Tag: Jesse Luketa

J.J. Watt gives teammate signed jersey after hilarious voice message

He gives Jesse Luketa a signed jersey after he asked for one while high on pain meds.

Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman J.J. Watt announced his retirement from the NFL following the season on Tuesday and spoke to reporters on Wednesday. He revealed a funny story about a message he received from a teammate.

I’ll tell you the best story. This is by far the best hands down without a question. I posted the tweet yesterday and then I just kind of put my phone down because I knew it would be crazy. I took my son to his pediatric appointment. We took him to his doctor’s appointment, and I’m coming home and I’m like, ‘Alright. Let me check my phone.’ Literally, it’s crazy, but I’m scrolling through it and there’s this number that I don’t recognize that FaceTime’s me. I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m not going to answer a FaceTime I don’t know, so I just let it go to voicemail. Then I get a text from that number and it’s a voice memo. I’m like, ‘Who is this number?’ I play the voice memo and it’s— I wish I could play it so bad. I wish so bad. I’m going to ask him. I’m going to ask him if I can later. I don’t want to now. It is incoherent, complete incoherence, and I’m like, What the hell is this?’ I literally thought it was distorted from the phone. 10 seconds later, a picture comes through and it’s (LB) Jesse Luketa our rookie outside linebacker, and he has cotton balls in both of his mouth. He’d just got his wisdom teeth out. He’s high off his ass. He has no clue what he’s doing, and in the message, it says, ‘J.J., I just heard you’re retiring. All I want is a jersey at the end of the season.’ It is incoherent. Beyond incoherent. I listened to it 10 times to understand what he was saying. Then I laugh my ass off. I’m dying laughing, so I FaceTime him and he answers, and he’s still gone. I mean, just completely gone. I’m like, ‘Jesse, what are you doing?’ He’s like, ‘I just want a jersey.’ He can’t speak whatsoever. Then, four hours later I get a text from Jesse, and he goes, ‘I still want that jersey man, but I’m sorry for the call. They had literally just told me when I woke up from the anesthesia that you’re retiring.’ When I tell you I was dying laughing, it was the funniest. 

He got permission to share it and the Cardinals’ team account posted it.

Watt did promise Luketa the jersey.

He also delivered it.

J.J. Watt — great football player, great teammate.

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Former Nittany Lion Jesse Luketa gives J.J. Watt hilarious message

Hearing retired players talk about their time in the NFL is honestly one of the best things about the league and the sport…

Hearing retired players talk about their time in the NFL is honestly one of the best things about the league and the sport. Arizona Cardinals rookie and Penn State[autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag] potentially gave J.J. Watt his best memory yet.

J.J. Watt announced on Tuesday that he would be retiring at the end of the 2022 NFL season and ending a hall of fame career. This news was delayed to some people, one being Jesse Luketa, and it resulted in the former Penn State player wanting to get an urgent message to the all-time great.

One problem though, Luketa had just had his wisdom teeth out and he couldn’t get a coherent message to Watt and the result was pure gold.

Watt told the media “I posted the tweet yesterday (Tuesday) and then I kind of just put my phone down, because I knew it would be crazy. I took my son to his pediatric appointment … and I’m coming home and I check my phone … I’m scrolling through it and there’s this number that I don’t recognize that FaceTimes me.”

Watt continued saying “I’m like, ‘I’m not going to answer a FaceTime that I don’t know.’ I let it go to voicemail and then I get a text from that number and it’s a voice memo.”

“I play this voice memo and it’s, I wish I could play it so bad, and it is incoherent. Complete incoherence. I’m like, ‘What the hell is this?’ I literally thought it was distorted from the phone. Ten seconds later, a picture comes through and it’s Jesse Luketa…”

Watt said he didn’t want to share the voice memo without his permission but guess what? Luketa gave him permission, and the result was better than you could imagine.

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Cardinals rookie Jesse Luketa delivers classic message to J.J. Watt

A Cardinals rookie provided an unforgettable moment of sorts for J.J. Watt

Timing is everything.

J.J. Watt tried to escape the social media storm after he announced his retirement the other day.

The Arizona Cardinals great defensive lineman on Thursday related the story of a text and message he received from an unknown number.

The message was incoherent, according to Watt, totally incoherent.

Finally, Watt received a text image.

