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5 Penn State players to watch against Iowa football in Saturday’s ‘White Out’ game
Group of second-year players could pose challenges for Iowa’s defense
IOWA CITY — The 2023 Penn State team that Iowa football will soon face has a much different cast of players from the 2021 team Iowa fans saw at Kinnick Stadium.
Sean Clifford now is in the NFL as the Green Bay Packers’ backup quarterback. Ta’Quan Roberson, who took over when Clifford suffered an injury, transferred to UConn. Wide receiver Jahan Dotson is now with the NFL’s Washington Commanders.
But the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions obviously have no shortage of talent. Here are five Penn State players to watch against the Hawkeyes:
QB Drew Allar
Penn State’s new starting quarterback has had a productive first three weeks.
Drew Allar, a five-star recruit in the 2022 class, has completed 67 percent of his passes while throwing four touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Medina, Ohio, native was especially efficient in Penn State’s 63-7 win against Delaware. He was 22-of-26 with one touchdown and no interceptions against the Fightin’ Blue Hens.
He is coming off a more iffy performance in the Nittany Lions’ 30-13 win against Illinois, when he went 16-for-33 and did not find the end zone. Four of those incompletions were drops, though, according to Pro Football Focus.
Iowa’s defense, which has forced 42 interceptions since the start of the 2021 season, could be the toughest test in Allar’s young collegiate career.
Iowa second-team defensive tackle Aaron Graves has some familiarity with Allar when they played against each other in the All-American Bowl, which features many of the best high school football players each year. Graves sacked Allar within the first five minutes of the game.
RB Kaytron Allen
Kaytron Allen essentially had his pick of college football destinations when he was recruit.
The four-star recruit had offers from Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, LSU and other heavyweights, according to 247Sports, before committing to Penn State.
His production in Happy Valley shows why so many college football juggernauts wanted Allen.
The sophomore is averaging 5.0 yards per carry this year after averaging 5.2 yards per carry last year.
Allen brings big-play potential as well. He has recorded at least one 10-plus-yard carry in nine of his last 10 games, including a 59-yard run against Rutgers and a 27-yard run against Ohio State last year.
RB Nicholas Singleton
Kaytron Allen is not the only Penn State running back who can cause problems for opposing defenses.
Nicholas Singleton, also a sophomore, is a former five-star recruit in the 2022 class and similarly had scholarship offers from a litany of top-tier college programs.
Singleton has averaged 4.3 yards per carry as the Nittany Lions’ No. 2 running back this season. He has five rushing touchdowns -- the same number as all of Iowa’s running backs combined.
Singleton set a Penn State freshman record with 12 rushing touchdowns last year.
Singleton also handles Penn State’s kick returns. He had a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown last year against Rutgers.
CB Kalen King
Kalen King has accumulated some impressive accolades since arriving in State College in 2021.
King received second-team All-America honors from the Walter Camp Foundation last year. The Associated Press gave him second-team all-Big Ten honors in a year with several NFL-bound defensive backs.
The 5-foot-11 corner had three interceptions in 2022. He has yet to record his first interception in 2023 although he has been effective in other ways.
Opposing quarterbacks have only completed 38.5 percent of passes when throwing toward King, per PFF.
WR KeAndre Lambert-Smith
KeAndre Lambert-Smith has been a go-to receiver for Allar through the first three games.
The junior from Norfolk, Va., has a team-high 13 receptions for 220 yards and two touchdowns. In comparison, Penn State’s two next-best receivers have combined to record 179 yards.
Lambert-Smith’s success in 2023 is far from a surprise.
He had 34 receptions in 2021 and 24 receptions in 2022 despite competing for targets with future NFL wide receivers such as Dotson, Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley.
Lambert-Smith does not have quite the same dominance as Dotson had two years ago, however. He has accounted for 20.3 percent of Penn State’s receptions this season versus Dotson’s 31.3 percent in 2021.
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com
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