With the first 25 seasons of college football in the books, Penn State has left an indelible mark.
In this five-part series, I will be ranking the 25 best players Penn State football played in the first 25 seasons of the 21st century.
You can read Part I that examines 25 to 21 here.
You can read Part II that examines 20 to 16 here.
Now here is Part 3 ranking players No. 15 to No. 11.
15. Aaron Maybin
I know many ask the “what if” question with Micah Parsons, something I will dwell upon later in this series, but another I always wonder about is Maybin.
Grant you, Maybin had a breakout 2008 season that turned him into the No. 11 overall pick by the Bills in 2009.
I get why he left. The money he was about to receive was life altering. But I always wonder what would have happened if Maybin played another season at Penn State.
The 2009 Penn State defense would have consisted of Sean Lee, NaVarro Bowman, Josh Hull, Mike Mauti, Devon Still, Jared Odrick, and Maybin would have been a national championship defense.
The fun of wondering.
In 2008, Maybin recorded a Big Ten-leading 12 sacks and 21 tackles for loss and led Penn State to a Big Ten Championship season behind a scoring defense that was in the Top 10 nationally at 14.4 points per game.
Maybin’s signature performance came in a 48-7 rout of Wisconsin. Maybin tormented the Badgers offense with six tackles, four tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, two sacks and a pass defense.
When the NFL prioritizes cornerstones for their franchise, they look at quarterbacks, EDGE rushers, and blind side tackles.
In Fashanu’s two seasons as a starter, he was the gold standard in the 21st Century and potentially amongst the greatest left tackles in Penn State history overall.
Fashanu played in 29 games, making 22 starts at left tackle. He allowed no sacks and 11 pressures in 382 pass blocking snaps in 2023 after giving up zero sacks in 281 pass blocking snaps in 2022.
The dominance demonstrated by Fashanu earned him Consensus All-American status, the first Penn State offensive lineman to earn that distinction since Jeff Hartings in 1995.
Fashanu was Penn State’s second Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year recipient joining A.Q. Shipley (2008).
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Originally a Vanderbilt commit, many wondered when McSorley flipped from the Commodores to Penn State following James Franklin.
The beginning of McSorley’s time at Penn State came in relief for an injured Christian Hackenberg in the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl against Georgia. Penn State couldn’t move the ball and were trailing 24-3 upon McSorley’s entry.
McSorley’s attempted comeback fell short that day 24-17, but he did pass for 142 yards on 14 for 27 and two touchdowns, and people knew there was just something special about him.
The following year, new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead saw in McSorley the confidence to throw the ball downfield to an elite wide receiving group of DaeSean Hamilton, DeAndre Thompkins, Saeed Blacknall, Chris Godwin.
Coupled with tight end Mike Gesicki, once the offense gelled, it was one of the most explosive units in college football.
McSorley would be recognized as second-team Al-Big Ten three consecutive years (2016-2018) and would end his career at Penn State as the career leader in virtually every statistic.
Next year, around this time, Allar has every opportunity to not only be in the top 10 but could end up being the greatest player of the 21st Century. The latter half of that statement goes to show the potential Allar has going into his senior season.
What has Allar in this position now is what he has already accomplished in his Penn State career.
Only Todd Blackledge (1980 and 1982 Fiesta Bowls, 1983 Sugar) is the only other Penn State quarterback ever to start in three or more New Year’s Bowl games (Allar has started in the 2023 Peach, 2024 Fiesta, 2025 Orange).
Allar is within striking distance of many career passing records and currently possesses career marks for completion percentage (62.9%) and interception percentage (1.10%).
Nassib began his career at Penn State as a walkon and left as one of the most decorated defensive players in school history.
During Nassib’s breakout 2015 season, he led the nation with 15.5 sacks, breaking Penn State’s record of 15 shared by Larry Kubin (1979) and Michael Haynes (2002). Nassib also led the nation in forced fumbles with six, trailing only Haynes all time, who had seven in 2002, as well as leading the Big Ten in tackles for loss with 19.5.
For Nassib’s efforts he was an unanimous All-American selection and took home the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Award – at the time, the sixth Penn State player to win the award (LaVar Arrington 1998, Courtney Brown 1999, Michael Haynes 2002, Jared Odrick 2009, Devon Still 2011 before him and Abdul Carter in 2024 becoming the seventh).
Nassib was a finalist for all major awards he was eligible for and become Penn State’s first recipient of the Ted Hendricks Award (nation’s top defensive end) and Lott IMPACT Trophy (nation’s top defensive players that demonstrates excellence on the field and great character off the field). Nassib joined Bruce Clark (1978) as the only two Penn State players to win the Lombardi Award, given annually to the player “who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL’s legendary coach Vince Lombardi”
