Penn State hashigh expectations for the 2024 college football seasonfollowing another 10-win regular seasoncampaign last fall. The Nittany Lions areprojected as a fringe top-10 team in earlynational preseason rankings, withBig Ten championship aspirationsanda debut College Football Playoff appearancein focus.
PSU opens its 2024 game scheduleAug. 31 at West Virginiaina rematch of the Nittany Lions' 2023 opener win. In the meantime, our Countdown to Kickoff series will feature players whose uniform numbers correspond with that number of days remaining until that matchup. Now at77 days, we focus on projected third-year starter Sal Wormley.
THE BASICS
Position:Offensive guard
Class:Sixth-yearsenior
Size:6-3,330 pounds
High School:Smyrna (Del.)
PATH TO PENN STATE
A Class of 2019 recruit,Sal Wormleynearly committed tothe Nittany Lions during spring of his junior year but held off on a final decision until July 2018. He celebrated his 17th birthday by announcing a Penn State pledge after using official visits at Notre Dame and Rutgers.
Considered Delaware's top prospect, thecycle's No. 18 guard,and a four-star talent in 247Sports' composite 2019 recruit rankings,he won two state championships at Smyrna and earned all-state honors.247Sports national analyst Brian Dohn observed in a pre-Signing Day scouting report that,"Wormley brings an element of nastiness to the offensive line, and that is a good thing."
Wormley was one of three offensive line signees for Penn State in its 2019 class, along with top-100 prospectCaedan Wallaceand junior college productAnthony Whigan.
HAPPY VALLEY HIGHLIGHTS
Wormley enrolled at the university in June 2019 and proceeded to redshirt. Although he only participated in a single Penn State game that first season, Wormleyearned recognition as the coaching staff's Developmental Squad Offensive Player of the Year.
In 2020, Wormley appeared in three of nine contests during an abbreviated campaign, competing primarily on special teams. The next summer, he was firmly in the competition to start at left guard, and actually led that battle, before an unspecified preseason injury halted progress and sidelined him for the remainder of 2021.
Wormley returned to the practice field in 2022 and worked at right guard, ultimately securing that first-team job by the end of August. He remained entrenched in that role through all 13 games, and was one of only two Nittany Lions to exceed 800 snaps (200-plus more than any other guard).
He started every game again in 2023, earning anAll-Big Ten honorable mentionfor the second straight season. Only quarterback Drew Allar and center Hunter Nourzad handled more offensive snaps than him last season.
Wormley elected to remain on campus for a sixth year, utilizing COVID eligibility to stick with the program in 2024.
"It was always in the back of my head since the beginning of the (2023) season. I always knew that I was gonna come back," Wormley saidduring spring practices. "Just because there's more stuff that I want to work on, I want to get better at. I don't want to leave just to leave."
2024 OUTLOOK
What does that improvement entail for the 6-foot-3, 330-pound lineman? His focus centers on"being more physical in all aspects".
"I really just wanna put that on tape — showing me finishing guys, driving guys out of the way," Wormley said before focusing on specifics.
"In the run game, just finishing plays, dropping guys, being more physical, putting that on tape and letting coaches see that," he said. "And then in the pass game, just being more consistent. Coaches always harp on consistency. That's one of the biggest thing as an O-lineman. Being able to get consistency when you're like 10 plays into a long drive. That's what I'm really trying to improve on."
Now in Year 5 with Penn State offensive line coachPhil Trautwein, Wormley doesn't need to search far guidance.
"Traut harps on it every day," he said. "Whether I have a good rep, 'You can drive him farther. I know you can.' So he harps on it every day and I'm taking his coaching."
Trautwein stands to benefit from more than the simple on-field presence of a player with 26 Penn State starts under his belt. He is counting on Wormley as an emerging leader for a room that lost three first-teamers in centerHunter Nourzadand tacklesOlu FashanuandCaedan Wallace.
Penn State head coachJames Franklinexplained that Wormley was "open and transparent" with the staff last fall about his intentions to use COVID eligibility and return for a sixth college season. Heearned a degree from the universityin December.
"There wasn't a whole lot of drama associated with it," Franklin said. "He felt like he needed another year to do what he wanted to do, and for us to do what we want to do as a team. He's really handling it well right now. (He's) taken on more of a leadership role on the team, which is cool to see."
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Previous Numbers
78 - Mike Munchak79 - Addison Penn
80 - Mehki Flowers
81 - Kyle Brady
82 - Kenny Jackson83 - Joe Jurevicius84 - Peter Gonzalez85 - Luke Reynolds86 - Brenton Stange
87 - Andrew Rappleyea88 -Jerry Cross89 -Dave Robinson90 -Liam Andrews91 -Dvon Ellies and Chase Meyer92 -Smith Vilbert93 -Sander Sahaydak94 -Ryan Barker and De'Andre Cook95 -Jordan Mayer and Riley Thompson96 -Immanuel Iyke97 -T.A. Cunningham98 -Jordan Stout99 -Coziah Izzard100-Meet the Penn State transfer class
