Another season of Penn State football is upon us, folks.

In under a week, the Nittany Lions will open up their season against the Nevada Wolf Pack, and while James Franklin and Co. have yet to release any sort of official depth chart, we’ve decided to create one of our own.

It’s no secret that Penn State’s defense has been a cornerstone of the team’s consistent success in years past. Last season, the Nittany Lions had a remarkable defensive front, including Abdul Carter, Kobe King, Coziah Izzard, and Dvon J-Thomas, who found homes in the NFL.

Thankfully, Penn State has plenty of talent remaining from last season’s exodus. With upperclassmen such as Tony Rojas, Dom Deluca, Zane Durant, Alonzo Ford Jr., Dani Dennis-Sutton, and Zuriah Fisher returning, first-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles will have a talented landscape to build on for the 2025 season.

Defensive Tackle

Starters: Zane Durant, Alonzo Ford Jr.

Bench: Enai White, Xavier Gilliam, Ty Blanding, Owen Wafle, Liam Andrews, De’Andre Cook, Kaleb Artis, Sam Siafa, Randy Adirika.

Zane Durant and Alonzo Ford Jr. will get the starting nod this season. As the two oldest members of the defensive tackle position, Durant and Ford will hold down the middle and be a force to opposing offenses. Durant had a great season in 2024 with 42 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and three sacks, and now with a full season of starting experience, he could make a case for the best player on the Penn State defense this season.

Ford was cleared to practice this month after a season-ending injury in November and looks to be a contributor alongside Durant. Although he didn’t have a complete season last year, expect his game experience to make the difference in getting starting reps on this defensive line.

Notable backups include redshirt junior, Texas A&M transfer Enai White, who just converted to defensive tackle this summer, and redshirt freshman Xavier Gilliam. White, a Philadelphia native, was ranked as the No. 38 orisoect in the class of 2022 and the No. 2 player in Pennsylvania, according to 247Sports. He is mostly unproven in the college setting, playing in only 12 games in his first two seasons with the Aggies. The new Nittany Lion sustained a season-ending injury in 2023 and did not make another appearance in College Station. Franklin may have a plan for him, as changing his position from end to tackle this late in the offseason could prove to boost White’s chances of making the starting rotation.

Gilliam is one of many young players on the defensive line who could be of great aid to the unit down the stretch. In his first season with the Nittany Lions, Gilliam only saw an appearance in five games but was named the coaching staff’s developmental squad defensive player of the week in both the Bowling Green and UCLA games.

Defensive End

Starters: Dani Dennis-Sutton, Zuriah Fisher

Bench: Jaylen Harvey, Chaz Coleman, Yvan Kemajou, Jordan Mayer, Mylachi Williams, Daniel Jennings, Mason Robinson, Bobby Mears, Aidan Probst, Dayshaun Burnett, Cortez Harris, Max Granville.

Dani Dennis-Sutton, who played opposite Abdul Carter last season, will now be a necessity of the Penn State pass rush. Last season, the Nittany Lion appeared in all 16 games, where he made 14 starts and recorded 13 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks. In the College Football Playoff, Dennis-Sutton was named the coaching staff’s Defensive Player of the Game. His efforts landed him tied for fifth in the Big Ten in tackles for loss and tied for sixth in sacks, which warranted a Bednarik Award watch list nomination this offseason.

Zuriah Fisher, who missed all of last season with an injury, enters his last season with Penn State with everything to prove. In 2023, the then redshirt junior appeared in 13 games and made 17 tackles, including 11 solo tackles, 3.5 sacks, and a fumble recovery. If he can stay healthy, Fisher will be welcomed back to the starting rotation opposite of Dennis-Sutton and complete a scary defensive line.

The pack behind the upperclassmen is young and could take some time to develop. Expect the likes of redshirt freshman Jaylen Harvey and true freshman Chaz Coleman to help with any rotational reps. Harvey, who appeared in five games last season, was named the coaching staff’s Developmental Squad Defensive Player of the Game against Kent State. Coleman has the build to develop into a great defensive end. He stands at 6’4″ and 240 pounds as a true freshman. The former four-star recruit was ranked as a top 10 player in the state of Ohio and the No. 27 edge rusher in the nation.

Linebackers

Starters: Tony Rojas, Amare Campbell

Bench: Dom Deluca, Anthony Speca, Keon Wylie, Kari Jackson, Lavar Arrington II, Dakaari Nelson, Jackson Pryts, Alex Tatsch, Cam Smith.

“Linebacker U” lives on, folks.

With returning starters such as Tony Rojas and Dom Deluca, there was no question about the amount of talent in the linebacker room going into the 2025 season. However, with Rojas dealing with an injury over the course of last season and this offseason, the depth of the position looked bleak during Penn State’s Blue-White game at the end of spring ball. After the game, Franklin made an announcement that stated if any linebackers were looking for a chance to be a part of the storied group, they were encouraged to give him a call. All of a sudden, Penn State found a third starting linebacker in Amare Campbell out of North Carolina.

Campbell has impressed Knowles thus far in camp, so much so that he may uproot the starting position of Deluca heading into week one. The junior linebacker was fantastic at North Carolina, tallying 76 total tackles, including 45 solo tackles, 6.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. There have been nothing but ecstatic messages coming out of fall camp in regards to the former Tar Heel. Expect Campbell to make an impact early.

As for the second linebacker position, Tony Rojas should fit the mold well after coming back from his shoulder injury last season. As a sophomore, Rojas made a statement about what he could become in the near future. The Nittany Lion made 16 starts at linebacker and finished with 58 tackles, including 35 solo tackles, six tackles for loss, one sack, four pass breakups, three interceptions, and a 59-yard interception returned for a touchdown against SMU in the College Football Playoff. If fully healthy, Rojas could be a force in the middle of the field and take that next step towards being a real leader on the Penn State defense.

In Knowles’s scheme, the third linebacker that would traditionally complete the front seven is typically a fifth defensive back. Although flexible, the nickelback position probably won’t be the body type of Dom Deluca, and therefore forces the former run-on and multi-year team captain to play as a rotational player. It was a fantastic year last season for Deluca, where he appeared in 15 games and posted 40 tackles, four tackles for loss, a half of a sack, a pass breakup, three interceptions, including a 23-yard pick-six against SMU in the College Football Playoff. Deluca will see the field plenty as the season goes on, as he is the first reserve and only reliable option at the linebacker position aside from Campbell and Rojas.