Penn State players and staff highlight 2020 breakout candidates

When reporters meet with Penn State's players and coaching staff ahead of every new season, one of the most common questions is some variation of the following:

"Which players might be in for breakout seasons?"

Even with an unconventional setting for pre-season media day, that question was asked and aswered again and again, with some Nittany Lions opting to pick out veterans who could be on the precipice of something big, while others chose to highlight youngsters who might play a bigger role than originally anticipated.

Below is a compilation of many of those responses, as Penn State's players and staff gave their takes on who fans should be watching out for as we move closer to the 2020 season.

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Brent Pry:

"It's just tough right now because, you know, these freshmen really, except for the few that showed up at midterms, they haven't had a chance to put the pads on, you know. Even those guys it was a winner workout. I mean, you know, to see when when the bullets really get flying and pads are popping, I think we'll be able to tell a little bit more about these new guys. Just from a, an athletic standpoint, a talent standpoint there's certainly some guys have jumped out, Curtis [Jacobs] being one of them, Coziah Izzard. There's just some guys I think that, right now at least you say okay we got to give these guys a shot and see what they can do when the pads go on because they're checking all the other boxes."

Noah Cain:

"I feel like y'all are going to be really impressed with KeAndre Lambert, a receiver. He's been nothing but great. He's been working hard, before practice, after practice hitting the jug machine, always looking to get better. I've been real impressed with him on the field and I think he's going to make a big impact for us this year."

Judge Culpepper:

"Off the top of my head, Hakeem Beamon is doing some great things. He's super fast. Great hands. I'm excited to see what he's gonna do this year."

Cam Sullivan-Brown:

"[All the young wide receivers] have different styles and different flavors to their game. [KeAndre Lambert], Parker [Washington], Malick [Meiga], I like the different things they bring to the game. Parker's quick. KeAndre's competitive as hell. Malick is physical, and Jaden [Dottin] is fast and he'll go up and get the ball. I like all of their different styles."

PJ Mustipher:

"Des Holmes on the offensive side of the ball. I go up against Des every day. It's a battle in the trenches. When we go against each other, I know I gotta be on my P's and Q's or I'm not gonna win. I think he knows the same thing, so we've been battling out there and practice and now that we got the pads on, we turned it up a notch as well. I think Des has the potential to be the best guard in America. Des got the the length, the strength and the size and he has the right mindset to do it. I think that Des has worked his behind off since he's arrived on campus and I think it's going to pay dividends for him this season. There are a lot of guys who are working hard and that's the most exciting part about this team this year."

Rasheed Walker:

"I could name a bunch of people. Just firsthand, people that I see every day, Caedan Wallace has really made a big jump in his technique and football IQ and he's just been really good with picking up to the game speed. Adisa Isaac, Noah Cain, all the running backs, all the quarterbacks, Des Holmes. We've got a whole bunch of guys."

Jaquan Brisker:

"PJ Mustipher, just how he comes in daily, he works all the time. You'll see him out there before practice working hard, you'll see him at the end of practice working on his technique. I would say a lot of people on this team [could have breakout years], but I'll pick PJ Mustipher."

Shaka Toney:

"I'm gonna say Jesse Luketa. He's one of the people who wants to be great so pad he's willing to do anything to get there. A lot of people will say they want to be great but don't want to put the extra work in. I watch him every day put the extra work in. We drive home together. Before I even put my key he's already watching practice. He's going to put that work in every day.

"Offensively, somebody that people don't talk about that's going to do really well is Des Holmes. That boy, he's got a great punch, great feet. He's getting confidence that I always knew that he had, so I could see Des having a good year too."

Michal Menet:

One of the guys who, I don't know if he surprised me because I always thought he was going to be a pretty good player, but he's really started to show it more recently is Hakeem Beamon. I think he's been doing a lot of good things at practice so far and I'm really excited to see how he plays this year.

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