Penn State quarterback Drew Allar is among six team captains who will represent the Nittany Lions this season.
Penn State football coach James Franklin announced the captains Saturday, two weeks before the Nittany Lions visit West Virginia for the season opener.
Allar, a junior and the team’s second-year starting quarterback, will represent the offense with fifth-year senior center Nick Dawkins, who is starting for the
first season. Middle linebacker Kobe King and safety KJ Winston are first-year captains and second-year starters for the
defense. Dom DeLuca returns as a second-year captain on special teams with punter Riley Thompson, a first-time captain
Allar is a preseason nominee for multiple awards, including the Maxwell, Manning and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards.
Dawkins was named to the watch list for the Wuerffel Trophy, a community service award. King and Winston are preseason nominees for the Butkus
Award and Bednarik Award watch lists, respectively. Thompson is nominated for the Ray Guy Award.
Penn State will roster six team captains for the second consecutive year, though the leadership lineup has changed
significantly. Only DeLuca, a linebacker and primary special teams player, is a
returning captain. Franklin said that his team has demonstrated growing leadership since spring.
“We feel good about it,” Franklin said of his team’s leadership before naming captains. “… I see this team being more vocal. Myself, [strength coach] Chuck
Losey and [director of high school relations Bob] Palko spent a ton of time talking about this. I see these guys being
more vocal in challenging their teammates, holding their teammates accountable. I think those things have been pretty evident in the summer
workouts and so far in camp. So I think we are in a good place, but we’re going to need it. We’re going to need a ton of it
.
