Penn State sent two defensive stars through the first round of the 2021 NFL draft last spring, and it appears both having been living up to the hype early on this NFL season. Micah Parsons has adjusted quickly to life in the league with the Dallas Cowboys, and Odafe Oweh has been coming up with some big plays for the Baltimore Ravens.
The early success of Penn State’s top two defensive rookies has led one NFL analyst to wonder if any school has seen two defensive rookies from their school perform so admirably? Ross Tucker of the NFL Network took to his Twitter account this week to highlight the early starts by Parsons and Oweh.
Has any rookie defensive duo from one school ever had a start to their careers like Oweh and Parsons?
— Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) October 12, 2021
You would probably have to go back a number of years to find another defensive duo with this kind of success that we have seen so far from Parsons and Oweh. The Miami Hurricanes in the early 21st century certainly had the kind of playmakers that could make a solid case with Vince Wilfork and Jonathan Vilma as one reply singled out.
Vince Wilfork & Jonathan Vilma were very good in there rookie years out of The U in 2004 for the Jets & Patriots. Vilma won rookie of the year and Big Vince was a stalwart in the middle of the Pats defense and went on to have a hall of fame career.
— Rich Flerra (@RichFlerra) October 12, 2021
Another fan chimed in and suggested Parsons and Oweh are living up to the hype of what was expected out of another Penn State defensive duo, LaVar Arrington and Courtney Brown. Arrington and Brown were top two picks overall, raising the bar incredibly high. Parsons was a No. 12 overall pick of the Cowboys and Oweh was a late first-round pick of the Ravens, so perhaps the level of expectations was slightly lower to clear.
They are what we hoped Courtney Brown and Lavar Arrington were going to be.
— Scott Park (@scapar100) October 12, 2021
We’ll see what happens during the rest of the rookie seasons for Parsons and Oweh, but it has certainly been enjoyable to watch if your particular NFL rooting interests haven’t interfered.
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