On Monday morning, the East-West Shrine Bowl got the preseason watchlist nominations kicked off as they released their list of the top 1000 college football players who are eligible for the bowl game and Penn State saw 10 of their players earn the nomination.
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Cephas just recently made the move over to Penn State this summer after four seasons with Kent State where he finished with 145 receptions for 2,139 yards and 12 touchdowns. As far as awards go, Cephas has earned All-MAC first-team in each of the the last two seasons along with also being named the Biletnikoff midseason watch list in 2021.
Lambert-Smith showed glimpses of his potential over the past few years, but didn't quite make that leap over the hump, that was late last season where he hauled in eight receptions for 207 yards and two touchdowns over the final two games. This season Lambert-Smith is expected be a full time starter once again and will look to build on that late season surge.
The former high school quarterback, now converted tight end is expected to step up this season with Brenton Strange now in the NFL. Over the past few seasons, we've seen glimpses of Warren's potential as he doubled his receiving yards from 2021 to 2022 and also had three touchdowns last year as well. Look for him to take that next leap this year.
Arguably the unit that will make or break what Drew Allar and crew are capable of doing this season on offense, three of the Nittany Lions starting offensive linemen. The group is led by Fashanu who made the surprising move to come back to State College despite being ranked a top NFL Draft prospect this offseason. Add in veterans in Caedan Wallace and Hunter Nourzad who have a combined 65 games of playing experience and 55 total starts and you have a pretty experienced unit overall that ranks amongst the best in the country.
After missing the 2021 season due to injury, Issac had a solid 2022 season where he started all 13 games at defensive end for the Nittany Lions and earned All-Big Ten third team honors from the coaches and honorable mention from the media.
Jacobs might not be the linebacker that everyone is talking about since Abdul Carter's jump last season, but Jacobs has been one of the most consistent players for Penn State over the past few years. He also earned several All-Big Ten Conference honors following the season with the most notable being all conference second-team by PFF.
On top of all that, Jacobs has been getting some high praise from NFL scouts this offseason as a guy who could rise up draft boards with another good year.
The Nittany Lions secondary might've lost some key pieces to the NFL Draft in Joey Porter Jr. and Ji'Ayir Brown, but they have truly reloaded as some are saying the unit as a whole might be even better this season and that's because of guys like Dixon and Ellis.
While Ellis started all 13 games last season and looked pretty good doing so, Dixon only started six games and will likely be thrusted into the full time starter role this year. Only time will tell how he will perform, but after seeing him in spring he looks poised for a potential breakout year.
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