Depth chart breakdown: Where Penn State football stands at guard and center in 2020
Penn State football brought in a new offensive line coach for the 2020 season in Phil Trautwein, and he’ll have decisions to make on the interior of the line. The Nittany Lions return only one full-time starter, and one of the team’s two returning part-time starters may not have the upside to take over the role permanently.
Let’s take a look at where the position stands heading into the 2020 season.
Projected starters
Redshirt senior Michal Menet, redshirt junior C.J. Thorpe, and redshirt junior Mike Miranda
The Nittany Lions return only one full-time starter on the offensive line’s interior, but he’s a good one. Menet solidified the center spot for Penn State last season and will likely be a senior leader. He’ll likely be flanked, at least to start the season, by a pair of redshirt juniors who split starts at right guard last season. Miranda finished the year with eight starts at right guard compared to Thorpe’s five, but it’s Thorpe who should easily keep his job this season.
The redshirt junior guard is a big, strong, athletic road grader who has flashed dominance as a run blocker. He manhandles opponents with his strong hands and powers through them by driving efficiently from his legs. Thorpe has a mean streak to him on the field that makes him even more intimidating in the run game. He has excellent size at 6-foot-3, 328 pounds and uses every bit of that frame to dominate defensive linemen.
Thorpe isn’t the same level of blocker in the passing game, but he still showed signs of potential from that standpoint. His shorter arms make it harder for him to handle long defensive tackles, but he still has the strength to dominate when he gets his hands on defenders. Thorpe still needs to grow as a pass protector because his footwork is inconsistent and his aggression can get him caught leaning forward. If he can clean up those aspects of his game, he could build himself into a legitimate prospect for the 2021 NFL draft.
His counterpart at guard doesn’t have nearly the same upside. Miranda is an undersized interior offensive lineman who lacks the physical tools to match his teammate’s level of play. He has short arms for the position, is limited athletically, and has a small frame that can’t add the requisite weight or strength to excel against Big Ten defensive linemen. Miranda is listed at 6-foot-3 and 301 pounds on Penn State’s roster. That’s only 11 pounds heavier than what he was listed at as a recruit in 2017 on his 247Sports profile, when he was already nearly maxed out physically.
Miranda will likely start the season at guard, but if anyone were to lose their starting spot on the offensive line, it would be him. The Nittany Lions have legitimate depth on the interior and higher upside guard behind Miranda. He’ll have to play better than he did last season if he wants to maintain his spot as a starter and hang on to it in his final two seasons on campus.
Menet will line up between Miranda and Thorpe and is a lock to play every game if he’s healthy. He was the Nittany Lions’ most consistent offensive lineman in the 2019 season and has taken over as one of the leaders of the room after last season’s only senior starter, Steven Gonzalez, finished his Penn State career. He used his leadership position to help new offensive line coach Phil Trautwein transition to Penn State.
“It was very important for me to establish with him,” Menet said in a teleconference with the media in May. “I’ve been around for a little while and become one of the leaders of the room. If I’m not bought in, it would’ve been a little bit harder for him to transition to coaching (us).”
The 6-foot-4, 302-pound center was the No. 1 offensive guard in the 247Sports Composite player rankings in the 2016 class and has excelled in his move further inside. He’s a high-level athlete for the position and moves well in the run game when he has to get downfield. Menet’s at his best inside because he doesn’t have great length, but his intelligence and leadership make him an ideal player to call out the team’s protections, just as he did last season. He’s in a good spot to improve on his status as an honorable mention on the coaches’ and media’s All-Big Ten teams.
Key backup
Redshirt junior Anthony Whigan
Penn State could also utilize offensive tackles Des Holmes and Caedan Wallace at guard, but Whigan is the top option to take over for Miranda if he loses the job. Whigan may be a redshirt junior but he’s only in his second season on campus and this could be the season he establishes himself along the offensive line.
The former junior college offensive tackle moved inside when he got to Penn State but didn’t have the proper strength to contribute early as a Nittany Lion. He was only 290 pounds when he was the No. 2 junior college offensive tackle in the country according to the 247Sports Composite player rankings. Now the 6-foot-4 guard is up to 320 pounds and should be way ahead of where he was at around this time last season.
As long as his added 30 pounds translates into usable play strength, Whigan can compete for one of the starting guard spots, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take the job from Miranda by the end of the season.
Freshman to watch
Redshirt freshman Saleem Wormley
The Nittany Lions have three interior offensive linemen to watch here if you don’t include Wallace, who can play tackle and guard. They brought in Wormley in the 2019 class and Nick Dawkins and Golden Israel-Achumba in the 2020 class. Wormley is the choice here because he’s had a full offseason on campus to adjust to college life and reshape his body like most linemen do when they get to campus.
The former four-star recruit is a road grader in the same mold as Thorpe. He excels in the run game with his aggression and physicality but needs to improve as a pass protector. Wormley showed enough in his first year on campus to earn the team’s Developmental Squad Offensive Player of the Year, alongside freshman quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson.
This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 8:00 AM.
