abdul Carter: 42
LB Dom DeLuca: 42
DT Zane Durant: 39
DE Amin Vanover: 33
DT Dvon J-Thomas: 27
DT Coziah Izzard: 25
DE Smith Vilbert: 25
LB Tyler Elsdon: 23
DT Hakeem Beamon: 23
CB Cam Miller: 22
DT Alonzo Ford: 22
CB Elliot Washington: 17
CB Audavion Collins: 12
S Dejuan Lane: 3
CB Zion Tracy: 3
DT Ty Blanding: 3
PENN STATE GRADES
OFFENSE (MIN 20 SNAPS)
Harrison Wallace III (5 rec, 117 yards, two TD, all in the first half) stole the show in the box score and passed the analytics test as well. He was Penn State’s highest-graded offensive player by nearly 10 points. Although the quarterback who threw Wallace those two touchdown passes had one of the best statistical games of his college career, (11-17, 216 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions) PFF wasn’t as impressed. Drew Allar got a modest 62.8 overall grade and even lower 57.9 passing grade. Allar did have a higher grade in the run game, when he picked up a solid 44 yards on six carries, highlighted by converting a 3rd and 7 and 3rd and 8 with his legs on the same drive.
Here’s the full list of PFF Grades for Penn State’s offense.
Note: The minimum is set at 20 snaps due to anything less being a small sample size.
Harrison Wallace: 84.4
Nicholas Singleton: 74.9
Beau Pribula: 68.6
Omari Evans: 64.5
JB Nelson: 64.1
Drew Allar: 62.8
Tyler Warren: 61.0
Vega Ioane: 59.1
Andrew Rappleyea: 57.0
Kaytron Allen: 56.2
Sal Wormley: 55.5
Liam Clifford: 54.9
Drew Shelton: 54.0
Julian Fleming: 51.4
Anthony Donkoh: 51.3
Nick Dawkins: 47.1
DEFENSE (MIN 20 SNAPS)
As mentioned above, Reed was Penn State’s best defensive player per PFF. But Harris wasn’t too far behind. The second-year player who was good enough to burn his redshirt in his true freshman season at mighty Georgia in 2023 made the most of his 54 snaps, picking up a 79.3 overall grade. West Virginia only targeted him twice but didn’t complete either pass. Harris was also sound in the tackling department, not missing any tackles on his way to picking up one solo and assisting on two more. Another second-year player Penn State fans have been excited about is linebacker Tony Rojas. Rojas played 47 snaps— 27 more than his previous career high— playing WILL linebacker and picked up a solid 70.2 grade.
Here’s the full list of grades.
Jaylen Reed: 81.6
AJ Harris: 79.3
Smith Vilbert: 77.7
Cam Miller: 76.8
Tony Rojas: 70.2
Dvon J-Thomas: 65.9
Dani Dennis-Sutton: 64.2
Hakeem Beamon: 62.7
Amin Vanover: 62.3
Zakee Wheatley: 62.2
Coziah Izzard: 62.1.
Kobe King: 61.1
K.J. Winston: 60.6
Alzono Ford Jr. 59.3
Dom DeLuca: 58.9
Zane Durant: 57.3
Tyler Elsdon: 55.3
Jalen Kimber: 47.6
Abdul Carter: 44.1
