How Penn State Football Players Performed At 2026 Pro Day

Ally Eaton | Onward State

It’s that time of year again, folks. Twenty Penn State football players waltzed into Holuba Hall on Wednesday morning to showcase their talents to NFL scouts, once more heading into the 2026 NFL Draft.

More than half of the 32 NFL teams had scouts in attendance to see what Penn State has to offer after a lackluster 2025 season. Expected first-round draft pick Vega Ioane suited up but did not participate, while other Nittany Lions still felt like they had something to prove after the NFL Combine in late February.

Here’s what we saw from Penn State’s 20 players just over a month away from the next level.

Participants

Drew Allar, quarterback

Kaytron Allen, running back
Liam Clifford, wide receiver
Nick Dawkins, offensive lineman

Dom DeLuca, linebacker
Dani Dennis-Sutton, defensive end
Khalil Dinkins, tight end (did not work out)

Zane Durant, defensive tackle
Tyler Duzansky, long snapper
Alonzo Ford Jr., defensive tackle
Kyron Hudson, wide receiver
Vega Ioane, offensive lineman
Gabriel Nwosu, punter
Trebor Peña, wide receiver
Devonte Ross, wide receiver
Nolan Rucci, offensive lineman
Drew Shelton, offensive lineman (did not work out; injury)
Nick Singleton, running back (did not work out on field; injury)
Riley Thompson, punter
Zakee Wheatley, safety

Bench Press

Before the players entered Holuba Hall, NFL scouts joined them in the Lasch Building for the bench press. Dennis-Sutton led the way with 26 reps. Dinkins and Singleton followed suit with 25 apiece. Dinkins’ score came from the Combine. He did not bench on Wednesday.

Ford repped out 24, and Duzansky of all people got to 20, beating out Clifford and Peña at 19, Hudson at 15, and DeLuca at 11.

Vertical Jump

Dennis-Sutton, Dinkins, Durant, Ioane, and Shelton kept their vertical jump marks from the Combine. Dennis-Sutton kept his mark at the top with a 39.5-inch vertical in Indianapolis.

Clifford, Dawkins, DeLuca, Ford, Hudson, Peña, Ross, Rucci, and Wheatley all chose to test their vertical on Wednesday. The closest Nittany Lion to reach Dennis-Sutton was Ross, who jumped 36 inches. He was quickly followed by Peña with a 35.5-inch mark.

Broad Jump

Broad jump was the first event of the day for the players in Holuba Hall. Once more, Dennis-Sutton, Dinkins, Durant, Ioane, and Shelton kept their broad jump marks from the NFL Combine. Dennis-Sutton led the team in the workout as well with a 10’11” leap.

Clifford, Dawkins, DeLuca, Duzansky, Ford, Hudson, Peña, Ross, Rucci, and Wheatley all laid it out for scouts on Wednesday morning. Ross led the pack with a 10’8″ jump, while Wheatley carved his way to a 10’4″ on his best attempt.

40-Yard Dash

Ah, yes, everybody’s favorite.

With Dennis-Sutton, Dinkins, Durant, and Shelton not touching their times from the Combine, most of the Nittany Lions in the house participated in the drill. To nobody’s surprise, Ross dashed the quickest time of the day in 4.45 seconds. He served as Penn State’s premier deep threat in 2025 and had multiple deep touchdowns.

His fellow wideout Peña followed suit with a 4.52-second mark. The slowest time of the day came in Rucci’s 5.44-second run, but give the lineman some grace.

Nobody touched Jalen Kimber’s 4.39-second run from a year ago. That guy was flying.

Pro Shuttle

Penn State coaches set up the pro shuttle around the 50-yard line with bleachers packed with scouts on both sides directly after the 40-yard dash. It’s on the unpopular side of Pro Day workouts. Only Clifford, DeLuca, Ford, Hudson, Peña, Ross, Ruccia, and Wheatley participated.

Peña and Wheatley smoked everybody in the exercise, each registering a 4.11-second attempt. The next closest was DeLuca with a mark of 4.30 seconds.

Three-Cone

The exact same players did the three-cone drill after they wrapped up the pro shuttle. Wheatley registered the fastest time by .01 seconds, beating out Peña’s 6.90-second mark with a 6.89. Dennis-Sutton registered a 6.90 at the Combine.

Individual Player Workouts

Mostly every player took the field for individual workouts, including Ioane. It was safe to assume that Ioane wouldn’t work out at all due to his comfortable first-round draft stock, but he trotted on and did lineman drills with Rucci and Dawkins. Shelton did not participate at all after pulling his hamstring at the Combine.

Nwosu and Thompson also had a punting session on the practice field outside of the Lasch Building. Smart call. Nwosu would probably punt straight through Holuba Hall’s roof.

Last two of open field for Nwosu and Thompson: pic.twitter.com/1gPICmJe0C
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) March 18, 2026

However, the world stood still to see if Allar would have his Zach Wilson moment and make the most ridiculous throw to single-handedly solidify him a first-round selection. While that didn’t happen on Wednesday (despite some great looks at the Combine), he just went out and did his thing.

Allar started off with some underneath passes to Hudson, Peña, Ross, Clifford, and Allen before transitioning into some sideline and intermediate throws.

The next era even stopped by to watch this era end.

The future (Rocco Becht) watching the past (Drew Allar) pic.twitter.com/uLpk4DCQ6L
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) March 18, 2026

Allar moved into some deeper throws, predominantly to Peña and Ross, where he was a little bit hit-or-miss. He tossed his best-looking ball of the day down the right sideline to Ross, but overthrew him just a touch. Allar hit Peña beautifully in stride on the other side. He didn’t have THE moment, but he definitely put on some good tape this late in the draft process. It also seemed like MANY of the scouts had a keen interest in him.

The funny part of Allar’s workout was that he seemed to be the director. He and his private quarterbacks coach were telling the receivers where to go and who was next up for a specific kind of route or pass. Allar even controlled the music in Holuba Hall. He asked for them to play Drake, and play Drake they did. That was until he was missing his throws in the beginning a little bit.

Nahh they just changed the music from Drake to Kendrick Lamar. Lock in Drew
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) March 18, 2026

Notable Guests

While Penn State’s Pro Day wasn’t as star-studded as 2025, there were still a handful of familiar faces in the house. Sean Clifford made his presence known from the broad jump (see what I did there?) in support of his brother, Liam, and the other Nittany Lions working out.

Sean Clifford in his house to support his brother Liam. pic.twitter.com/ssCUAwVx7D
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) March 18, 2026

New York Jets offensive tackle Olu Fashanu checked into Holuba Hall early and spoke with a lot of Penn State’s players working out. Recently-retired New Orleans Saints offensive lineman Will Clapp was also looking on as an offensive assistant for Kellen Moore’s team.

Terry Smith and Matt Campbell popped in for a bit, as well as what felt like half of the current roster.

What’s Next?

The 20 Penn Staters will hope to hear their names called during the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The draft will run from Thursday, April 23, to Saturday, April 25, and will be broadcast on NFL Network, ABC, ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and streamed on NFL+.

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About the Author

Oscar Orellana

Oscar is a second-year broadcast journalism student from Los Angeles. In his downtime, he can be found crying while watching Todd Gurley highlights or reposting movie edits on TikTok. He mostly writes about Penn State football. Email him at [email protected] or message him on Instagram @_oscarorellana.

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