Week 2 of the 2026 NFL season gave a few former Penn Staters reasons to smile, even if the overall picture was a mixed bag.
Tyler Warren kept rolling for the Indianapolis Colts, Parker Washington again paced the Jacksonville Jaguars’ passing attack, and Zakee Wheatley made an immediate impact in his first professional snap. A handful of rookies also logged their first meaningful touches.
Warren was back in the end zone for the second straight week, with Colts quarterback Daniel Jones hitting him from the 1-yard line for a score. The tight end finished with six catches on seven targets for 21 yards and the touchdown, and he added one carry for three yards.
His longest grab went for eight yards. Through two games, Warren has nine receptions for 34 yards and two touchdowns.
In Carolina, Wheatley and Nick Scott teamed up for a big early play against the Atlanta Falcons. On Wheatley’s first professional snap, he came flying in from the left side and knocked the ball loose from quarterback Cooper Rush.
Scott was right there to recover it. Wheatley wrapped up his debut with five total tackles, including four solo stops.
Scott left the game with an abdominal injury, according to Mike Kaye of ESPN, and his status is “questionable.” He recorded one tackle before exiting.
Washington kept his foot on the gas for Jacksonville, even in a 20-13 loss to the Denver Broncos. He led the Jaguars in receiving yards for the second week in a row, posting 98 yards on seven catches.
He also had a long of 32 yards and picked up three first downs. Over the first two weeks, Washington has 181 receiving yards on 12 receptions and a touchdown.
The running back group had a busier, messier Sunday. Saquon Barkley, Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton all saw the field in Week 2.
Barkley finished with just nine rushing yards on four carries for the Philadelphia Eagles against the Tennessee Titans. He was shaken up on the opening play after taking a hit from Jeffery Simmons and getting piled on, then sat out most of the first half before returning when the second half started.
Singleton made his professional debut against the Eagles and handled four rushing attempts for 10 yards in the third quarter. His first NFL carry went for minus-1 yard, but he answered with a 6-yard run, which stood as his longest of the day.
Allen got his work late for the Washington Commanders in the final three minutes against the Dallas Cowboys. He ran five times for 24 yards in his second professional appearance, averaging 4.8 yards per carry with a long run of nine yards.
In Other News...
Penn State Suddenly Has A Koby Howard Concern Heading Into Next Week
Penn States injury watch after the Buffalo game centered on a few familiar names, but Koby Howard is the one carrying the biggest question into next week. Matt Campbell said Howard was hurt on a long touchdown run, and with the Lions moving on to the next opponent, his availability is now uncertain. For a team trying to keep early-season momentum rolling, even a single injury note can matter when it involves a player who was in the middle of a scoring play.
Brock Riker appears on sturdier ground and is expected to be available for the next game, while Andrew Rappleyea and Tyler Armstead are still listed as questionable after leaving the Buffalo contest banged up. For Penn State, the focus now shifts from the box score to the training room, where the answers on a few key depth pieces could shape how the rotation looks when the Lions line up again. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Fans Face One Annoying Hurdle For Wisconsin Opener
Penn States Big Ten opener against Wisconsin at Beaver Stadium arrives with the usual conference-stage stakes, but there is one wrinkle for fans planning their Saturday around it. The 5 p.m. ET kickoff makes for a prime-time atmosphere in State College, yet the game will not be on traditional television. Instead, it will be available exclusively on Peacock, NBC Universals streaming platform, which means anyone wanting to watch will need a subscription.
Peacocks role as a Big Ten Saturday Night home will extend beyond this matchup, with the service carrying other conference games throughout the 2026 season while also offering football and entertainment programming. For Penn State supporters, though, the immediate issue is simpler and more annoying: if they want to see the opener against Wisconsin, they will have to navigate another streaming paywall first. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Just Got An Early Recruiting Sign Matt Campbell Needed
Penn States 2028 recruiting class got a noticeable boost this week when quarterback commit James Armstrong climbed 40 spots in Rivals latest rankings, landing at No. 61 overall and No. 7 among quarterbacks. Even in a staff that is known to trust its own evaluations more than outside lists, movement like that matters, especially when it comes from a quarterback and especially when it helps validate the early work being done in Pennsylvania.
There is still a long way to go with this cycle, and rankings will keep shifting as more evaluations come in, but Armstrongs rise is the kind of public sign a program can point to while building momentum. Another in-state commit, cornerback Deonte Flemings Jr., went the other direction with a 50-spot drop, a reminder that the early stages of recruiting rarely tell the full story even when they offer a glimpse of where the class might be headed. [Read more 🡒]