Days before the season opener, Penn State coach James Franklin announced which freshmen would be given the “green light” to play right away, and he gave an update on others who could be close several weeks later.
Defenders Chaz Coleman and Daryus Dixson were the only two freshmen who had the green light– which means Penn State is playing them without fear of burning their redshirts– ahead of Week 1.
Now, in Week 5, nothing much has changed, although there are a few players who are closer than they were at the start of the season.
Franklin talked about who those players were in his pre-Oregon presser Monday.
YVAN KEMAJOU
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Before the season, Franklin said that Kemajou, a 6-foot-3, 251-pound defensive end, was right on the cusp of getting the green light. Thus far, Kemajou has played in all three games, meaning that if he plays two more in the regular season, he’ll burn his redshirt.
So, yeah, he’s going to burn it barring anything unforeseen.
“Yvan [Kemajou] is a guy right now that we have a lot of confidence in,” Franklin said Monday. He’s a smart guy. He’s a physical guy. He’s a trustworthy guy. So we feel like he can play.”
ALEX TATSCH
Tatsch, a linebacker from Latrobe High School in the Pittsburgh area, has a longer way to go to burn his redshirt, with last week’s win over Villanova being his only appearance thus far.
Tatsch is a guy that defensive coordinator Jim Knowles spoke highly of last week.
“I think that’s (burning the redshirt) a possibility for him,” Knowles told reporters Thursday. “We evaluate everything, even the D squads when they’re going against our offense. We saw enough things with him in the skill level to show that he could possibly come in and compete this year as a freshman, the linebacker skills. So we thought it was worth the investment to start getting him meaningful practice snaps, meaningful game reps, because he showed those skills. So you really always have to choose who you’re going to invest those reps in, and we saw enough really good things on the practice squad and in other situations to think it was worth the investment.”
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Coming into the season, Dixson was the true freshman DB everybody was talking about. But Joseph has made a big splash in the early going, with his pick-six against Villanova being the highlight thus far.
Joseph has played in two games thus far, so it will be interesting to see how they manage his reps going forward.
KOBY HOWARD
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Howard, a true freshman receiver, is a player Penn State fans expected to see more of in the early going. But so far, that hasn’t been the case. He played 22 snaps against Nevada Week 1, four against Florida International the next week, and none against Villanova in Week 3.
Franklin said during his press conference that the reason Howard and redshirt freshman Tyseer Denmark haven’t been playing as much is because of the offense’s desire to develop chemistry between QB Drew Allar and his top three receivers— Kyron Hudson, Devonte Ross and Trebor Pena.
No. 3 Penn State hosts No. 6 Oregon Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 on NBC.
