DISRUPTU PSU Presents The Penn State Pulse With Dylan Dawson Season Preview And Predictions

start bench cut these three pen day running backs in college can you tell me who penate football is playing this weekend sorry [Music] what welcome back into the Penn State pulse I'm your host Dylan Dawson the long awaited season preview episode is finally here today I'm going to dive into my predictions for the 2024 pen State Football Depth Chart as well as the teams win loss totals um so I'm not going to waste any time here let's dive right into it beginning with my preseason depth chart predictions uh as we close in on game one at West [Music] Virginia so at quarterback this is a pretty easy one to start us off Drew Aller will return as a seconde starter in his Junior season I have Bo perula backing him up and true freshman Ethan gruner at third string who is reportedly having a very nice off season uh wide receiver Trey Wallace will start on the outside and will likely be the Lions wide receiver one this season assuming he can stay healthy uh in the slot and my projected wide receiver to is Liam Clifford um he appears to have turned a corner this off season and we should see a very productive season from Cliff Jr Cliff number two whatever you want to call him Sean Clifford's younger brother is ready to step up and leave his own reputation here in State College and I'm just going to throw this out there as well um he'll likely line up in the slot in majority but he'll play The Boundary as well um Andy kcki is going to have all the receivers moving all over the field with pre- SNAP motion so it won't matter too much where they line up um at least on plays where they have motion which will be a lot um then at wide receiver three I think that's a position that's still up for grabs uh as we enter the 10day mark as I'm recording this before the season um as of right now I have aari Evans beating out Julian Fleming to begin the season at wide receiver three uh which will probably surprise a lot of people a lot of you expected Julian Fleming to kind of come in and be the Surefire wide receiver one um it's not going to be the case he is going to have a tremendous impact on this room um he was brought in to be a leader of the room which he reportedly has been and will be um he's a very good blocker I believe he graded out as Ohio State's top run blocker last season above all of the linemen on the team um so he'll be great blocking on the boundary downfield um he's going to contribute it's just not going to be the big play guy that's scoring a touchdown or two every game um and he may work his way into the starting rotation but it's not looking like he's going to start at West Virginia um he'll still contribute quite a bit though he'll still play a ton of snaps and so will others like kyden Saunders tyer Denmark probably Anthony Ivy um Penn State's also going to have the running backs and tight ends heavily involved in that pass game uh and a bunch of different and creative ways under AK um speaking of those running backs I have for the third year in a row now crazy to think they're juniors but Nick Singleton and Kon Allen I have them once again splitting these starting reps um um a running back three that's been a spot that's been actually up for grabs all off season I think cam Wallace is able to hold that down but true freshman Quinton Martin will also get some snaps and potentially burn red shirt um he came in I think at about 190 lbs which is pretty light at 61 and a half 6'2 um so he's filled out I think he's up over 200 now close um so he should be big enough to play whether he burns his red shirt or not I don't know for sure um but I think he's kind of a yellow like guy right now where he has the potential to but it's not a sure thing um moving on to tight end it's clearly going to be Tyler Warren at that top spot uh who could be primed for an All-American caliber season um khil dinkin had some younger guys nipping at his heels but I think he holds on to that second spot he should be a very nice threat in the receiving game this year uh then at three and four would be those said younger guys Andrew Raper and true freshman Luke Reynolds who are both future stars in the making in my opinion PSU just continues to progress toward a tight end Factory pretty much as the years pass and this season will be another strong example of that moving on to the o line um I'm just going to go from left to right and list my five projected starters so we have drew Shelton at left tackle venga yoan the Washington Native at left guard I think Nick Dawkins wins the center job s Wormley at Right Guard and then Anthony dko beats out Nolan Ruchi at right tackle other guys that will play solid reps include Nolan Ruchi and true freshman Egan Boer at tackle um Cooper cousins probably at all three interior spots and then guys like Javin Williams and JB Nelson will probably play as swing guys where they can play as tackle or move inside to guard now as we approach the defense uh we will start on the