8/8/2023 football Edit

Penn State Football 2023 Top 25 Countdown: OL Hunter Nourzad

Dylan Callaghan-Croley • Happy Valley Insider

Editor

Today marks 25 days until the return of Penn State football as the Nittany Lions continue to prepare for their upcoming season and their September 2 season opener against the West Virginia Mountaineers.

With those 25 days remaining, we begin today looking at the top 25 players for Penn State football this fall. These rankings are a combination of predictive rankings but also based on things we already know about each player and their importance to the Nittany Lions this upcoming season.

First up on our rankings is Penn State redshirt senior offensive lineman Hunter Nourzad. He is one of four offensive linemen to make our top 25 player countdown; redshirt senior Caedan Wallace finished just outside the top 25 in our voting, coming in at No.26.

It's safe to say that here at Happy Valley Inisder, we have high expectations for Nourzad and the Nittany Lions' offensive line this fall.

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Nourzad is entering year two with Penn State after completing his redshirt senior season with the Nittany Lions last fall. The Cornell transfer appeared in 11 games for the Nittany Lions at both guard and center, making eight starts in the process. He was named an All-Big Ten honorable mention following the regular season by both the Big Ten media and coaches.

Between his career at Cornell and Penn State, Nourzad has appeared in 31 games since 2019 and has made 28 starts as well. Prior to transferring to Penn State in the offseason following the 2021 season, Nourzad started 20 straight games for the Big Red at right tackle.

While he was a tackle for Cornell, Nourzad for the Nittany Lions was an interior offensive lineman and will once again be so this fall. After seeing most of his playing time at guard for the Nittany Lions last season, the Marietta (GA) native will likely be the Nittany Lions' starting center come September 2.

Nourzad provides the Nittany Lions with tremendous versatility. He has the ability to play any of the positions on the offensive line, though his size at 6-foot-3 and 315 pounds strictly makes him an interior offensive lineman at the FBS level. Even so, the ability to play three of the five spots on the offensive line could be huge for the Nittany Lions if they were to suffer any injuries at the guard position this fall.