Penn State Football: Hunter Nourzad Drafted by Kansas City Chiefs in Fifth Round

The Kansas City Chiefs selected Penn State center Hunter Nourzad in the fifth round of the NFL Draft on Saturday, continuing a solid showing for the Nittany Lions this weekend.

Nourzad, who transferred to Penn State from Cornell in 2022, has played a handful of positions across the offensive front over the course of his career, starting out at tackle, changing to guard and then eventually landing at center this past season for the Nittany Lions. While at Penn State, Nourzad was named an All-Big Ten honorable mention as a guard and a second-team selection as a center at the conclusion of the 2023 campaign.

This marks the first time Penn State has had at least three offensive linemen drafted in the same year since 1996 draft, when the program had four selected. Nourzad joins Olu Fashanu and Caedan Wallace as Penn State’s current draft selections along the offensive line.

As a program, Penn State is expected to have upwards of 10 players drafted — now with six so far —over the course of the three day event, a figure that would tie the Nittany Lions’ highest-ever total set in 1996 and mark the highest under James Franklin, which was set at eight in 2022. Nourzad’s fellow teammates in the trenches, offensive tackle Fashanu, selected No. 11 overall by the New York Jets, and defensive end Chop Robinson picked up at No. 21 by the Miami Dolphins are Penn State’s headliners this draft cycle.