After losing three seniors to the NFL Draft, Penn State football’s offensive line is going to look different this season.

With tackle Olu Fashanu, center Hunter Nourzad, and guard Caedan Wallace all selected last April, James Franklin is tasked with reshaping the offensive line before taking on West Virginia on Saturday.

While Franklin maintains that there’s competition at every spot on the entire roster, the offensive line is particularly engrossed in a battle for the starting right tackle spot. At his weekly press conference on Monday, Franklin narrowed down the potential starters to redshirt junior Wisconsin transfer Nolan Rucci or redshirt freshman Anthony Donkoh.

“The right tackle battle has been healthy and positive in terms of the amount of work those two have gotten in,” Franklin said. “We feel like both [Donkoh and Rucci], we can play with and win with.”

With only a handful of practices left before Penn State opens its season this Saturday, Franklin said conversations about rotations happen on Thursday before another conversation at the team hotel.

Franklin did note that the team is in a “pretty good place” with starters and this last week of practices will have a lot of influence on how much action any player sees.

“We haven’t told the players at this point what the rotation is going to be like,” Franklin said. “But I would expect to see a lot of both Donkoh and Rucci.”

Rucci transferred to Penn State from Wisconsin in January after being a highly touted offensive line recruit by Penn State while he was in high school. Rucci saw limited game action during his three years at Wisconsin, appearing in six games as a reserve. The 6’8″, 308-pound tackle also has a touchdown reception, which he caught as an eligible receiver last year.

Donkoh committed to Penn State as part of the recruiting class of 2023, where he was a four-star prospect who was rated as the No. 16 player at the position, according to 247Sports.

With Sal Wormely returning as the most experienced lineman this year, he’ll most likely be a leader in the locker room with projected center Nick Dawkins, who is entering his redshirt senior season after appearing in every game last year.

However, even with a new group of starters, Franklin has liked what he’s seen from the group throughout preseason camp.

“There’s been a lot of development at wide receiver, but you could also make that argument at other positions,” Franklin said. “Wide receiver, quarterback, and offensive line, specifically with the offensive lineman we lost to the NFL last year.”

Along with the development of those three position groups specifically, Franklin was pleased with how camp went for the whole team.

“Training camp was good. It was competitive. It was physical. It was tough like it was designed to be,” Franklin said. “Now we’ve cut back to make sure that guys feel good, bodies feel good and their legs are back.”