With spring football hitting its stride and striving toward the meat of the spring football game schedule, we are now officially in preseason mode for the upcoming college football season. And with that comes the flurry of preseason watch lists and preseason all-conference and all-American rosters. The Walter Camp Football Foundation released its preseason All-America team on Friday, and three Penn State players were included on the roster.
Offensive lineman [autotag]Olu Fashanu[/autotag] was named to the first-team offense and defensive back [autotag]Kalen King[/autotag] was named to the first-team defense. Defensive lineman [autotag]Chop Robinson[/autotag] was named to the second-team defense for Penn State’s third player on the Walter Camp preseason All-American team.
Fashanu and King were each named to the Walter Camp All-American team last season as second-team selections They are two of the 12 players on this year’s preseason All-American roster that were included as first or second-team All-American at the end of last season’s Walter Camp selections.
Fashanu surprised many in the NFL draft scouting community when he announced he will return for another season with the Nittany Lions in 2023. Entering his junior season, Fashanu is already being viewed as one of the top offensive line prospects in the 2024 NFL draft cycle, making his decision to return to Penn State for another season a great boost to the Penn State offensive line this fall. This will be Fashanu’s fourth season with the program. He did not see any action during his true freshman season of 2020 but has since left his mark on the line of scrimmage.
King is back to anchor the Penn State secondary after another solid season for the Penn State defense as a sophomore last year. Playing alongside Joey Porter Jr. at cornerback, King didn’t play in anyone’s shadow. King played in all 13 games for Penn State last season and started nine of them, including the Rose Bowl, where he came up with an early interception to help Penn State top Utah. King led the Big Ten in passes defended and passed broken up and recorded three interceptions last season.
Robinson transferred to Penn State from Maryland and he quickly asserted himself as a playmaker on the Penn State defensive line. Robinson appeared in 12 games and recorded 10 tackles for a loss with 5.5 sacks. He earned team defensive player of the week honors three times last season, including in the Rose Bowl against Utah.
See the full Walter Camp All-America preseason selections in the official press release from the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
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