Penn State Lands 4, Including a Kicker, on the College Football 'Freaks List'

Kickoff specialist Gabriel Nwosu is among the Nittany Lions on Bruce Feldman's "Freaks List."

Penn State defensive tackle Zane Durant sacks Delaware quarterback Ryan O'Connor at Beaver Stadium. / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

Penn State has been a consistent contributor to the "Freaks List," the assembly of elite college football athletes compiled by The Athletic's Bruce Feldman. Four Nittany Lions made the list this year, including perhaps the Freaks List's most unique player: a kicker.

Now, college football will meet kicker Gabe Nwosu, the player Penn State football fans got to know last season. Nwosu is Penn State's kickoff specialist and one of the most unique players in the nation. In fact, he is the only kicker-punter on the 101-player Freaks List of 2024. What makes Nwosu a freak?

"He is definitely not your average kicker-punter," Feldman wrote. "The [redshirt junior] from Maryland is 6-6 and 280 pounds. He benched 365 pounds, squatted 525 and cleaned 330. Even more impressively, he clocked a 4.86 40 at that size, broad jumped 9-9 and vertical-jumped 31.5 inches."

Big numbers from a kicking specialist, which is why Nwosu landed at No. 91 on the "Freaks List." He also played a very specialized role for Penn State in 2023. Nwosu took 76 of the team's 87 kickoffs, averaging 63.7 yards per attempt. He finished third in the Big Ten in touchbacks (50) and fourth in kickoff average. Nwosu will reprise the role this season.

Penn State's three other representatives are more conventional choices. Defensive end Abdul Carter (No. 12), defensive tackle Zane Durant (No. 18) and running back Nicholas Singleton (No. 29) are three of Penn State's strongest and most versatile athletes.

According to Feldman, Carter recorded a maximum run speed of 22.4 miles per hour, Durant set a squat record for defensive linemen (660 pounds) and Singleton lowered his 40 time (to 4.35), raised his broad jump (to 10-1) and increased his squat to 655 pounds, a program record for running backs.

Chuck Losey, Penn State's director of performance enhancement, has praised those three players for their commitment to offseason work. In particular, Losey called Singleton the training standard of college football.

"The dude is a model for all of our guys who come through the program and the way it’s supposed to look, especially in the way we train in the weight room," Losey said. "... We can throw pretty much any type of training protocol at him and he works his butt off at it and he adapts."

In addition, a former Penn State "freak" made the list once again with a new team. Defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg, who ranked 15th with the Nittany Lions last season, checked in at No. 46 with his new team. Van den Berg transferred to Georgia Tech after spending three seasons at Penn State.

The Nittany Lions open the 2024 season Aug. 31 at West Virginia. Kickoff is scheduled for noon ET on FOX.

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Penn State on SI is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.