Penn State lands TWO offensive tackles in the first three rounds of the draft

Before we get to the Penn State football fallout from the NFL draft, let’s deal with the science.

The oyster science.

The New England Patriots surprised many by taking Penn State offensive tackle Caedan Wallace in Friday’s third round with the 68th overall pick.

Eliot Wolf, the Patriots’ director of scouting, was talking with writers after the pick and mentioned, “I think one of his brothers is like an oyster scientist or something like that.”

Soon Wallace was on a call with the writers, one of whom asked for more.

“I’ll have the man himself tell you,” Wallace responded. “He’s with me right here.”

“Hey everybody, how are you doing?,’’ Wallace’s big brother said. “I’m Charles Wallace, and I’m finishing up my PhD right now at the University of Florida.

“I do oyster science and oyster management stuff. I study how people interact with the environment, and specifically with oysters and oyster management.”

Didn’t see that coming. Didn’t see Wallace getting picked ahead of Penn State edge rusher Adisa Isaac (third round, 93rd pick, Baltimore Ravens) or tight end Theo Johnson (fourth round, 107th pick, New York Giants), or maybe even center Hunter Nourzad (fifth round, 159th pick, Kansas City Chiefs).

Or DBs Daequan Hardy (sixth round, 219th pick, Buffalo Bills and Kalen King (seventh round, 255th pick, Green Bay Packers), who went late Saturday.

Cornerback Johnny Dixon and linebacker Curtis Jacobs were not drafted.

Wallace is 24. He played a little before redshirting as a true freshman in 2019, so it seems like he’s been in college a long time. And for most of it, there was reason to doubt he should be playing on Saturdays, much less Sundays.

Now it’s possible he’ll be protecting rookie QB Drake Maye’s blind side in New England in the fall.

Penn State’s other tackle, Olu Fashanu, of course, has been seen as a lock first-rounder for at least two years, and he was the 11th overall pick Thursday to the New York Jets.

Wait … Penn State’s other tackle?

“This is my guy,” ESPNs Louis Riddick said Friday of Wallace, not Fashanu.

“I like a whole lot of things about this player” Riddick said. “I’m gonna struggle to say anything bad about him. I thought his tape was as good as his much more-heralded left tackle in Olu Fashanu.”

Big picture: Both Penn State’s 2023 starting tackles went in the first 68 picks. Mega-elite recruits, two of them from the Lancaster-Lebanon League, are competing to replace them.

And coach James Franklin just welcomed a five-star, Cooper Cousins, who may well start, probably at guard, as a true freshman.

Remember when offensive line was the perennial anvil around the program’s neck? It wasn’t that long ago.

Recall that Wallace got there in 2019. And Franklin hired Phil Trautwein as O-line coach in 2020. Probably not a coincidence.

One of the aforementioned mega-elite recruits, Warwick High grad Nolan Rucci — Wyomissing’s J’ven Williams is the other from the L-L — transferred in this offseason from Wisconsin, the closest thing there is in the country to O-Line U.

“I really like the coaching style that Coach Traut uses,” Rucci said April 2. “I love that he’s a huge technician, and that he’s so hands-on with his guys. I thought (coming here) was a huge opportunity to learn.”

Trautwein wanted to be recruited by Penn State out of high school in Vorhees, New Jersey, but did not get a scholarship offer from Joe Paterno.

Instead, he won two national championships as a player at Florida with the Tim Tebow/Urban Meyer teams, and played four years in the NFL as a very undersized offensive lineman.

“I think he has a story,” Franklin said soon after he hired Trautwein. “I think he’s got a story that is attractive to our current players and also to recruits.”

Wallace is also from New Jersey, and attended the Hun School, near Princeton. It took a while, evidently, but Wallace grew up, and thrived, within Trautwein’s framework.

“Just sticking to the process, figuring things out, maturing, learning new traits about myself,” Wallace said Friday. “Different things have really been helping me out — time management, discipline, focus. All these things, they helped me get better.”

We don’t get to talk to Trautwein often, but he did a conference call with the Penn State media in November.

“Caedan is playing his best ball. It’s awesome to see,” he said. “He’s out there playing physical. He’s doing some great things. His mindset has changed overall, just in a better way in the meeting room, and it’s fun.

“This is why I coach.”