ESPN's first two-round mock draft dropped on Thursday, and it is safe to say that there is not going to be a run on Nittany Lions, at least at the start.
Seven weeks away from draft night in Pittsburgh, PA, and the draft experts are starting to grow their mock drafts from the first round to multiple rounds.
ESPN's Jordan Reid dropped his first two-round mock draft on Thursday, and it is safe to assume that there isn't going to be an early run on Nittany Lions.
That obviously comes with the territory of having an incredibly disappointing season that left a lot to be desired from Penn State fans everywhere. The program came into the season with expectations that were sky high and simply did not meet them.
Not only did the Nittany Lions not meet the expectations, but the season also crashed and burned. In the debris were the NFL hopes for several of the players.
Guys like Drew Allar, Nicholas Singleton, Kaytron Allen, and Dani Dennis-Sutton were all projected to be high draft picks. Well, all of those hopes are gone, and the Nittany Lions will not be hearing many of their names called during the draft.
Reid is one of the top draft analysts in the entire business and is very well respected at that. In his two-round mock, he has just two Penn State players going in the first 64 picks.
First up is guard Vega Ioane to the Baltimore Ravens at pick No. 14. This would be agreat landing spot for Ioane, who is regarded as guard one or two by those who grade the draft prospects. He will be the first Nittany Lion off the board, and 14 is probably his ceiling, 24 is probably his floor.
He will land with a team that has its eyes set on getting to the playoffs and making in a run at the division and into the playoffs.
Night one of the draft will come to a close, and we will be back on night two and will have to wait a fair amount of time to get to our second Nittany Lion. This time it is Safety Zakee Wheatley at pick No. 57 to the Chicago Bears.
Again, a nice home for a really nice player. Wheatley can play both versions of safety in the post and at the line of scrimmage, and the Bears' biggest need is likely the safety position.
That does it for the Nittany Lions in this two-round mock draft. It will be a very light first couple of rounds for Penn State fans, but it will turn up pretty significantly by the end of Day Two and into Day Three.