Joel Klatt is all in on James Franklin’s Penn State Nittany Lions — putting them atop his preseason Top 25.
Klatt, who ranked Texas at two and Ohio State at three, believes Penn State will be able to take the next step this year, beating teams that they once struggled against.
Joel Klatt Explains Why Penn State Tops His Post-Spring Top 25 Rankings
Klatt values the staying power on the Nittany Lions’ roster, with veterans on both sides of the ball, including the quarterback position.
“They’re following the blueprint of the teams that have just won the National Championship.”
The Nittany Lions sit atop @joelklatt‘s Post-Spring Top 25. pic.twitter.com/czn0Xf9xO8
— The Joel Klatt Show: A CFB Pod (@JoelKlattShow) May 5, 2025
“My way too early, post spring, number one team in the country as the Penn State Nittany Lions,” Klatt said. “They’re following the blueprint of the teams that have just won the national championship. This is why I am putting them in this spot.
“You look at what Michigan did in 2023. You look at what Ohio State did in 2024. They stayed, and they won a championship.
“Both of those teams had veterans at quarterback. They had veterans on both sides of the ball. They were excellent at the line of scrimmage. They had chips on their shoulders from the way that they were bounced in the postseason in years prior.”
And on top of returning quarterback Drew Allar, the Nittany Lions are bringing back both top running backs — Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton — and stole Ohio State’s defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles, in the offseason.
“All of that is true about Penn State,” Klatt said. “They’re returning their quarterback, both running backs — Singleton and Allen — four players on the offensive line, they brought in Jim Knowles as their defensive coordinator to pair with Andy Kotelnicki as their offensive coordinator, he’s in year two.”
The Nittany Lions also brought in big pieces through the transfer portal at the receiver position, which they struggled with in previous seasons.
“I look at this and my only question was at wide receiver for James Franklin,” Klatt said. “We saw how bad it was at wide receiver last year. In the loss to Notre Dame, they got zero catches from their wide receivers. Zero. Zero catches. That’s incredible.
“So they brought in three wide receivers. Kyron Hudson, redshirt senior from USC. Trebor Peña, from Syracuse, love him, All-ACC slot receiver. You’ve got Devonte Ross, Sun Belt receiver, All-Sun Belt receiver from Troy. Reinforcements. I think they’re gonna be better at wide receiver.”
The big outstanding question, Klatt said, is whether the Nittany Lions can replace first-round tight end Tyler Warren, who headed to the Indianapolis Colts in the 2025 NFL Draft. It’s also about winning what Klatt calls “matchup games.”
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“Now the question becomes can they replace Tyler Warren?” Klatt said. “That’ll remain to be seen. They will have to get that production from outside. What we haven’t seen from Penn State is them rise up and win the game that I would call a ‘matchup game.’
“When they’re looking across and the talent is equated and they may even be a bit of an underdog, can they win that game?”
“Because up until this point, they haven’t. Can they? Yes. I absolutely believe that they can, you know, they beat SMU, they beat Boise State, but then they lose to Notre Dame. We see this in the Big Ten schedule where they haven’t been able to beat, you know, the Michigans of the world and the Ohio States.
“They were close, I mean, they had first-and-goal inside the five to tie the game in the fourth quarter against Ohio State, but they didn’t. So that’s the next step. I believe they will take the next step.”
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