Offensive tackle Olu Fashanu could be 1st of several Penn State players drafted

Olu Fashanu jumped ahead of everyone else when he entered kindergarten at the age of 4 in Queen of the Apostle Elementary School in Waldorf, Md.

So it won’t surprise anyone if — after he grew into a 6-foot-6, 312-pound man — he will be the first of his talented Penn State teammates drafted by the NFL this year.

Fashanu is ranked the No. 2 offensive tackle prospect (No. 12 overall) by The Athletic, behind Notre Dame’s Joe Alt.

NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said there are four tackles he considers at the top of that position group, including Fashanu.

“Well, they’re all different flavors,” Jeremiah said in an NFL Combine conference call. “They’re all really talented. When you look at that top group of guys, really I would say you’re talking about Alt, Fashanu, (Taliese) Fuaga (of Oregon State), (J.C.) Latham (of Alabama). I would think those are pretty unanimous, whatever order you have them. Those are kind of the top four guys.”

Fashanu is not a lock to be drafted in the top 10 of the first round, especially if some analysts are correct in predicting five quarterbacks will go that high. But he likely won’t last long enough for the Pittsburgh Steelers to steal him at No. 20.

“He has the ideal frame, ideal length,” Jeremiah said. “He would be plug and play. I think he can play on the left and on the right.

“The Ohio State game this year was kind of the one that people will point to where he got in some trouble where his eyes were kind of in the wrong place. He gave up his chest and got bulled and moved around a little bit, but really on the whole, I think his tape is pretty solid.”

Fashanu leads a group of 10 Nittany Lions players who were invited to the combine. Next off the board Thursday or Friday might be edge rusher Chop Robinson, who is rated by most analysts as a first- or second-round choice. The Athletic lists him No. 26 in its top 100 prospects, No. 4 among edge rushers behind Alabama’s Dallas Turner, Florida State’s Jared Verse and UCLA’s Laiatu Latu.

Robinson ran a 4.48-second 40-yard dash at the Combine, second fastest for his position.

With a given name of Demeioun Robinson, he weighed 14 pounds at birth, one of eight children to a Germantown, Md., family. His size earned him the nickname Pork Chop, shortened to Chop in middle school.

Robinson’s teammate and edge partner, Adisa Isaac (the No. 7 edge rusher), might need to wait until Friday for the call in the second or third round.

He didn’t play football until his freshman year at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., but he had 14 1/2 career sacks at Penn State. He did everything else, though, including soccer, lacrosse, wrestling, swimming, basketball, even tap dancing, choir, taekwondo and violin.

Penn State tight end Theo Johnson also could be selected in the third round after making 77 career receptions for 938 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Other Penn State players who will be considered as later-round choices are offensive tackle Caeden Wallace, center Hunter Nourzad, linebacker Curtis Jacobs, cornerback and Penn Hills graduate Daequan Hardy and cornerbacks Kalen King and Johnny Dixon. Hardy and Nourzad were invited by the Steelers for pre-draft visits.

Among West Virginia players, meanwhile, center Zach Frazier, rated No. 3 at his position by The Athletic, could be a first- or second-round selection. He was a second-team All-American last season and followed that up by doing 30 reps of 225 pounds at the Combine. He also visited with Steelers officials on the South Side.

Another Mountaineers draft hopeful is cornerback Beanie Bishop, who was a six-year collegian (Western Kentucky, Minnesota and West Virginia). He ended up last season as a consensus All-American with four of his career seven interceptions.