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Up Close & Personal: Nana Asiedu

Nana Asiedu was thinking about going out for football at North Stafford (Va.) High. Coach Joe Mangano thought that would be a good idea – so good, in fact, that he gave the young athlete a guarantee.

Asiedu, then a freshman, had played football in middle school but shifted his focus to basketball during his first year of high school. He had earned All-Region honors as a freshman on the basketball team, but Mangano saw football potential in the young athlete.

Asiedu was a U.S. Army All-American in 2018.
Asiedu was a U.S. Army All-American in 2018.
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“He was 6-foot-5, 240 and just looked like a future offensive tackle, I thought,” Mangano said. “He came to me at the end of the season and said, ‘I want to come out for football.’ I said, ‘Nana, if you come out for football, I guarantee if you do anything on film at all, [show] any kind of potential, you’ll have Division I scholarships all around the nation.’”

Mangano’s prediction was spot on. Asiedu drew offers from at least one school in every Power Five conference, earning 27 offers in total. Rivals.com ranked him as the No. 141 prospect in the country and the 11th-best offensive tackle.

Asiedu’s choice was a game changer, both for him and Mangano. The year before Asiedu joined the team, North Stafford went 6-6. But in his first season of football, the Wolverines won nine games, and they followed that performance by going 7-5 in 2016 and 8-4 last fall.

Soon to be a Penn State freshman, Asiedu said the close-knit environment he saw at a junior day last February ultimately played the biggest role in his decision to continue his football career at PSU.

“What sold me was the family environment and how I could feel that the coaches really care for the players here,” Asiedu said. “Not just that, but the tradition at the school, too, with the football program and the people around it.”

Part of an offensive line class that included three four-star recruits, the 6- foot-5, 275-pound Asiedu will be looking to help give the Nittany Lions the same kind of boost that he gave North Stafford.

“I think you take Nana at one tackle, you take Rasheed [Walker] at the other tackle, you put Juice [Scruggs] at center and then you have a situation with [Bryce] Effner being a swing guy who could play either guard, possibly center or tackle, then I think we’ve put a helluva class together,” coach James Franklin said during his signing day teleconference.

Asiedu admitted that he had some doubts after returning to the football field. But he quickly proved himself, excelling on the offensive and defensive lines, even catching six touchdown passes as a tight end during his junior season.

Eventually, though, Asiedu settled in at left tackle. During his senior season, he didn’t allow a single sack.

“He’s going to be a typical 310-, 315- pound offensive tackle that you see at schools like Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan,” Mangano said. “He’s going to be that prototypical left tackle. But with his athleticism, he’s a little bit different than some of the other ones.”

Asiedu is a quick study, Mangano added. That talent helped him catch up fast after not playing football as a freshman. He went on to fill a variety of roles at North Stafford, even lining up at times on the outside as a receiver.

Pair that skill set with Asiedu’s elite physical gifts, and the Nittany Lions are getting the full package.

“Nana is an extremely rare talent – long, athletic, one of those guys who is strong physically and then athletically gifted,” Mangano said. “We just did the bench press the other day in the weight room and he hit 355 for one rep for being his age with his long arms. He did 225 18 times the week before, so he’s got some pretty good physical gifts. When you’re the left tackle, you’re kind of the cornerstone of the offensive line, and that’s what he was this year for us.”

You wouldn’t get a sense of Asiedu’s talent through conversation, however. The Virginia native, who spent two years as a captain for North Stafford, handles his business with a quiet confidence.

His words aren’t loud, but his on-field performance certainly is.

“He’s not the rah-rah guy,” Mangano said. “He’s not your hype guy. He’s very cerebral. He’s locked in. He does his job. He works. But you’re not going to hear him.”

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