The discomfort on Olu Fashanu’s face was clear as he went through drills in front of NFL scouts during Penn State Pro Day on Friday, but the star offensive lineman wanted to take advantage of another chance to showcase himself in the pre-draft process.
A quadriceps injury during the 40-yard dash at the 2024 NFL Combine earlier this month cut short Fashanu’s week in Indianapolis, and he spent the past 11 days rehabbing to put himself in a position to work out in Holuba Hall.
Fashanu, who estimated he was around 80%, gutted out his workout and once again showed his blend of size, skill and athleticism, which should make him one of the first players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft next month.
“My ability to move as an O-lineman because obviously in the NFL, a lot of teams are more outside zone-oriented, so I think it's really important for me to showcase my ability to move,” Fashanu said when asked what he showed teams Friday. “Obviously, right here, I wasn't at 100, but I still felt that I was able to showcase that a little bit.”
Fashanu credited athletic trainer Matt Peragine for helping get him ready to participate in Penn State Pro Day. Fashanu said he did a “dry run” earlier this week, and that gave him the confidence to go through drills Friday. He expects to be 100% before the draft.
Fashanu has been in the draft spotlight for nearly 18 months at this point. The buzz built in October 2022 and continued despite Fashanu watching the final five games of that season because of an injury. He elected to return to Penn State for his redshirt junior season, and he earned consensus All-America honors as the Nittany Lions’ starting left tackle.
Read more: Penn State Pro Day Results: 13 former Nittany Lion draft hopefuls audition for NFL teams
At this point, what else do teams still want to know about Fashanu? He played the 2023 season with plenty of eyes on him. He’s met with anywhere from 13 to 18 teams during the pre-draft process. He put together some solid, though incomplete, testing at the combine.
“That's a good question. I mean, you might have to ask them,” Fashanu said. “I don't know. I'm just me.”
A consensus mock draft from the NFL Mock Draft Database has Fashanu as the No. 7 pick to the Tennessee Titans. He’s the second offensive lineman off the board in that scenario behind Notre Dame’s Joe Alt.
Fashanu’s goal since he started playing football was to make the NFL, but it took him a while to realize that being a high first-round draft pick was a possibility. Some of his teammates helped him come to that realization.
“I'd definitely say like last year, just playing and my teammates just making me aware that I could be in this position to get drafted,” Fashanu said. “I think once they started telling me that, that's when I was like, ‘Oh, wow. This can really be a possibility.’”
Now, Fashanu might be in Detroit for draft night. He said he’s “50-50” on whether he would attend if invited — “At heart, I'm a homebody,” Fashanu said — but he said if some of the other players he met during training were going to attend, he might go. The draft is scheduled to begin Thursday, April 25.
No matter where Fashanu is watching from, that night holds plenty of anticipation for Fashanu.
“It's gonna be great,” Fashanu said. “I mean, that's a moment that I've dreamt of for a long time. It's been a very long goal of mine since I started playing football. When that moment comes, I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna make sure I embrace everyone who's been with me through this entire time.”
More: WATCH: Penn State Pro Day highlights of tight end Theo Johnson, who is meeting with several NFL teams
The draft will cap a rapid rise for Fashanu, who made his first career start in the Outback Bowl after the 2021 season and was in consideration to be a top pick nine months later. He decided to return to Penn State for another year, and he lived up to the expectations. He’s set to join prestigious company with his entry into the NFL.
He’s savored the past year and everything that it’s brought. While one of his goals in returning was to compete for a championship and Penn State fell short of that, Fashanu still got plenty of what he wanted in his return, including his degree.
And now, Fashanu will take all of that forward with him into the NFL.
“I definitely think I'm a better player,” Fashanu said. “I definitely don't regret the opportunity to come back for another year. I mean, this last year has been one of the best years of my life, just getting another opportunity to be with the guys and another opportunity to compete and just be with this program. And with myself, I really just learned that at heart, I can be a leader, and that was one of the main emphases on myself coming back for another year, just being more of a vocal guy, someone that guys on the team can rely on. After this year, I definitely feel that.”
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Daniel Gallen covers Penn State for Lions247 and 247Sports. He can be reached at daniel.gallen@paramount.com. Follow Daniel on X at @danieljtgallen and Instagram at @bydanieljtgallen.
