Olu Fashanu Returns to Penn State: What's This Mean for the 2023 and 2024 Draft Classes?

Penn State left tackle Olu Fashanu shocked the world when ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported the talented pass-protector would return to State College for the 2023 season. The projected No. 1 ranked tackle in the upcoming draft class, Fashanu will anchor a very talented group of players returning to college football next year.

Many are asking why a 19-year-old would forego the riches of the NFL—where Fashanu was a projected top 10 pick—for another year of college.

The simple answer—it’s not our decision. Fashanu has started nine games in college. Maybe he doesn’t feel ready for the pressure of being a professional football player. Maybe he feels his frame needs more development before 17 games of car-crashes against Von Miller, Myles Garrett and Maxx Crosby-type pass-rushers. And maybe, just maybe, he values his education and would like to get a degree.

The fact of the matter is that it’s not our place—mine, yours, agents, trainers, NFL scouts—to decide what’s right for this player. And the reality is that no matter how talented Fashanu is and how talented we think he can be, he’s still 19 years old with nine starts under his belt.

What’s best for the long-term football career for Fashanu might just be the ability to develop without 42 million sets of eyes watching him in his rookie season before he can legally buy a beer.

And that’s okay. The rush to enter the NFL has always been too strong and too eager. In an era of Name, Image, Likeness we should see more young men and women decide to stay in college longer to develop as human beings and as athletes before feeling the financial pressure to turn professional.

That’s the story of Fashanu. It’s not of a young man throwing away millions. That money will be there in April of 2024 just like it would have been in April of 2023. Star players don’t see their draft value tanked by injury—not in the modern iteration of the Draft—and insurance policies combined with NIL money make the financial risk much different than it used to be.

Fashanu will headline a 2024 draft class that features names like Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Brock Bowers, Quinn Ewers, Xavier Worthy, Marvin Harrison Jr., Joe Alt and more. It has the look of a truly special group. And it’s one that Fashanu belongs in as an elite tackle himself.