Penn State football 2017: Projected Nittany Lions depth chart

The Penn State Nittany Lions are back and hope to compete for a National Championship in 2017, but how will their depth chart play out?

Early season losses marred the record of the Penn State Nittany Lions in the 2016 season, falling to Pittsburgh and Michigan — the latter in a blowout. However, James Franklin’s group really hit their stride after an overtime win over Minnesota and won their final eight regular season games, and then topped Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Of course, the College Football Playoff still spurned them and they were sent to the Rose Bowl to take on USC. In what most would argue was one of the best college football games of the entire season, they fell by three points in a barnburner. Now Franklin and Penn State look ahead to the 2017 season with exceptionally high hopes for what the Nittany Lions can accomplish.

Unlike many of the contenders in the Big Ten for the 2017 season, one advantage that Penn State have is experience. While teams like Michigan and Ohio State always reload thanks to recruiting, they have a ton of big holes to replace after watching big-time talent head to the NFL Draft. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions didn’t incur the same type of losses. For the most part, they are coming into the 2017 season with a group that finished exceptionally strong last year and hopes to parlay that into more success.

Even still, things are a bit different at key areas throughout the depth chart for Penn State, or at least they could be. As such, let’s take a look at the projected Nittany Lions depth chart for 2017, starting with the offense.