Tag: KJ Winston

Penn State won’t have KJ Winston back for College Football Playoff

James Franklin confirms Penn State will be without star safety for the College Football Playoff.

Penn State head coach James Franklin was happy to see his team come out of the Big Ten championship game as healthy as possible despite coming out on the losing end of things against Orgeon. But the Nittany Lions will unfortunately still be without one of its key defensive players for the duration of the College Football Playoff as safety [autotag]KJ Winston[/autotag] was confirmed to be out with his long-term injury according to Franklin this week.

The writing was on the wall that Penn State would make the College Football Playoff this year for the first in [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag]’s tenure, but when they made the Big Ten championship game, the question then became how high of a seed they could be.

While the Nittany Lions lost against Oregon, they were given a favorable path by the committee; facing SMU at home in the first round and then taking on Group of 5 team Boise State if they get past the Mustangs.

This draw might be the best out of any team in the 12-team tournament, including those who received a bye, but ultimately it will come down to what Penn State does on the field.

After the Nittany Lions defense was taken apart by Oregon in the title game, there are some concerns about how they might hold up when facing another team of that caliber.

Someone who would certainly help that unit is [autotag]KJ Winston[/autotag], Penn State’s star safety who was lost with a “long-term injury” after the Bowling Green game, which was the second contest of their season.

Unfortunately, Franklin put that notion to bed.

“We will not get KJ back for this year,” he said per Daniel Gallen of 247Sports. “Like I mentioned before, long-term injury.”

That is a huge blow to Penn State and their chances of winning the national championship this year since Winston was viewed as one of the best safeties in the country and even earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors following the opener against West Virginia when he had 12 tackles and forced a fumble.

The Nittany Lions will then have to keep running out the same secondary unit, led by [autotag]Jaylen Reed[/autotag] and [autotag]Zakee Wheatley[/autotag] on the back end to go with their young corner group.

Cousin of Penn State player commits to Michigan over Nittany Lions

Penn State missed out on a recruiting target to Big Ten rival Michigan.

As Penn State works through some of the final stages for the 2025 recruiting class, they are hoping their official visits pushes them over the top for many of the top targets who are coming to campus.

When players leave after these visits, fans get a bit nervous when there aren’t commitments that immediately follow.

Sometimes that’s warranted as it allows other schools in the process to give their final pitches to these players that might sway them in a different direction.

This was the case for one of Penn State’s top targets [autotag]Kainoa Winston[/autotag].

After seemingly be the leaders in the clubhouse during the majority of his recruitment, the Nittany Lions got some tough news when it was announced the four-star safety had committed to Michigan.

This is a tough pill to swallow as not only is he listed as the No. 95 player in the 2025 class according to On3’s Industry Ranking, but he is also the cousin of current Penn State player [autotag]KJ Winston[/autotag].

When it comes to recruiting, though, each process is different, and this one clearly worked out in that manner as he decided to commit to a rival of the Nittany Lions.

“I really like the people, the culture and the school. Ann Arbor is chill and laid back. I just like it there,” he told EJ Holland of On3.

Winston was in Happy Valley for an official visit during the weekend of June 7, but what he experience when visiting Michigan on May 31 was what ultimately sold him.

He developed a strong relationship with new secondary coach LaMar Morgan and felt like that was the place to be.

This is a tough development for Penn State as they turn to their other options in the secondary who are still uncommitted.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on X, Facebook, and Threads.

Penn State in top four of coveted 2025 four-star safety

Penn State is one of the final four schools in the running for a key safety recruiting target.

Penn State has a massive weekend starting on Friday as they welcome in tons of recruits for official visits. These are going to be massively important in determining if the Nittany Lions are going to put together another top recruiting class nationally.

As they are welcoming in many of their top targets who remain uncommitted, there are very few players, if any, who the Nittany Lions want to land than [autotag]Kainoa Winston[/autotag].

The 5-foot-10, 185-pound safety is cousins with current Penn State safety [autotag]KJ Winston[/autotag].

Outside of the family ties, the Maryland native is also an elite recruit in his own regard, sitting as a four-star and being ranked as the 43rd-best player in the 2025 class and No. 3 at his position by 247Sports.

Ahead of his official visits beginning this weekend, he dropped his top four school list that included Penn State.

The other three who made the cut are Michigan, the program he’s visiting starting Friday, Oregon and North Carolina.

It should come as no surprise that these are the four schools who made his list as they are the four he’s scheduled to visit, but this at least makes it official ahead of his travel.

Penn State is hoping that the family connection and how Winston personally feels about their program will get them over the finish line.

He previously said he likes safeties coach Anthony Poindexter.

“He’s someone that I think anyone would want to get coached by. We were chopping it up during lunch and I felt like I knew him for years. He also taught me some things during the day in and outside of football,” Winston told On3.

There are formidable programs who the Nittany Lions have to battle in order to get this done, but On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has them as the favorites to land the coveted four-star at 35.3 percent, followed by North Carolina at 26.5 percent, and Michigan at 15.3 percent.