dline with defensive end um the two starters will be Abdul Carter then idena Sutton um that's been the expectation since pretty much the beginning of the off season backing them up will likely be amid vanover who has quietly had a very nice offseason and Smith vilbert um speaking of vilbert a little bit he has put on some extra weight and the plan right now is to work him inside at 3ek as well um but he'll also get his fair share of reps on the edge um he's now up to about 6 six and a half 67 and 290 lbs by the way um that is a very big human he should be a fun one to watch this year another name that has generated a lot of Buzz this offseason is true freshman Max Granville and he actually graduated high school a year early and reclassified for those of you that might have missed that uh little info nugget um so he's what 17 or 18 and he seems to be primed for some legitimate reps already so that should be a very exciting one to watch he's a little bit smaller for DN he's came in about 63 225 I think he's gained a little bit of weight since then um he's very twitched up he's very quick off the edge uh already drawing comparisons to chop Robinson which can be dangerous to project someone to do that well but um if you're getting this projections it's a good sign especially that early um in your college career so I don't know if he'll spoil that red shirt but expect to see number 18 out there for some meaningful snaps in 2024 moving into the interior of the dline at D tackle Penn State believes they once again have four guys who are starter quality and I expect them to play all four quite a bit it's pretty much that same four core as last year core four four core whatever you want to call it um as far as the two names who we see try onto the field for that first defensive possession against West Virginia I have Zayn Durant and then Devon J Thomas um a lot of you know him as Devon Elise he actually changed his last name uh pretty sure he did a short interview on that if you want to look into why um and then the other two are kiah isard and and then H Beeman um moving back to linebacker we should see a lot of the 425 formation from Tom Allen this season so there will only be two linebackers on the field a lot of the time um I have Rising Star Tony Rojos lining up next to Kobe King who will play in the Box as the two starters uh if they run a 43 set I have Dom Duca as the third guy out there and I've heard in that situation they'll likely slide Tony over to play the will spot and then insert Dom at the Sam and then Tamir Robinson has had a very nice off season and I fully expect that Pittsburgh native to be the fourth guy up in that room I think will probably suits him the best so he would be relieving um either Tony Ros or maybe Domo um next up we have corner and a top guy appears to be emerging in that highly competitive room and that is Georgia transfer and true sophomore AJ Harris uh cam Miller has has stepped up as well both on and off the field as a leader in recent months and I have him penciled in as the second starter and then I believe the two deep is rounded out by Florida transfer Jaylen Kimber and then Al Daven Collins the 43 guy who transferred in from Mississippi State uh two years ago now um also look for Zion Tracy and Elliot Washington to see meaningful reps this season they pretty much can go three deep at corner they have six guys that they think can play legitimate reps um they can throw in against pretty much any team any group of receivers and feel at least fairly confident about it so that is a very deep and very talented Brom another unit that is absolutely loaded is the safeties where I have KJ Winston Jr and zachie wheatle leading the way um Jaylen Reed will also be pretty much the starter um as they'll play a lot of three safety sets in that 425 uh I think we'll see him play Down In The Box a lot and he's always been a very smart and physical player there um so the staff really likes Reed in that hybrid box rle where he can play a little bit of linebacker a little bit of safety just kind of wherever they need him on to play byplay basis um so there you have it my educated guess as to who you'll see take the field first in week one against the West Virginia Mountaineers um so now let's shift toward my game by game record predictions finally a ticket provider all Penn State students wants is here student seats a peer-to-peer ticket Marketplace exclusively for college students it offers a secure and convenient platform where students can buy and sell tickets the service simplifies the buying and selling experience with fair and transparent pricing and data protection student seats transparent pricing and reliable support sign up today at student seats.com [Music] U of course starting with that August 31st match up in Morgantown that is now approaching us very very quickly so I think West Virginia gives Penn State some trouble early in that game uh maybe a one- score game or a tied game at Halftime but PSU is able to close it out I don't see it