Nick Dawkins is in line to begin the season as Penn State’s starting center. But there was a time when he was almost a Northwestern Wildcat. The veteran Nittany Lion, who is squarely in the mix to be a team captain in his fifth year in Happy Valley, once carried a chip on his shoulder as an in-state prospect that had him thinking that there were greener pastures away from home. As a standout at Parkland High School in Allentown in the Class of 2020, things didn’t come as quickly for Dawkins and the Nittany Lions as he originally planned. Dawkins had to wait until late March of his junior year …