James Franklin: Penn State football Tyler Warren ‘most complete TE in the country’

While the Penn State football community continues to wonder which wide receiver will step up on Saturday, another position might lead the Nittany Lions in receiving. That of course is at the tight end. Over the years, Tyler Warren has grown from a gadget player to a tight end with NFL potential and James Franklin praised Warren in all phases on Wednesday night.

It’s crazy to call Penn State football tight end Tyler Warren a veteran of the Nittany Lions. But that’s how fast the years have gone by. When it feels like just yesterday we were watching Warren take a wildcat snap and leap over the line against Auburn in the 2021 whiteout game.

Now, Warren is a leader of the Nittany Lions. He’s sat behind Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson, but 2024 is early to be the No. 1 option at his position. Head coach James Franklin has a lot of respect and trust in his veteran tight end. He expressed this after practice on Wednesday evening.

“He’s been there done that,” Franklin said. “He’s been such a great leader for us. I think he’s the most complete tight end in the country. He truly is a weapon in the run game as a blocker. He truly is a weapon on third down in the passing game. Then, obviously how are they going to treat him?

“He can line out wide and play like a wide receiver. In a four-wide set but he can also connect in the box and be a lead blocker or working a double with the offensive tackle on a defensive end or outside linebacker. So, those are the tight ends when you talk to defensive coordinators all over the country, they’re the ones that they hate when they can’t put them in a category…”

Two freshmen reserves on Saturday

© Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

From an experience standpoint, the Nittany Lions will rely on two freshmen behind Tyler Warren on Saturday. Andrew Rappleyea a redshirt freshman tight end and Luke Reynolds a true freshman tight end are slated to be on the field according to James Franklin.

“Yeah, I think you’ll see a ton of [Andrew] Rappleyea,” Franklin said. “I also think you will see a decent amount of Luke [Reynolds] in this first game. I think Rap, as you guys know, there’s been excitement about him since last year. He just continues to develop and get better.”

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