Penn State football hears the outside noise. But that’s not why 2025 feels ‘different’
The outside noise is getting even louder for Penn State football. It started when its star players announced they were coming back after the 2024 season. It grew when draft analysts started their work on the 2026 NFL Draft, with buzz around quarterback Drew Allar building. And now it’s reached a fever pitch — with the Nittany Lions being named the No. 1 team in the Big Ten in two preseason polls, and as the most likely conference champion by both.
So it was no surprise when their three players at Big Ten media days — Allar, safety Zakee Wheatley and center Nick Dawkins — were surrounded by reporters for the duration of their 30-minute media availabilities at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
It would be easy to get wrapped up in it, for the noise to create pressure and stress for a team that’s feeling plenty of it from its own fan base. But that hasn’t been the case.
“You already know where I’m going with this,” Dawkins said, smiling. “Don’t care. There’s probably more noise. There’s more noise about us than there was in the past. But that’s all it is. It’s noise. ... I don’t really tune into it much. I got so many other things going on in my life as all of us do. And, really, when you take that approach that you’re worried about team and (yourself) it makes you a better player. Because if you get stuck looking at all that stuff, and you try to convince yourself you’re somebody you’re not, or you’re trying to be something you aren’t, it just drains you.”
Some may dismiss Dawkins’ response as lip service, but that line of thinking has been a common one at Penn State since head coach James Franklin arrived in 2014. The Nittany Lions are blocking out the noise as they attempt to reach the top of the college football world.
Dawkins’ words were echoed by Allar and Wheatley: Yes, it is nice to receive recognition. But when the time comes to win games, it does not matter.
That being said, there is a different feeling in the Lasch Football Building, and Wheatley knows it, but it’s not coming from the outside.
“To me, personally, it feels different inside the locker, inside the team, and how we’ve been working this summer,” Wheatley said. “In all my years of being here, this is the best summer I’ve seen at all positions, in all categories — the amount of film work, the amount of extra work getting put in. The energy around the building is electric right now.”
That difference, and the seriousness with which the team is taking the task ahead, could make all the difference. Wheatley and his teammates are nearing what could be a special season, and their feelings echo public sentiment. Players are taking everything they do with the intensity required to achieve their goals. They know what they want and what it takes to get there.
And it’s not just the players. Most years when Franklin is asked about the season he takes the broad conversation and turns it narrow, focusing on whoever comes first up on the schedule. But on Wednesday he didn’t shy away from expectations.
If anything, he embraced the conversation about just how good this team is — both its roster and coaching staff.
“There’s a ton of conversations that are happening nationally,” Franklin said. “We embrace that. We’ve earned that based on what we’ve been able to do and what we’ve got coming back. There’s a lot of people that are excited on a national level talking about us. The reality is, when it comes to the Lasch Football Building or when it comes to local, these are always the expectations at Penn State.
“We had what a lot of people would consider a really good season last year. We were a game away from playing for the national championship, and you could actually make the argument a drive away from playing for the national championship, but it didn’t feel that way, right? Because the expectations at Penn State are really high.”
Some of that is a change. With the focus nationally honing in on the Nittany Lions much more than it has in previous season. But Franklin noted, too, that locally things aren’t much different.
He often speaks of those expectations at Penn State, that 10-2 isn’t good enough, and anything less than competing for — and winning — titles is falling short of goals. The Penn State head coach has lamented that thought in the past. But in recent years he seems to have embraced it, at least more than he has previously.
And now that pressure could not be higher. Penn State is on the precipice of a special season. One that could reach heights the fan base has been yearning to get to for decades. But inside the football building, it’s business as usual. Yes, the Nittany Lions are expected to be excellent. They’re expected to win the Big Ten and make a serious run at a national title.
But internally, that’s always been what they’ve aspired to do — the outside world is just now catching up.
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 8:10 PM.
