The picture is coming more into focus as Penn State football reaches the halfway point of August’s training camp. As position battles intensify and rotations begin to take shape, one true freshman defender is making a case to see the field early, and potentially often, in his Nittany Lion career.
Speaking to the media for the third time this month following practice on Tuesday, James Franklin highlighted defensive end Chaz Coleman as a Nittany Lion newcomer who has the coaching staff buzzing in his first weeks on campus.
“I think we’re all surprised,” he said. “I mean, we knew he was a talent. Tall, long, athletic, high-level basketball player, quarterback [in high school]. His senior year, he moves to defensive end, blows up, gets some offers. We offer, he commits. Everybody else still comes after him. Got a great family, and they held true. And we still didn’t know what we were going to get, because he only played one year of defensive end.
“It’s a long way from the quarterback position. But his physicality and his explosiveness and his motor has been impressive. Everybody’s talking about him. It’s early, but he’s flashed, and there’s a lot of excitement about his abilities. He’s gotten up to 250 pounds in a very, very short period of time. He’s gained like 25 pounds since being on campus, and he’s still skinny, which is the exciting thing. But he’s flashed.”
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A four-star out of Ohio’s Warren G. Harding High School, Coleman racked up seven tackles for loss, three interceptions, and two defensive touchdowns in his lone season at defensive end at the high school level. As a two-way standout, he also threw for 749 yards and rushed for 751 yards as a senior.
Only arriving in Happy Valley in May, Coleman has made a strong first impression on and off the field this summer.
“He is an awesome kid – awesome kid,” Franklin continued. “We take a lot of pride in the locker room and how we leave the facility. And he’s in there the other night: everybody’s out of the locker room, and he’s picking up towels and putting things away. He’s a ‘yes sir, no sir’ [person]. Extremely humble.
“I went around and asked all the freshmen, which I do every year, how they see themselves as red, yellows, or greens in terms of redshirting or playing right away. And he said he was a yellow when everybody in the room is kind of looking at him like, ‘Dude, you ain’t a yellow.’ But that’s just the type of guy he is. He’s been raised well, and he’s got really good genetics, so he’s an exciting one.”
Coleman one of three Penn State freshmen pushing for early green lights
While Coleman earned profusive praise this week, he is just one of several new Nittany Lions making an early case to burn their redshirts as true freshmen. Franklin identified two other defenders – defensive end Yvan Kemajou and cornerback Daryus Dixson – as other potential early-impact contributors this fall.
“I think the guys that probably jump out the most right now are Kemajou, Daryus Dixson, and then the third one is Chaz,” Franklin said. “Those are probably the three guys right now that we’re talking about the most [to green light], but we’ll see.
“It hasn’t been decided yet for those guys, and then some other guys. But those guys, I think, there’s been a lot of discussions about and a lot of positive buzz about them.”
Penn State football returns to action in 17 days against Nevada.
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