Winston will be in Happy Valley for an official visit starting June 7.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on X, Facebook, and Threads.

Penn State’s junior safety could see more playing time this year

Is Zakee Wheatley ready for a bigger role in Penn State’s defense in 2024?

There aren’t very many spots on Penn State’s defense where they don’t have to address departures, but safety is one of them.

[autotag]Jaylen Reed[/autotag] and [autotag]KJ Winston[/autotag] were the two starters on last year’s team who didn’t rotate out very often and that’s expected to be similar this season as well.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be opportunities for others to find themselves on the field in those spots based on different points of the game, or worst case scenario due to injuries.

Having backups ready to contribute is paramount for elite programs across the country and it seems like the Nittany Lions have someone ready to step into that role.

According to Tyler Donohue of 247Sports, [autotag]Zakee Wheatley[/autotag] has impressed during spring practices after being in third year of his transition from cornerback to safety with [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] saying “the light’s gone on for him” and he’s had “by far” his best offseason workouts (subscription required).

An interesting thing for Penn State’s secondary will be how it operates under new defensive coordinator [autotag]Tom Allen[/autotag] who is looking to implement a “Lion” role that has one of their safeties closer to the line of scrimmage.

Early comments from Allen suggest that Reed could be getting the majority of the snaps at the “Lion” position.

That could put Wheatley into deep coverage where he has excelled during practice.

In fact, Donohue notes that no player has come away with more takeaways than Wheatley.

Because of the unknown, it should be expected that the redshirt junior sees much more playing time this season after only logging around 250 snaps last year.

Penn State snapshot profile: No. 21 KJ Winston

Penn State is optimistic about the future of safety KJ Winston, but he will be an understudy this upcoming season.

Going into the 2022 football season, Nittany Lions Wire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Penn State roster.

Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for James Franklin this season.

Penn State has a deep and young safety room, and freshman [autotag]KJ Winston[/autotag] is one of them. Winston will likely sit his first year and learn behind guys like [autotag]Ji’Ayir Brown[/autotag] and [autotag]Keaton Ellis[/autotag], but the safety room will have some intriguing competition starting in 2023.

Video highlights of each member of Penn State football’s Class of 2022

WATCH: Video highlights of each Penn State Class of 2022 player

Penn State locked in its Class of 2022 at the start of the NCAA’s early signing period, and with it comes a bunch of buzz for the future of the Nittany Lions under the leadership of head coach James Franklin. But chances are most of you are unfamiliar with what any of these new faces will bring to the table for Penn State. So it’s a good thing Penn State served up some highlight packages to give fans a quick glimpse of the kind of talent that is joining the program.

Enjoy this collection of video highlights of Penn State’s newest additions in the Class of 2022.

Penn State Class of 2022: What four-star safety KJ Winston brings to the program

With Jaquan Brisker moving on, the addition of four-star safety KJ Winston comes at a good time for Penn State in the Class of 2022

Position: Safety

Height: 6′-1″

Weight: 190 Ib

Hometown: Hyattsville, MD

High School: DeMatha Catholic High School

Twitter: @KevinWinstonJr1

Committed: July 31, 2021

247 Sports: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rivals.com: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overview:

With Jaquan Brisker leaving for the draft and not knowing the future of Ji’Ayir Brown at Penn State, the safety room continues to get younger. Fortunately, KJ Winston brings a lot of skills that Penn State could really use.

During his recruiting process, Winston had a competition with two other Big Ten schools before committing to Penn State.

If there’s one thing that Penn State does well with their secondary, it’s recruiting guys that are physical. When you think of players like that, Joey Porter Jr. comes to mind. He’s a player that has really developed into a crucial part of the Nittany Lions cornerback room.

Not only does he have impressive skills, but Winston also has the elite body frame to be very productive at the collegiate level.

Winston has the talent to develop to that as well. When it comes to the secondary, one key trait that is crucial is hip mobility. One 247 Sports Recruiting Analyst praised the body control of Winston as well as his speed.

Penn State has two safeties coming in, and both have the talent to be a key part of the Nittany Lions secondary.

[listicle id=11297]

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on Twitter and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion.

Big board: Penn State’s 2022 football recruiting class by position

Breaking down Penn State football’s Class of 2022 position by position.

Penn State’s Class of 2022 has long been recognized as one of the top classes in the nation. The latest (and greatest) recruiting class to be signed by James Franklin looks to add some tremendous quality and depth to various positions across the roster and has some players to really look forward to watching grow almost immediately.

For a long stretch in this recruiting cycle, Penn State had the nation’s top-ranked class, and it continued to be ranked highest among Big Ten schools up until shortly before the early signing period. But there is no disputing the ranking of Penn State’s Class of 2022 is proof Penn State has been hitting it hard on the recruiting trail this cycle.

Here is a breakdown of Penn State’s Class of 2022 broken down by position.