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Going into the 2023 football season, Nittany Lions Wire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Penn State roster. Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for James Franklin this season.
Continuing this effort is a look at one of Penn State’s veteran walk-on defensive linemen, Jake Wilson. Wilson was an in-state player who joined the program over opportunities to play in the Ivy League and for Army. Here is a snapshot look at Wilson entering the 2023 college football season.
Preseason Player Profile
Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Hometown: Nazareth, PA
Height: 6-3
Weight: 247
247Sports Composite Ranking
No composite recruiting information is available
Class of 2020
Class in 2023: Redshirt Junior
Penn State kept Jake Wilson on their recruiting radar in the Class of 2020, even though they never extended a formal scholarship offer. But they did still want to add him to the program as a walk-on if he decided to accept the opportunity. With offers from Brown and Yale in the Ivy League and an offer from Army, Wilson opted to play for the in-state option even if he would have to work for a roster spot in some capacity.
Career Stats
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
| Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | FF | |
| 2020 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Jake Wilson did not see any game action during his true freshman season of 2020, but he ended up using his redshirt season in 2021 while appearing in just one game for the Nittany Lions. Wilson was a standout on the team’s developmental squad in his first two seasons, which helped lead to a role on special teams in all 13 games played in 2022. He continued to be a standout on the developmental squad as well with four weekly honors from the coaching staff.
Depth Chart Overview
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Penn State should be locked and loaded at the defensive end position heading into the 2023 season. Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac will have the starting jobs squared away, and there are some young backup options at both positions to look forward to moving forward.
This may leave Jake Wilson left to be a deep reserve at the defensive end position this fall. Wilson will likely be sitting on the depth chart behind starter Adisa Isaac and a couple of other backup options.
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