Posted April 15, 2024 | Article by Justin Ciavolella | Photo by Alisha Yi
For the first time in just under five months, the gates of Beaver Stadium were opened to Penn State Football fans on Saturday afternoon. In front of an estimated 67,000 faithful donning blue and white, the Nittany Lions split their team into two for the annual Blue-White Game.
The White Team, led by starting quarterback Drew Allar, dominated on both sides of the ball en route to a 27-0 win. Although Allar himself did not have his best performance as he threw for 202 yards and one touchdown on 15-of-32 passing, there were plenty of standout performances on both teams.
Here’s a look at those who made the most of their opportunities on Saturday.
Quinton Martin Jr./Cam Wallace, Running Backs
With the first two spots in the running back room occupied by Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, neither of which played in Saturday’s scrimmage, James Franklin noted that the third spot was up for grabs.
Martin Jr., one of 16 early enrollees for the Nittany Lions, found the endzone twice with touchdown runs of 9 yards and 12 yards. Martin’s vision aided him on both scores as he followed the blocks of his offensive line before bouncing the first run outside to beat the secondary.
For there to be a competition though, there has to be someone else involved and that came in the way of Cam Wallace. Wallace, who redshirted in his first fall on campus in 2023, led both teams in rushing attempts and yards with seven and 36 respectively.
Wallace did not find paydirt, but the former three-star prospect averaged 5.1 yards per carry and had a 13-yard rush, the second-longest behind quarterback Beau Pribula’s 17-yard carry.
A third running back, London Montgomery, is also in the mix for the available spot behind Allen and Singleton. The redshirt freshman struggled to get going for the blue team, rushing five times for eight yards. Earlier in the offseason, Franklin mentioned that Montgomery was having a hard time putting on the weight that Penn State sought from him.
Harrison Wallace III, Wide Receiver
Julian Fleming righted all wrongs for the wide receiver room when he announced he was transferring from Ohio State to Penn State in January. Marques Hagans’s room had seen the departures of Dante Cephas and Christian Drivers after a lackluster year in terms of production from the room.
To add to it, on Friday, Matt Zenitz of 247Sports reported that KeAndre Lambert-Smith had been away from the team during the week leading up to the Blue-White game and was leaning towards entering the transfer portal. With no sign of Lambert-Smith at Saturday’s game, which could be a foreshadowing for the 2024 season, Tre Wallace made the most of the opportunity.
The redshirt junior, who played on the White Team with Allar, was the leading receiver going for 72 yards on five receptions. Only tight end Andrew Rappleyea had more targets, eight, than Wallace’s seven.
The former four-star prospect is looking to rebound from a season that was decimated by an injury suffered against Indiana.
Amin Vanover, Defensive End
You know you had a good day when you get shouted out by your head coach.
That was the case for Amin Vanover on Saturday afternoon. Despite some postgame shenanigans in which Vanover and Abdul Carter beat Franklin to the podium, Franklin was very excited for the New Jersey native.
“I think he’s gonna have a huge year for us,” Franklin said of Vanover. “He’s a guy in my opinion that’s done it the right way…his journey has been challenging at times.”
The senior defensive end caused challenges for the Blue Team offensive line as he secured two tackles, one sack and an interception of true freshman quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer.
Carter and Dani Dennis-Sutton have garnered most of the headlines this offseason in terms of the defensive end position, but Vanover, who has 29 career tackles and 2.5 career sacks as well as a forced fumble, will get his fair share of playing time.
A.J. Harris, Cornerback
A.J. Harris could have sat out of the 15th and final practice of Penn State’s spring semester and still would have been a big winner.
The transfer from Georgia garnered praise from both Franklin and cornerback coach Terry Smith earlier in the week.
“He’s been great,” Smith said of Harris on Tuesday evening. “He’s acclimated really well and really quickly. He’s playing multiple positions on the back end. He’s an extremely talented young man, super smart and he’s a great fit in the room.”
Harris recorded seven total tackles, six of which were solo, including two for losses and a pass breakup as Allar looked for Malik McClain on a back corner end-zone fade.
The former five-star prospect, who did receive an offer from Penn State during his original recruiting, is among the contingent that is set to step up to fill the losses of Johnny Dixon, Kalen King and Daequan Hardy.
Andrew Rappleyea, Tight End
It is really no surprise that a tight end lands on this list considering Penn State’s long list of tight end successes. With their most recent success, Theo Johnson, heading towards the 2024 NFL Draft, Ty Howle needed someone to step up next to Tyler Warren.
Warren was second on the Nittany Lions with 422 receiving yards and was tied for the lead in receiving touchdowns with Johnson with seven. Khalil Dinkins was third in the room last year with five receptions, 57 yards and two touchdowns.
While those three were making the impact on the field, Rappleyea was watching from the sidelines for all but three games. The New York native appeared late in games against Delaware, UMass and Michigan State.
The former four-star recruit was the most targeted player on the field on Saturday with eight targets. Rappleyea only hauled in three passes going for 30 yards, but his 30-yard touchdown captivated the audience as the 6-foot-4, 249-pound athlete rumbled scot-free into the south endzone.
Rappleyea, Luke Reynolds and Joey Schalffer all saw significant time on Saturday, but it was the first of those three that had the biggest impact.
Kolin Dinkins, Cornerback
In the same room as Harris, is Kolin Dinkins. Dinkins, who also lined up as part of the Blue Team secondary, found himself involved in many plays on Saturday.
The redshirt sophomore recorded four tackles, all of the solo variety, including a sack of the elusive Pribula. Although there were a couple of instances of Dinkins getting beat, the run-on had his name called over and over again.
Dinkins, who appeared in 12 of the Nittany Lions’ 13 games last season, also had a pick-6 that was called back as Winston Yates was credited with a sack.
Ryan Barker, Kicker
With Alex Felkins running out of eligibility after his lone year at Penn State, the Nittany Lions have three kickers in competition for the vacant spot.
Sander Sahaydak was announced as the starting kicker against West Virginia last season, but after a pair of missed field goals in that game, the redshirt junior did not attempt another field goal the rest of the season.
Chase Meyer, who transferred from Tulsa in December, converted 17-of-20 field goal attempts and 30-of-31 PATs last year. Meyer was at Penn in 2022 where he appeared mainly in the kickoff role.
Ryan Barker is the only kicker on the roster without collegiate experience but was listed on the White Team. While there were starters on both sides of the ball on Saturday, Barker handled the opening kickoff duties, first-place kicking opportunity and the PATs.
Barker hit from 28 yards out as time expired in the second quarter before Sahaydak got one to go from 30 yards in the fourth.
Justin Ciavolella is a third-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu or justinciavolella@gmail.com.
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