Best Penn State football players: Modern-era Mount Rushmore

Saquon Barkley and Lavar Arrington are among the best Penn State football players ever, but who joins them on the Nittany Lions modern-era Mount Rushmore?

Penn State football is one of the blue blood programs in college football and known as Linebacker U because of the future NFL stars they developed at State College. One of the best in program history is Lavar Arrington who is 1/4 of the modern era Mount Rushmore.

Though they haven’t captured a national title since 1986, the Nittany Lions have enjoyed some recent success in the modern era, winning Big Ten Championships in 2005, 2008 and 2016. And you can’t stay near the top of a Power 5 conference without continually bringing in high-end talent. Finding out who the best of those talented players, however, is the task at hand.

Who makes the Penn State football modern-era Mount Rushmore, meaning who are the four best Nittany Lions players since 1980? Let’s take a look, but not before we hand out some honorable mentions to players who just missed the cut.

Second all-time in career tackles (372) in Penn State football history, Paul Posluszny continually made an impact from the moment he got on the field as a freshman. Only the second player in college football history to win the Chuck Bednarik Award twice, he’s one of the greatest linebackers in Big Ten history.

Registering 13.5 sacks in his final season with Penn State in 1999, defensive end Courtney Brown simply dominated opposing offensive lines for the entirety of his career. The standout for the Nittany Lions finished his illustrious career as the career leader in sacks (33.0) and earned Consensus All-American honors in his final campaign.

In three seasons, Bobby Engram established himself as perhaps the best wide receiver at Penn State in the history of the program. He’s the career leader in receiving yards (3,026) and receiving touchdowns (31) as he was a consistent and dominant force in the passing game throughout his college career.