Penn State Football

Penn State Snap Counts: Who has the Biggest Increases, Decreases From Week 1 to Week 2?

Published

September 9, 2024

After star Penn State safety KJ Winston got hurt against Bowling Green Sept. 6, Jaylen Reed became the unquestioned leader of the position group. He’s been up to the challenge.

Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now: Jaylen Reed

Coming into Saturday’s home opener with Bowling Green at Beaver Stadium as 34.5-point favorites, many felt Penn State would have a chance to empty its bench.

It didn’t quite happen that way.

Bowling Green led Penn State for most of the first half and as late as midway through the fourth quarter before Penn State eventually (sort of) pulled away to win 34-27.

As a result, Penn State played fewer players against Bowling Green per Pro Football Focus than it did in the previous week’s 34-12 win at WVU.

22 defensive players (down four from WVU) got in the game and 21 on offense (down nine).

Here’s a snap count breakdown, highlights which players had the biggest difference from Week 1 to Week 2.

PENN STATE DEFENSE

The biggest difference in snap counts comes in the secondary.

Safety Jaylen Reed was a horse for Penn State in Week one, playing 59 snaps.

The only defender who played more was KJ Winston, who only beat Reed by one play.

Well, for undisclosed reasons, Winston didn’t play much past the first quarter against Bowling Green and therefore only got 14 snaps.

A probable first-round draft pick in Winston being out of the picture meant even more work for Reed, who played 68 snaps, and fellow safety Zakee Wheatley, who played 65, increasing his reps by 10 from the previous week. But the guy who had the biggest uptick in snaps was cornerback Cam Miller, who went from 22 snaps in Week 1 to 49 in Week 2.

Here’s a full look at Penn State’s snap counts and the biggest increases/decreases from Week 1 to Week 2.

Jaylen Reed: 68 (⬆️ 9)

Zakee Wheatley: 65 (⬆️ 10)

Kobe King: 52 (⬆️ 7)

Cam Miller: 49 (⬆️ 27)

Jalen Kimber: 49 (⬆️ 1)

A.J. Harris: 48 (⬇️ 6)

Tony Rojas: 47 (No change)

Abdul Carter: 44 ( ⬆️ 2)

Dani Dennis-Sutton: 43 (⬇️ 4)

Zane Durant: 38 (⬇️ 1)

Dvon J-Thomas: 35 (⬆️ 8)

Elliot Washington: 29 (⬆️ 12)

Amin Vanover: 28 (⬇️ 5)

Coziah Izzard: 27 (⬆️ 2)

Dominic DeLuca: 26 ( ⬇️ 16)

Smith Vilbert: 24 (⬇️ 1)

Alonzo Ford Jr: 19 (⬇️ 3)

K.J. Winston: 14 (⬇️ 46)

Tyler Elsdon: 13 (⬇️ 10)

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Hakeem Beamon: 13 (⬇️ 10)

Zion Tracy: 7 (⬆️ 4)

Audavion Collins: 7 (⬇️ 5)

22 players

PSU OFFENSE

Coach James Franklin said in his Monday presser leading into Bowling Green that we were going to see more of Nolan Rucci. Rucci played more than twice the amount of snaps he did against West Virginia (26-12). Although starting right tackle Anthony Donkoh played 10 fewer snaps, he still ended with 41. In total, Penn State used eight OL against Bowling Green, which is exactly the number James Franklin told reporters before the season he felt were ready to play in a game.

Rucci tied with Liam Clifford for the biggest increase in reps. The veteran receiver went from 21 snaps against WVU to 35 against Bowling Green. Despite this increase— as well as the fact that PFF has Clifford in for 16 passing plays compared to three against WVU— he’s still looking for his first reception of 2024.

Here’s the full list of snap counts for Penn State’s offense.

Vega Ioane: 59 (⬆️ 8)

Drew Allar: 59 (⬆️ 8)

Nick Dawkins: 57 (⬆️ 6)

Drew Shelton: 53 (⬆️ 2)

Tyler Warren: 52 (⬆️ 3)

Anthony Donkoh: 41 (⬇️ 10)

Harrison Wallace III: 41 (⬆️ 6)

Nicholas Singleton: 40 (⬆️ 12)

Sal Wormley: 40 (⬇️ 1)

Liam Clifford: 35 (⬆️ 14)

Julian Fleming: 35 (No change)