Penn State DT Owen Wafle enters transfer portal after one season

After one season at Penn State, redshirt freshman defensive tackle Owen Wafle is moving on from the program, On3’s Pete Nakos has confirmed. Wafle becomes the 34th Nittany Lion to enter the transfer portal since it opened on Friday.

Wafle arrived at Penn State last offseason after spending one season at Michigan. He appeared as a reserve rotational piece along the Nittany Lions’ defensive line and on special teams.

For the year, Wafle played 117 total snaps for Penn State, including 103 at defensive tackle. His season high came against Villanova (21 snaps), followed by 20 against Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl. His best defensive performances, as graded by PFF, came in the season opener against Nevada – when he notched two quarterback hurries – and against Villanova, where he recorded a quarterback hit.

At a position group that had little experience behind starters Zane Durant and Alonzo Ford, then-head coach James Franklin offered an assessment of Wafle’s opportunity to contribute early and often.

“You’ll get a chance to see a ton of it during the first three games. We plan on playing a bunch of those guys to create depth, but also to evaluate them,” he said. “Wafle is a guy that’s really been a nice addition for us and is playing some really good football. So I think he factors in and those next couple guys, there’s a battle. Enai has done some nice things since we moved him inside. I think he’s already up to 275 pounds. So you know he has the ability to carry the weight pretty easily. Randy Adirika is doing some good things. Cook is doing some good things.

“So there’s a group of guys. But I just think the development of the Wafles and some of those guys that you guys haven’t seen, it’ll be really important in those first three games.”

Assessing Wafle’s potential early in the season after Penn State’s first game, Franklin praised the New Jersey native’s upside and projected an expanded role as the year progressed.

“Owen Wafle, a young, exciting player for us as well that played a decent amount on Saturday,” Franklin said. “We’re going to need that role to grow.”

That role did not expand through the back half of the season following Franklin’s dismissal, though. Wafle appeared in just three additional games for Penn State – against Iowa, Rutgers, and Clemson – while dealing with an unspecified injury setback.

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