Why Penn State OL Michal Menet is returning in 2020 and skipping the NFL draft
Penn State center Michal Menet, a redshirt junior, announced Tuesday afternoon that he will return to the Nittany Lions next season and not enter the 2020 NFL draft.
Menet’s return comes on the heels of tight end Pat Freiermuth’s Saturday announcement, when he said he was also coming back for at least one more college season. The true sophomore discovered he was eligible for the draft due to a post-grad year after high school.
Menet is a team captain who has played in 36 career games and started in the last 24.
“I am not ready for my time with this football family to end yet and continue to enjoy every minute with my brothers,” Menet wrote on Twitter. “I feel I have unfinished business to take care of, including completing my Penn State degree.”
The 6-foot-4, 313-pound lineman was currently considered, at best, a likely Day 3 pick and wasn’t listed as a 2020 prospect by most draft sites, such as The Draft Network, Draft Tek and NFL Draft Scout. But a lot can change in the rankings between now and April, and nobody knows that better than Penn State’s past offensive linemen.
Several experts believed last season that former Penn State offensive guard Ryan Bates would be selected in the fourth round. He went undrafted, but is now with the Buffalo Bills. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. picked former PSU guard/center Connor McGovern to go No. 54 overall in the 2019 NFL draft. McGovern instead went No. 90 overall to the Dallas Cowboys.
But, until Tuesday, there was still no guarantee that Menet was staying. And his return is important for an offensive line that should return five solid contributors and all but redshirt senior Steven Gonzalez for 2020.
Offensive line coach Matt Limegrover told reporters earlier this season just how valuable Menet has been.
“He’s a guy that literally comes to work every day and keeps his mouth shut and does what he’s supposed to and has a good sense of the good and bad, and right and wrong, and the good way of doing things and the right way of doing things,” Limegrover said. “And I appreciate that from him because I know for the last year, he’s rounded into really becoming a leader of that offensive line.”
Menet and the Nittany Lions will find out by Sunday afternoon where they’re going bowling. They have one final postseason game before the offseason begins, so these types of announcements are sure to build up in the coming weeks.
