Depth chart breakdown: Where Penn State football stands at offensive tackle in 2020
New Penn State football offensive line coach Phil Trautwein will have a solid group to work with at offensive tackle in his first season leading the unit. The Nittany Lions return both starters at tackle and should be able to build off a solid 2019 season.
Let’s take a look at where the position stands heading into the 2020 season.
Projected starters
Redshirt senior Will Fries and redshirt sophomore Rasheed Walker
Fries and Walker return to solidify the edge as the team’s two starting offensive tackles. Both offensive linemen started all 13 games on their respective sides of the line.
Walker is the younger of the duo as a redshirt sophomore and showed more upside than his teammate in 2019. He has prototypical size for an elite offensive tackle and showed he was capable of protecting the quarterback’s blind side as the Nittany Lions’ left tackle. Walker is a good athlete for a 6-foot-6, 320-pound lineman, and took on the conference’s best pass rushers last year.
He was inconsistent in his footwork and could get caught off-balance on occasion, but Walker’s redshirt sophomore season was largely a success. He used his strong base to power through his man and then utilized his athleticism to get to the second level in the running game frequently.
Walker struggled when defenders could catch him leaning in either direction as a pass protector. They took advantage with a quick change of direction that shook the Penn State offensive tackle’s balance. More often than not he was leaning on his right foot when he was caught, giving up the edge to pass rushers. He’ll need to clean that up to keep redshirt junior quarterback Sean Clifford safe this season.
Trautwein has a talented player to work with in Walker and could have an elite left tackle on his hands if he can smooth out the inconsistencies in his game.
Fries didn’t reach the same upside as Walker did in 2019, but he was the far more consistent lineman. It’s easy to point to some of his struggles against former Ohio State defensive end Chase Young, but there weren’t many tackles who didn’t struggle with the second pick of the 2020 NFL draft.
Sans his performance against Young, Fries had a solid redshirt junior season. He’s not a great athlete, but has excellent balance and can use his feet to excel as a run blocker and pass protector. Fries has to use his length and base to have success as a lineman. He can get overpowered and blown past by the best athletes at defensive end, but his technique allows him to stay with most pass rushers.
Fries is effective as a run blocker but doesn’t overpower his man often and can get stood up when defensive linemen get their hands into his chest. Once he loses that battle, and loses his balance and base, Fries can be beaten with ease. That’s not to say he’s ineffective at the position. The offensive tackle was good enough to earn All-Big Ten honorable mention honors from the conference’s coaches and the media in 2019.
He’ll need to focus on using his hands more effectively to improve in all facets of his game and allow the Penn State offensive line to take a step forward in his final year on campus.
Key backups
Redshirt junior Des Holmes and redshirt freshman Caedan Wallace
Holmes and Wallace could reasonably play guard, but are the best backup options the Nittany Lions have at offensive tackle.
Wallace played in four games last season as a true freshman and retained his redshirt status heading into his second year on campus. He’s a massive offensive lineman, checking in at 6-foot-5 and 337 pounds, and has elite athleticism for his position.
He came to Penn State as a four-star recruit and one of the five best offensive guard recruits in the 2019 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. His athleticism has allowed him to transition to the outside for the time being and should allow him to play well if he’s pressed into action as a starting tackle.
Wallace has every physical trait you want to see in a young offensive lineman. From balance, to a strong base, to the aforementioned athleticism, Wallace checks all of the boxes in a potential star.
Holmes wasn’t the same level of recruit as Wallace, but he’s transformed himself into a potential starter all the same. He’s appeared in 18 games through three years on campus and has put himself in a position to see a major role in 2020.
The redshirt junior, like Wallace, can play along the interior of the line, but will be needed at tackle if anything were to happen to either of the Nittany Lions’ starters on the outside.
Holmes’ transformation early in his career centered on the shift in his weight. He cut bad weight and added strength in his first three years at Penn State and is a better athlete, and offensive lineman, as a result.
In a perfect world neither Holmes or Wallace would see meaningful time at offensive tackle for Penn State. But if they do, both are more than capable of succeeding and helping the Nittany Lion offense do the same.
Freshman to watch
True freshman Jimmy Christ
Christ was one of three offensive tackles Penn State added in the 2020 recruiting class, along with Olu Fashanu and Ibrahim Traore. All three were rated as three-star recruits out of high school, with Christ finishing the highest in the 247Sports Composite rankings as the No. 28 OT prospect in the class.
Like most freshman offensive linemen, Christ is a project who will need to redshirt in his first year on campus. He needs to add strength and mass to hold up in the Big Ten. His sights should be set on getting his body ready to compete at that level during his freshman year. He already stands at 6-foot-7 and weighs 295 pounds, but there’s still plenty of room to add 20+ pounds to his frame while maintaining his athleticism and adding strength.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 4:14 PM.
