Penn State’s 2022 recruiting class continues to leave its stamp on the Nittany Lions’ successful season.

No. 14 Penn State hosts Big Ten East rival Maryland (6-3) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon. If James Franklin’s team can run the table in its remaining regular-season games, a 10-2 finish likely would put the Lions in a high-profile bowl.

PSU romped past Indiana, 45-14, on the road last Saturday, registering a single-game record 16 tackles for loss.

The Lions offensive line also received a boost from true freshman left tackle Drew Shelton, who started in place of Olu Fashanu. Shelton helped spring true freshman runners Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton for a combined 159 yards and four touchdowns.

Franklin and his assistants recognized the Lions’ entire defensive line as the defensive players of the game, the head coaching saying Tuesday, “Obviously, when you break the all-time tackles for loss record at Penn State, it’s hard not to make sure that you give those guys some love there, and they earned it and deserve it.”

Shelton could earn another start Saturday, and Franklin indicated he’s more than ready for it.

Shelton replaced an ailing Fashanu against the Hoosiers and looked comfortable in pass protection and as a run blocker. Fashanu’s status for Maryland is uncertain.

“Our strength coaches very early on had identified (Shelton) as a guy they were really excited about in terms of his work ethic and demeanor and approach,” Franklin said.

“The veteran players were kind of talking about him. … He’s a smart guy. He’s a mature guy.

“He’s been preparing all season kind of for his opportunity, and there’s been a lot of discussions in college football over the years about just going to a five-year model where everybody just has five years, and if he was, he would have played a ton already this year.”

Allen and Singleton show no signs of hitting the freshman wall.

They are 1-2 in rushing for Penn State, with Singleton in the lead (he has run for 679 yards and eight scores). Allen, coming off a three-touchdown game against Indiana, has gained 558 yards and also run for eight touchdowns.

Some believe first-year players tend to get worn down as the season progresses. Franklin said rotating Singleton and Allen have kept each runner fresh.

“I think Nick is getting better every single week,” Franklin said.

“I think both of those guys are running really physical, and Nick had some really good runs where maybe there was 3 or 4 yards and he turned them into 6- or 7-yard runs.

“But yeah, he’s getting more comfortable and getting more confident every single week, every single practice, every single game. So is Kaytron. They’re both getting better in areas that they need to improve, and as you can imagine, there’s still a ton of growth for both of them based on the fact that they’re true freshmen and haven’t played a whole lot of football.”

When asked about the freshman wall, Franklin said, “I think that’s where kind of the rotation is important, so hopefully getting Keyvone (Lee) back would help with that, but being able to rotate two backs, it kind of limits that.”

Penn State end Chop Robinson, who faces his old team this week, has been a significant transfer portal addition. His impact goes beyond his stats, according to Franklin.

The former five-star recruit played for Maryland last season. Robinson has 5.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, three quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and a forced fumble in 2022.

“Right away, people want to jump to how many sacks did he have, and there’s a lot more to playing defensive end within the system that we run than just sacks,” Franklin said.

“Don’t get me wrong, we want as many sacks as possible, but pressures are also really important, batted down passes are really important, tackles for loss are really important, consistently holding your gap or penetrating your gap is really important.

“We’ve been pleased with (Robinson).”

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