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In two years at Penn State, James Franklin and his coaching staff have redshirted all of their freshman offensive linemen.
Connor McGovern might be about to break that trend.
The newly minted Lake-Lehman grad is in San Antonio this week preparing to play in Saturday’s prestigious U.S. Army All-American Bowl, where he will start at center for the East team.
“This is getting me ready for the next level at Penn State,” McGovern said Thursday from Texas.
His time could be coming sooner than expected.
McGovern, who begins classes in Happy Valley on Monday after a hectic weekend of travel, said that Penn State coaches have told him they do not plan to redshirt him in 2016.
With Angelo Mangiro moving on, the Nittany Lions have an opening at center. And with McGovern arriving on campus for winter workouts and spring practice, the coaches are hoping he can contribute right away.
“That’s very exciting to me,” McGovern said. “It makes me want to work harder and give that extra little bit for that opportunity.”
It’s especially noteworthy because Franklin has said repeatedly that he prefers offensive linemen to spend two years in the program before becoming regular contributors on the field. That’s mainly because of the physical rigors of playing in the Big Ten.
But McGovern has the advantage of getting his already imposing frame on campus a semester earlier than most freshmen.
McGovern said he checked in this week at 6-foot-5 and “a little under 310” pounds. With an offseason in Penn State’s strength training program, he said the Lions think he can be a solid 325 in time for the fall.
That size is one of the main reasons he could make the rare jump from high school to big-time college football as a teenager. It’s also why he is one of the top-rated centers in the country, a consensus four-star prospect across multiple recruiting services.
“He absolutely will see the field in some capacity next year,” said Steve Wiltfong, the national recruiting director for the 247Sports network.
Wiltfong has been in San Antonio watching the week of practice and came away with a strong impression from McGovern.
“I think physically, he was one of the better looking offensive linemen that we’ve seen,” Wiltfong said. “He’ll come in physically ready to play as an early enrollee at Penn State at a position of need.
“You can tell he’s working hard to get to Happy Valley.”
For McGovern, the trickiest thing this week was getting used to working with three different quarterbacks during his first practice session.
Just snapping the ball on time was tough at first, let alone having to block guys like 327-pound Clemson recruit Dexter Lawrence — rated the No. 3 overall prospect in the country — afterward.
“It was little confusing just with how different the cadences were,” McGovern said. “The first hour or so was tough. … Definitely the second practice (was more comfortable).”
McGovern is set to wear his familiar No. 60 in Saturday’s game, which will be broadcast live at 1 p.m. on NBC.
“I just want to set up, dominate and get the ‘W,’ ” McGovern said.
Lions lose recruit
When training camp starts in the summer, however, McGovern won’t have one of his fellow Pennsylvania star seniors across the line of scrimmage from him.
Philadelphia’s Karamo Dioubate, the state’s top-rated defensive lineman, is no longer committed to Penn State. Blue White Illustrated first reported the development.
A first-team all-state selection at Prep Charter, Dioubate had originally picked the Lions back in the summer. But the four-star recruit took an official visit to Auburn last month with perhaps more trips scheduled before national signing day, according to multiple recruiting services.
Dioubate’s departure drops Penn State’s 2016 class out of the top 10 nationally for the time being. The group now stands at 18 verbal commitments with four of them — McGovern, New York QB Jake Zembiec, Massachusetts TE Danny Dalton and Ohio OL Alex Gellerstedt — set to begin classes on Monday.
The rest of the class will sign letters of intent on Feb. 3 and arrive on campus in the summer.