The gauntlet has been laid by offensive line coach Phil Trautwein on what he wants to see from his unit in 2025.
“We want to win the Joe Moore Award, so this is our year. We’ve had that up. That’s kind of our goal,” Trauwein said. “If you always look at who the finalists are, it’s usually someone that’s in the finals or someone that’s deep in the playoffs. So we know that if we play well, then team success will come.”
The Joe Moore Award is named after legendary offensive line coach Joe Moore who coached at Pitt during the 1970’s and 1980’s under Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill coaching offensive line legends such as Mark May, Jimbo Covert, Russ Grimm, and Bill Fralic as well as Notre Dame under Lou Holtz. The award recognizes the top offensive line unit in college football.
If Penn State’s most recent group were to win the award it would be the fourth Big Ten team to win the award – Iowa in 2016, Michigan went back-to-back in 2021-2022, and Washington (then a Pac-12 member) in 2023.
Even before Penn State approaches being on the Moore Award watchlist for the 2025 season, the group is solidifying itself as one of the elite units in program history.
Typically, fans invoke two offensive line units at the top: 1981 and 1994.
Even though Penn State took home the national championship in 1982, many feel the 1981 group set the tone and possessed more elite talent notably in future Pro Football Hall of Famer for the Houston Oilers guard Mike Munchak and first round draft selection for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers guard Sean Farrell, who would go on to play in 123 games in his 10 year career in the NFL.
The 1994 unit has a mystique around it because the team itself was an all-time unit scoring 47.8 points per game and going undefeated. The offense led by quarterback Kerry Collins, running back Ki-Jana Carter, wide receivers Bobby Engram, Freddie Scott, and tight end Kyle Brady were able to achieve a level of greatness due to an NFL ready offensive line.
The five starters center Bucky Greeley, guards Jeff Hartings, Marco Rivera, tackles Andre Johnson and Keith Conlin kept Collins clean as he was only sacked three times the entire season.
Another astounding statistic about 1994 is it had more rushing touchdowns (45) that season than total offensive touchdowns scored in 1981 (42).
These are the measuring sticks in Penn State lure that the 2025 unit has a golden opportunity to enter that conversation.
Currently, the biggest star in the unit is redshirt junior Vega Ioane.
Ioane was rated by PFF College as the No. 8 interior offensive lineman in America. Last season, Ioane finished as the fourth-most-valuable Power Four guard according to PFF College’s wins above average metric.
The signature play for Ioane last season was his viral block against UCLA when Ioane went in motion to pancake the Bruin defender.
After succeeding Olu Fashanu and starting all 16 games at left tackle, Drew Shelton returns for a senior season where many feel his development isn’t finished.
Fashanu said of Shelton prior to the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, “If everything goes right, he should be a lot better than I ever was.”
That is high praise coming from a Consensus All-American and the 11th overall player taken in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Shelton last season had a 65.7 pass-blocking grade by PFF College.
Anchoring the offensive line will be fifth-year senior Nick Dawkins. Dawkins started all 16 games last season and finished 10th amongst Big Ten offensive lineman with a 65.4 run-blocking grade.
On the right side of Dawkins in the interior will be the highly touted sophomore Cooper Cousins.
Cousins was the No. 1 overall Pennsylvania recruit from McDowell (Erie, PA) in the Class of 2024. Cousins did get meaningful reps during his freshman season playing in 172 snaps last year.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Cousins’ work ethic is what impresses Trautwein.
“He just works his tail off every single day,” Trautwein said. “So for me, he doesn’t seem like he’s only been here for a year-and–a-half, or whatever it is. So to me, it does seem like he’s an older [player], right?”
“He seems like an older guy, he acts like an older guy, he works like an older guy, that’s why he’s kind of able to do what he does and why I couldn’t redshirt him last year.”
Arguably the biggest position battle on the entire roster is the right tackle position between redshirt senior Nolan Rucci and redshirt sophomore Anthony Donkoh.
Rucci showed signs of why he was graded as a five-star prospect in the Class of 2021. Rucci came in relief of Donkoh, who suffered a season ending injury against Maryland, making the most of his opportunity that included being the highest graded offensive lineman who participated in the first round of the College Football Playoffs.
Overall, Rucci received a 73.2 PFF grade in the action he saw.
While Rucci excelled, Donkoh would like to pick up where he left off before going down with his season ending injury.
In 178 pass snaps last season, Donkoh did not allow a sack, was fifth amongst Big Ten offensive lineman with a 78.8 run blocking grade. Donkoh’s excellence on the field earned him semifinalist recognition for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award.
Trautwein feels that while Donkoh and Rucci battle for the right tackle position, he has weaved in redshirt sophomore J’Ven Williams in the right guard and right tackle spots.
Williams got a vast majority of reps at right tackle when Rucci was slowed by an injury and as Donkoh was still on the mend.
Williams is a former five-star recruit in the Class of 2023, and was the No. 1 overall recruit in the state of Pennsylvania from Wyomissing (Reading, PA).
Trautwein spoke of the depth he is creating on the right side with four elite players who can fill the guard and tackle positions between Cousins, Williams, Rucci, and Donkoh.
“It’s a good problem to have, right?” Trautwein said. “What’s great is I can rotate guys, keep guys fresh, continue to develop them, but also make sure that I keep them healthy. That’s going to be big. Just making sure I’m playing them enough, and playing them around (in different spots). That’s why guys will play multiple positions. It’s keeping the whole O-line fresh and keeping them healthy throughout the entire season, which with depth, you can do.”
The depth at the offensive line doesn’t end there, backup center Dom Rulli has appeared in 28 games and primarily covers special teams. Rulli’s key snap against Minnesota on the fake punt to tight end Luke Reynolds was pivotal in Penn State’s 26-25 win.
Additionally, youth and experience is in the Nittany Lions two-deep on the offensive line.
In youth, redshirt sophomore Alex Birchmeier looks to ascend in the rotation. Birchmeier was the top recruit in the state of Virginia in the Class of 2023.
In experience, Penn State supplemented its deep offensive line unit in the transfer portal with redshirt sophomore TJ Shanahan from Texas A&M. Shanahan last season appeared in 10 games while making five starts. Shanahan was rated the No. 8 interior offensive line recruit in the Class of 2023.
Trautwein has the offensive line unit at the best position it has been in a generation.
He has a mix of returning players, with five returning players who played at least 400 snaps in 2024, along with exceptionally talented youth who seem to project into NFL caliber offensive lineman in versatility.
The goals for this unit are plentiful that may allow Andy Kotelnicki’s offense to have a supernova season like the 1994 unit had and may possess all-time talent like the 1981 unit possessed.
For now, the talent and depth has provided this group a shot not only at Penn State immortality but also an opportunity to have its name engraved on hardware all offensive line units vie for.
