Mt. Lebanon's JB Nelson looks to help stabilize Penn State's new-look offensive line

STATE COLLEGE — From the outside looking in, replacing three starters on the offensive line, all of whom were NFL Draft picks in April, is among the most pressing to-do items on Penn State’s camp agenda.

Losing Olu Fashanu, Caedan Wallace and Hunter Nourzad opened up spots at both tackle positions as well as center for the Nittany Lions, who aim to hit the ground running with first-year coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s offense.

With Penn State just a few practices into camp, competition for those spots has yet to play itself out.

Even with the uncertainty, redshirt senior guard JB Nelson isn’t concerned that the result will be anything other than new, capable linemen stepping up.

“I really don’t feel like we have any holes to fill,” Nelson said. “We always had the depth in the first place. We just had such good (starters). We always have had the depth, and we can compete against anybody.”

Nelson, a former standout at Mt. Lebanon who played at Lackawanna Community College in Scranton before transferring to Penn State in 2022, looks poised to lock up the starting left guard gig.

Last year, he played in 11 games, starting eight while navigating through an undisclosed injury in October.

Still, the games played in 2023 made a difference for the 6-foot-5, 327-pound Nelson, who seems poised to complement sixth-year right guard Sal Wormley on the new-look offensive line.

“I would say the biggest thing is confidence and not as much nervousness,” Nelson said of becoming a regular last season. “Once I went into the first game last year against West Virginia, the biggest thing I felt was nervousness. But once I got that out of the way and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I can compete and play just as good as everybody else.’ That was the biggest thing for me.”

In addition to Wormley and Nelson, Penn State brings back two more experienced players: redshirt senior Nick Dawkins and junior Drew Shelton.

Dawkins is expected to fill the shoes of Nourzad at center and has made a noted impression on Kotelnicki since the latter arrived in Happy Valley.

“I will say this about Nick Dawkins: He is one of a kind,” Kotelnicki said. “I have coached long enough to know when you’re interacting with a special person in their early 20s or late teens. He is a special one.

“There’s maturity, there’s authenticity. It just screams when you interact with him. I tell our staff that you can never take for granted the kind of leader and person he is, because he is rare. Because of that, we anticipate a guy like that to be successful.”

As for Shelton, he was unavailable during spring ball while recovering from offseason surgery. But he brings 20 games and six starts’ worth of experience to coach Phil Trautwein’s room and likely will start at left tackle.

Other young players in the mix at tackle are redshirt freshmen J’Ven Williams and Anthony Donkoh, both of whom got their feet wet last year.

The Nittany Lions also added Nolan Ruuchi, a reserve at Wisconsin the past few seasons, through the transfer portal.

Key for Kotelnicki and Trautwein will be cross-training their offensive linemen to the greatest extent possible to create a security blanket against injuries.

“Drew is mastering left tackle. J’Ven is mastering left tackle, but they’re getting enough reps at the other side that as the season unfolds and the pieces start to have to move for whatever reason, it’s not like we’re starting all over brand new,” Kotelnicki said.

“We have some really good answers and some evidence to demonstrate that they can or can’t do something.”

All together, Penn State’s offensive line features returning veterans, players with experience who are looking to step into more prominent roles and fresh meat.

Regardless of age or games played, every offensive lineman has his work cut out for him in going up against a talented Nittany Lions defensive line unit that looks to repeat in 2024 as one of college football’s most formidable.

“We’re going up against one of the best D-lines in the country — the best D-line in the country — and that challenges us every day and makes us better every single day,” Nelson said.