Who will Penn State draftees be playing in their first NFL game?

The NFL schedule release lets us know when Penn State’s latest NFL draft class is set to make their NFL debut.

The 2022 NFL draft has come and gone and in doing so Penn State fans have new players to follow as they pursue professional careers.

This draft class saw eight Nittany Lions get drafted over the course of the drafts seven rounds. They then saw five more players get signed as undrafted free agents, sending 13 players to the NFL off of a college roster is no easy task. It speaks to what [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] and his staff have been able to do with their players and why he is seeing a recruiting boom taking place in Happy Valley.

After careers that saw them build themselves up at Beaver Stadium they now will begin the grueling travel of a 17-game NFL schedule. Take a look at who and where they will be playing in their first NFL games.

 

Penn State football NFL draft undrafted free agent tracker

Keeping track of Penn State players signed as undrafted free agents in the NFL

The NFL draft is always the craziest time of the year for any team. The only thing that comes close to it experienced over seven rounds is the epitome organized chaos. Teams are making calls, making offers, and hoping to grab anyone who well out of the draft who they had a draftable grade on.

The best part of this is simple, so many players get one more shot at completing a lifelong dream. For several Penn State players in this draft class it is their one shot at the glory the NFL can provide. We saw several players with rather significant draft slides that still got drafted but that doomed several other players hoping to hear their names.

Thankfully, a handful of them have found homes for now and others have camp invites to show what they can bring to a team this summer. It can be hard to track all these players down so allow for us to assist.

Carolina Panthers sign former Penn State running back John Lovett

Former Penn State and Baylor running back is reunited with Matt Rhule with the Carolina Panthers.

The Carolina Panthers are having a bit of a Penn State flavor under head coach [autotag]Matt Rhule[/autotag]. After using a fourth-round draft pick to draft Penn State linebacker [autotag]Brandon Smith[/autotag] and signing special teams standout [autotag]Drew Hartlaub[/autotag] to an undrafted free agent contract, the Panthers added one more Nittany Lion to the mix with running back [autotag]John Lovett[/autotag].

Lovett signed with the Panthers as another undrafted free agent, according to NFL analyst and reporter Matt Lombardo, via Twitter.

Lovett transferred to Penn State from Baylor last year and was expected to be a solid contributor to the Penn State running game along with [autotag]Noah Cain[/autotag] and [autotag]Keyvone Lee[/autotag]. All three were listed on the preseason watch list for the Doak Walker Award, but Penn State’s entire running game was a disappointment in 2021. Not one player recorded a single 100-yard rushing game. Lovett was used in a backup role for the majority of the season and didn’t appear in every game due to an early-season suspension.

Of course, Rhule is very familiar with what Lovett has to offer on his roster, as Rhule was once Lovett’s head coach at Baylor.

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Carolina Panthers add another Nittany Lion with Drew Hartlaub

Penn State sp[ecial teams star Drew Hartlaub signs with Carolina Panthers

You just had to have a small feeling that Carolina Panthers head coach [autotag]Matt Rhule[/autotag] would strongly consider taking a chance on another Penn State player once the 2022 NFL draft was over, right? The Panthers did just that by signing special teams standout [autotag]Drew Hartlaub[/autotag] to an undrafted free agent contract following the recent draft.

News of Hartlaub signing with the Panthers was first reported by Doug Kyed of Pro Football Focus. According to Kyed, via Twitter, Hartlaub received a $6,000 signing bonus as part of the contract.

Hartlaub was not a player expected to be drafted by an NFL team in the recent NFL draft, but his performance at Penn State’s pro day drew plenty of attention to the kind of value he can bring to any NFL team. Hartlaub was a special teams standout for the Nittany Lions and he could land a familiar role in the NFL with his work ethic and devotion to the team.

That could be just the kind of attitude Rhule is looking to have on the roster with the Panthers. Of course, Hartlaub is hardly alone in the Penn State connections in Charlotte. The Panthers used a fourth-round draft pick to select Penn State linebacker [autotag]Brandon Smith[/autotag], and former Nittany Lion [autotag]Yetur Gross-Matos[/autotag] is already an established player on the roster.

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These 7 players are no longer on Penn State’s roster for 2022

Here are the seven players who were not included on Penn State’s updated roster

The offseason of transition in Happy Valley continued Monday with Penn State officially removing a handful of players from its football roster. Penn State is continuing to turn the page to the 2022 season by making changes to its staff and its roster. On Monday, the speculation about whether or not certain players would be returning for another year or not was finally put to rest.

As noted by Audrey Snyder of The Athletic, via Twitter, Penn State offensive linemen Mike Miranda and Anthony Whigan, wide receivers Daniel Georgia and Cam Sullivan-Brown, defensive tackle Fred Hansard, cornerback AJ Lytton, and safety Drew Hartlaub were nowhere to be found on the updated roster provided by Penn State.

