How Landon Tengwall’s retirement affects Penn State Football

Landon Tengwall came to Penn State as a top-100 player in the 2021 class, but his playing career has been cut short after just eight games.

Tengwall, who was expected to be the starting left guard this season, announced Wednesday he will be medically retiring from football.

Tengwall played just five games in 2022 before suffering an injury in warmups against Michigan, and he missed most of training camp this fall with an injury.

“I had a really good meeting with Landon and his dad earlier this week… as you know, I’m not going to get into the specifics of it, but I think you’ll be seeing Landon around here, hopefully pretty soon,” James Franklin said. “We just talked about it as a team as well. We’re going to be as supportive as we possibly can. This is a hard thing, as you can imagine. He’s been playing football his entire life. I would ask the Penn State community and the media to be as respectful of their process as possible.”

The news of his retirement is a significant loss on and off the field for the blue and white.

The Annapolis, Maryland, native serves as the vice president of Penn State’s chapter of Uplifting Athletes, which conducts the annual Lift For Life fundraising event.

The loss of Tengwall is a massive blow to the offensive line, a group Franklin had spoken very highly of as of late.

The redshirt sophomore was expected to anchor the left side of the offensive line alongside left tackle Olu Fashanu.

With Tengwall missing a significant portion of 2022, the Nittany Lions played several guys at left guard, one of which was JB Nelson.

Regardless of Tengwall’s status entering 2023, Nelson was expected to be a major piece on the offensive line.

The 6-foot-5, 332-pound guard came to Happy Valley in 2022 after being a standout at Lackawanna College. He appeared in just four contests a season ago, which allowed him to retain his redshirt status.

“We went into this year feeling like JB was going to factor in, either as a starter or starter type reps, is how I viewed it coming into the season,” Franklin said. “He’s built on that.

At Lackawanna, Nelson played guard and tackle and offered flexibility along the offensive line for the Nittany Lions, but he’s now the presumed starter at left guard.

However, Nelson isn’t the only guard who will have to step up for the blue and white. Redshirt freshman Vega Ioane is now the top backup at both guard spots. Ioane played in four games during his true freshman season and has received a lot of praise over the offseason.

Freshman guard Anthony Donkoh has also impressed many during fall camp, and it will be interesting to see if Penn State decides to burn his redshirt.

Even though it will be difficult to replace Tengwall’s production, Franklin is confident in the depth of the offensive line, especially Nelson.

“His habits are a lot better in terms of how he practices, approaches, meetings, and everything else. You can make the argument he may be our most physical offensive lineman. I know talking to our defensive linemen, they got a ton of respect. So we expected him to play a significant role this year.”

Alex Rocco is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email alex.rocco1702@gmail.com.