being a very clean game from Penn State as they are breaking in three new coordinators who are implementing different schemes um but PSU does get out of there with a win in my opinion Maybe by 10 points 14 points and then moving on Penn State's home opener is against Bowling Green September 7th I believe um where they'll probably be 30 plus Point favorites uh not too much to be said about this one it should be a comfortable win and then Penn State gets an early bye after that and then they go on to play Kent State and beaver uh should be another snoozefest but hopefully another game to learn more about some of the younger guys and the roster depth and PSU closes out their non-conference schedule with another comfortable win and then for the first time in eight nine years the net Lions actually open their conference play at home uh where they'll be playing Illinois we all know what happened last time Illinois came to Beaver Stadium and I'd rather not suffer through something like that again I'm sure the players and Staff feel the same way and PSU wins by two or three scores right anden State closes out their streak of four home games in a row with their first game against a new conference member and that is the UCLA Bruins I think this would be a very interesting and pretty fun game to watch uh UCLA should have an explosive offense uh I think they have a really underrated quarterback and Ethan gers um but I don't see that UCLA defense making a quick enough turnaround to hang with a team like Penn State in 2024 I think UCLA up ready to go but PSU gets the win in fairly comfortable style and then the first game of a pretty brutal three-game stretch is at USC uh a lot of people are very concerned about this matchup but I think Andy cotal Nikki will have the Penn State offense rolling by this point in the season two things travel very well in college football and that is defense and the Run game pen State should be pretty strong in both categories and USC's defense won't be able to keep up I think this one's somewhat of AOW excuse me somewhat of a blowout and Penn State makes it through the first half of the Season undefeated at 6 and 0 next after bye number two the nitty Lions go to Madison to play Wisconsin on the road I personally have this one pegged as their second toughest game of the season I think we start to see improvement from Luke fickles offense and this is probably a prime time kickoff in camper Randle uh it's not pretty but penate gets out of there with a very close win something like 23 to 20 24 to 20 but they get it done after that PSU then has to close this three- game stretch with a matchup against potentially the top team in college football this season which would be the Ohio State Buckeyes in Beaver Stadium uh there's a path to a Penn State win here but I think osu's offensive P offensive Firepower excuse me is too much to keep up with and PSU drops their first game of the season to move to seven- one but still squarely in the playoff picture Penn State next will battle Washington in a November white out in Beaver I think PSU will play this game with a lot of intention it will play aggressively and it's not very close from the beginning um think something similar to last year's white out game against Iowa that's what I see playing out um I think the nitty Lions used that momentum to propel themselves into a strong finish to the season in which they play at Purdue at Minnesota and at home versus Maryland to close it out I think those are all three pretty comfortable wins and they're able to finish the season at 11 and one um I was very close to predicting 10- two with a loss at Wisconsin which probably still would result in a penate playoff birth under James Franklin um but regardless I do have PSC making the 12 12 team college football playoff in a pretty strong season um came down to either 10 or two 10-2 or 11-1 I don't really see any other possibilities I mean maybe they slip up and lose a third but probably not 12 and0 um but I'd say 10-2 or 11-1 is very likely I think they make the playoff um pretty sure we'll see the offense take a step forward this season to where they look competent against Elite defenses uh I think the defense probably take a small step back but it's still more than enough to keep this team in every game they play um that defense last year lost a ton of talent as well as maybe the best coordinator that this program has ever seen in Manny Diaz um he had them as a top five defense last year in most major categories and that was just a ton of fun to watch it's pretty hard to keep that up I think Tom Allen will put out a great product but probably not quite that caliber at least in year one so that is I have for y'all today really hope you enjoyed your watch or enjoyed your listen let's hope for 11 And1 10 State IND lions in 2024 maybe 12 and0 probably not but let's hope so uh the season is just around the corner so buckle in I appreciate all of you and your support until next time I'm your host Dylan Dawson have a good one