Taylor Mouser’s 2026 Penn State offense will be led by a veteran quarterback, Rocco Becht, who threw for more than 3,500 yards and 35 touchdowns two seasons ago.
Mouser was Iowa State’s offensive coordinator the last two seasons, and Becht started 39 games while playing for Matt Campbell at ISU.
PSU should be deep at tight end with fourth-year players Ben Brahmer and Andrew Rappleyea leading way.
Two Iowa State transfer wideouts, Brett Eskildsen and Chase Sowell, combined for 62 catches and seven touchdowns last year in Ames.
But for the second consecutive season, the Lions’ most dangerous skill player in the fall could be a running back.
It was Kaytron Allen, now PSU’s all-time rushing leader, in 2025.
Iowa State transfer Carson Hansen, assuming good health, looks positioned to produce his best season in 2026.
Hansen, a 6-2, 220-pound senior, just missed a 1,000-yard season a year ago, finishing with 950 yards in 11 games.
Hansen, who generated five consecutive 100-yard games to close out 2025, was named second-team All-Big 12.
The year before, Hansen ran for 752 yards in a pass-heavy ISU offense. He rushed for 13 touchdowns and added a pair of scoring receptions.
“I think Carson’s grown … (he’s) another guy going into his fourth year, playing critical reps,” Campbell, the Lions’ first-year head coach, said Tuesday morning after Penn State’s 10th spring practice. “His freshman year (2023), he was like the third-down back and kinda did some of those things for us.
“As a sophomore, he starts and as a junior, he starts. You kinda watch every game he’s played, he’s just gotten better and better and better.”
Conditioning is always a spring focus, and first-year running backs coach Savon Huggins has made it arguably the priority for a room that also includes Belle Vernon grad Quinton Martin Jr., Ohio State transfer James Peoples and Cam Wallace.
“I think Coach Huggins has done a great job of pressing (conditioning) in the running back room,” Hansen said Tuesday.
“We’re going to be the most conditioned team out there. You gotta be as a running back. The play never ends. … You just gotta be conditioned to the best of your ability, and that’s just how it goes.”
Huggins, who sent the five previous seasons working with the Boston College running backs, is a big fan of Hansen’s commitment to the sport.
“Just really challenged him in every single drill. We’re going to be the most conditioned group, right?” Huggins said Tuesday when asked about coaching Hansen. “Running from drill to drill, how you carry the ball. … You see (Hansen’s) conditioning level increase because I’m demanding of him.
“When Carson Hansen says he wants to do something, he’s going to do it. He’s going to take detailed notes about it. He’ll go out there and it’s encouraging, seeing the steps he’s taken.”