There are not any real surprises on that list of players that are no longer appearing on the roster. Miranda, Whigan, Hartlaub, Hansard, Sullivan-Brown, were redshirt seniors. Lytton and George had gone through four years of eligibility and neither figured to play into the plans for their respective positions in 2022 had they chosen to stay another season.

At this point, it is unknown if any player still with eligibility will choose to enter his name in the transfer portal, but being removed from the Penn State roster does seem to confirm their days at Penn State are officially over.

All of this roster cleanup is just another step in what should be a pivotal offseason leading into a highly scrutinized season for James Franklin and his Nittany Lions.

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Here are all 32 football players being recognized on Penn State’s senior day

Sean Clifford, Jahan Dotson, Jaquan Brisker, Journey Brown among those being honored at Penn State’s senior day

Penn State will play its final game in Beaver Stadium for the 2021 season on Saturday afternoon against Rutgers. And with this being the final home game of the season, it is the final opportunity for 32 players to step foot on the field inside Beaver Stadium for a game. Penn State will recognize 32 players for senior day festivities prior to kicking off against Rutgers on Saturday.

Of course, this is a slightly different type of senior day. Of the 32 players being recognized on Saturday afternoon, three players will be going through the senior day ceremony for a second time. Jaquan Brisker, Tariq Castro-Fields, and Ben Wilson were all recognized in Penn State’s senior day ceremony last season, but the NCAA allowed all players to take advantage of an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the entire sports world. So those three players opted for one more season in Happy Valley.

Of note, Penn State will recognize Sean Clifford, who could still potentially return for another season in 2022 (also a result of the NCAA’s decision on extra years of eligibility for all). Clifford isn’t the only player who can take advantage of that option, but there remains plenty of discussion on whether or not Clifford will return for another season.

Clifford’s top receiving target, Jahan Dotson, will also be recognized. Although Dotson could return for another season as well, there is no suggestion he will do so. Dotson is expected to be one of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2022 NFL draft, and some believe he could be a first-round pick.

Penn State will also recognize Journey Brown. Brown was forced to medically retire prior to the 2020 season after learning of a health concern that made continuing playing football a risky endeavor.

Here is the full list of players Penn State will honor during the senior day, as provided by Penn State’s athletics department;

  • Jaquan Brisker
  • Ellis Brooks
  • Journey Brown
  • Tariq Castro-Fields
  • Rafael Checa
  • Max Chizmar
  • Sean Clifford
  • Jahan Dotson
  • Arnold Ebiketie
  • Winston Eubanks
  • Henry Fessler
  • Fred Hansard
  • Drew Hartlaub
  • Vlad Hilling
  • Des Holmes
  • Bradley King
  • Will Knutsson
  • Kaleb Konigus
  • John Lovett
  • Jesse Luketa
  • Jordan Miner
  • Mike Miranda
  • PJ Mustipher
  • Jordan Stout
  • Cam Sullivan-Brown
  • Johnathan Sutherland
  • Derrick Tangelo
  • Dan Vasey
  • Justin Weller
  • Anthony Whigan
  • Ben Wilson
  • Eric Wilson

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WATCH: Penn State surprises special teams player with scholarship

Drew Hartlaub has played a role on special teams for Penn State his entire collegiate career, earning a scholarship in 2021.

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What’s a Penn State spring game, or spring practice in this case, without a special moment to be celebrated? After Penn State’s spring practice in Beaver Stadium on Saturday, the Nittany Lions surprised redshirt junior Drew Hartlaub with a scholarship. And what better way to learn of the news than from a true legend of the program?

Jack Ham, a College Football Hall of Fame linebacker for the Nittany Lions and a current radio analyst on the Penn State sports radio network, visited the team in the locker room after the spring practice. Other than hearing one of the program’s best all-time players offer some encouragement and words of advice moving forward, Ham was given the opportunity to inform Hartlaub that he is now on scholarship. Naturally, the locker room burst into celebration.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNyUbSJLjqT/

 

Hartlaub has been well respected within the Penn State program throughout his collegiate career. Hartlaub has played in 30 games for Penn State, all as a member of the special teams unit. Last season, Hartlaub was named the coaching staff’s special teams player of the week following his performance against Michigan with a fumble recovery. It was the second time of Hartlaub’s career he had been recognized as the team’s special teams player of the week.

In 2019, Hartlaub was recognized as the team’s developmental squad defensive player of the week following games against Buffalo and Iowa, showing Hartlaub is dedicated to playing a role in practices that helps lead to victory on Saturdays. He was also named the scout team special teams player of the year in his redshirt freshman season of 2018.

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