After an offseason in which Penn State football’s offensive line coach Ryan Clanton harped about coaching a room of enforcers who would be the “hammer rather than the nail,” the Nittany Lions have struggled to showcase that tenacity five games into the 2026 season.

In its first Big Ten game against Wisconsin, Penn State dashed for 119 yards on just 3.3 yards per carry. That output was cut in half against Northwestern in Week 5, as the Nittany Lions totaled just 48 rushing yards on 2.2 yards per carry.

Granted, there was significant turnover from the prior year, as left tackle Malachi Goodman redshirted in 2025, left guard Trevor Buhr transferred in from Iowa State, and center Brock Riker transferred from Texas State.

Junior guard Cooper Cousins claimed a full-time starting role after making just two starts in 2025, while right tackle Anthony Donkoh reclaimed his spot.

Despite the shuffling pieces, many within the Lasch Football Building felt confident the five players up front would be dominant.

So why hasn’t that been the case?

Consistency.

“It can’t be one guy having a good block and four guys, you know, semi-doing their job. It’s got to be five as one,” Cousins said Tuesday.

Riker, a redshirt sophomore, started just 12 games at a Sun Belt Conference school. Goodman, a redshirt freshman, saw no action in his true freshman season.

While both are young players Matt Campbell views as “centerpieces” of the program, they’ve flashed on and off through the first half of the season.

“They have as high a ceiling as they want at their position. What you’ve seen from them and what I’ve talked about is just inconsistency early on,” Campbell said Wednesday. “[They’re] guys that have had flashes of excellence and have flashes of man, you need to be better.”

Campbell said back-and-forth play is to be expected of young players at critical starting positions.

Still, he expressed confidence in Goodman’s trajectory.

“The one thing I do appreciate about Malachi, every week you’ve seen him get better and better and better. I think that guy is going to be a cornerstone for us for the future, for sure,” Campbell said.

Riker has also improved, but not as linearly as Goodman.

The 6-foot-4, 291-pounder has been banged up for the last month, and was even listed as a game-time decision leading up to the Wisconsin game. Redshirt freshman Vaea Ikakoula has taken relief snaps at center over the last few games.

Riker has surrendered seven combined quarterback pressures in Penn State’s first two conference matchups.

“He has been gutting it out, to be honest with you, the last couple of weeks,” Campbell said. “Just something that is not 100%, but a guy that’s worked really hard to get back.”

Campbell shared that Riker is a lot closer to full health than he has been the last couple of weeks, which could benefit the starting five, as even small holes in the armor across the offensive line can derail an offense, especially in the run game.

Just as receivers have to run their routes with perfect timing and precision to stress the defense, the big guys up front have to fire off the ball in sync, or the push at the line of scrimmage simply won’t happen.

“It’s just those little things. Everybody can do everything right, but one person can do something wrong on the offensive line, and the play can be a [tackle-for-loss] or an unsuccessful run,” Donkoh said Tuesday.

Another key to success on the ground is playing with a nasty mentality while blocking, which Cousins says the unit needs every down, not just “here and there”. He even stressed playing “past the whistle” to set the tone on opposing fronts.

The same goes for pre-snap communication at the line of scrimmage, which can wreck a game if not maintained down in, down out.

However, Donkoh said he’s felt confident in pre-snap communications, especially between himself, Cousins, and Riker. Becht has been sacked just six times through five games.

“I try to be [Riker’s] eyes outside, and he’s like our central command unit, letting us know who we’re going to inside the box,” Donkoh said.

Leading up to Saturday’s White Out, Penn State’s offensive coaching staff has been reviewing which ground-game concepts have been most successful and honing in on why.

Additionally, the offensive line has spent extra time with the blue and white’s running backs to conceptualize the “intent” behind run plays and understand the runner’s perspective on lanes and gaps.

“That’s every offensive lineman’s dream, to run the ball and have success in the run game. And I think we’re starting to get in the right direction with how the coaches are attacking this week and how the coaches are helping us and guiding us and teaching us,” Cousins said.