Penn State football: Kalen King leads NFL Draft watch list for cornerbacks

Today, a new cornerback watch list was released for the 2024 NFL Draft, which remains just under a year away. For most, it comes as no surprise that Kalen King, a standout for Penn State football who will be the Nittany Lions’ top defensive back in 2023, is towards the top of this Pro Football Focus list.

Penn State football star Kalen King earns even more 2024 NFL Draft hype ahead of the 2023 college football season.

A season ago, Penn State football standout Kalen King shined, yet was always overlooked due to the incredible ability and talent of Joey Porter Jr., who is now a Pittsburgh Steeler. Now, in 2023, King will get his shot at being the Nittany Lions’ CB1 for the first time in his career.

King has already been named a preseason All-Big Ten and All-American selection and is thought to be a first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft ahead of the new season. Additionally, today, Pro Football Focus announced a few of its top cornerbacks heading into the 2024 draft, and Kalen King was one of the top players on the list.

According to PFF, Kalen King (Penn State) and Kool-Aid McKinstry (Alabama) lead the way for cornerbacks heading into next year’s NFL Draft — for Penn State football, this is a great sign heading into the year.

If the Nittany Lions expect to finally get over the hump, defeat teams like Michigan, Ohio State, and more, they will need an elite defensive backfield just as fans saw last year. If Penn State can maintain its deadly secondary, more attention can be focused on a much larger issue from the 2022 season: stopping the run. Heading into the season, it appears that Kalen King will be a cornerstone of the Nittany Lions’ defense this fall, which should bode well for the program’s chances of contending for a title this year.

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