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By Matt Audilet
Contributing Sports Writer
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The Penn State Nittany Lions finished their tumultuous 2025 season with a 6-6 record, making the program eligible for a bowl game assignment.
Penn State will face off against the 7-5 Clemson Tigers in a Pinstripe Bowl matchup on Dec. 27. And unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, they'll be without one of their key defensive leaders at Yankee Stadium.
Senior defensive tackle Zane Durant, a 2025 Penn State captain, announced his decision to opt out of the Nittany Lions' bowl game appearance on Monday. The 21-year-old defensive star is declaring for the 2026 NFL draft.
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"I want to thank Penn State university for the memories and experiences that it has given me," Durant wrote in a post on social media. "... For the past four years, I want to thank everyone that I got the chance to work with while attending Penn State."
"With that being said, I will be opting out of playing in the bowl game and will be declaring for the 2026 NFL draft," he concluded.
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Through 12 games in his senior season with the Nittany Lions, Durant recorded 25 tackles, 4.0 sacks, one interception and two passes defended. In 2024, the former four-star recruit notched a career-high 11.0 tackles for loss.
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Penn State fired longtime head coach James Franklin after the program's 3-3 start to the 2025 season. Interim head coach Terry Smith led the program to a 3-3 record to close out the year, winning each of the Nittany Lions' final three regular-season games.
Despite Penn State's recent hire of Matt Campbell as the program's next head coach, Smith will coach the Nittany Lions in their upcoming Pinstripe Bowl matchup against Clemson.
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