It was Cardinals rookie Jesse Luketa, who had his wisdom teeth removed. Luketa’s mouth was full of cotton gauze and he was “high off his … ” as Watt said.

Luketa was trying to ask his teammate, a surefire future Hall of Famer, for autographed jersey before Watt’s career ended in a couple of weeks.

Guaranteed that message will never be erased and the Cardinals should celebrate the gift on social media when Watt obliges Luketa.

Ji’Ayir Brown accepts Senior Bowl invitation

Ji’Ayir Brown will have a great opportunity to improve his draft stock in the Senior Bowl

The Senior Bowl has long been one of the best tools for college players looking to make the jump to the NFL to make an impact on their draft stock. Over the 75-plus year history of the game there have been 128 Penn State players to represent the Nittany Lions in Mobile, Alabama and this year they are adding another.

[autotag]Ji’Ayir Brown[/autotag] is officially going to Mobile, Alabama in January and into February to perform in front of 32 NFL teams as he looks to prove why he is worth the investment from a team. On Sunday, the Senior Bowl announced Brown had accepted his invitation to the 2023 Senior Bowl.

Upon coming to State College as a JUCO transfer, expectations weren’t really set for the incoming junior. It was the heart of COVID-19 in 2020 when he made the transfer but that didn’t stop him from making adjustments and making an impact right away.

His second year on the team in 2021 saw his biggest impact. Brown would end up being tied for the lead in interceptions with five and would be a member of the All-Big Ten team.

Brown would follow that up with strong final season in State College where he would emerge as an overall player making plays both in the run and pass game. He would end up totaling 145 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 3 sacks, and nine interceptions.

Brown now heads to Mobile as the first of potentially many Nittany Lions to be named to the Senior Bowl roster. Last year the team sent [autotag]Tariq Castro-Fields[/autotag], [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag], [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag], and [autotag]Jordan Stout[/autotag]. All four players would end up hearing their name called during the 2022 NFL Draft and the same can be said for Brown heading into the 2023 NFL Draft season.

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Jesse Luketa signed to active NFL roster

Jesse Luketa could be making his official NFL debut this weekend after being promoted to the active roster in Arizona.

This weekend in the NFL could mark the professional debut of a former Penn State defensive standout. [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag] was signed to the active roster by the Arizona Cardinals this week amid some roster moves made by the NFC West franchise this week. Luketa could potentially make his official NFL debut this weekend as the Cardinals visit the Carolina Panthers.

The Cardinals announced the roster move with Luketa on Wednesday and confirmed Luketa was promoted from the team’s practice squad to fill a roster spot left open by the release of safety Deionte Thompson, who played mostly on special teams.

Luketa was drafted by the Cardinals with the idea of having him be a leader on special teams, so expect to see the former Penn State defensive star appearing on special teams duties for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals used a seventh-round draft pick to select Luketa, who played linebacker and defensive end for the Nittany Lions. Luketa signed his rookie contract with the team in May with a four-year deal valued at $3.7 million. Luketa, who hails from Canada, had also been drafted by the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks in the 2022 CFL draft.

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Cardinals promote LB Jesse Luketa, release S Deionte Thompson

The Cardinals now have seven outside linebackers on the roster and only two safeties.

The Arizona Cardinals announced a couple of roster moves that will be a bit of a surprise. They released safety Deionte Thompson and signed rookie linebacker Jesse Luketa from the practice squad to the active roster.

It is surprising because it leaves the Cardinals with only two safeties on the roster and gives them seven outside linebackers.

The move could be for special teams but perhaps there is an injury to someone in the outside linebacker room.

With only two safeties on the roster, if Thompson clears waivers and is re-signed to the practice squad, he could be elevated to the active roster for the game this week.

Luketa was a seventh-round pick out of Penn State by the Cardinals this year. He stood out in the preseason and the team wanted to keep him on the active roster but didn’t have the numbers with some of the injuries they had.

Thompson, drafted in the fifth round in 2019, had been with the Cardinals for four seasons.

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Who are the experts picking in Penn State’s matchup at Auburn?

The experts seem to agree on who will be winning this weekend’s Penn State-Auburn game.

Penn State takes on Auburn for the second year in a row. The Nittany Lions came away with a 28–20 win last year at home for the white out. This year, they’re on the road to take on the Tigers.

So, who are the experts picking for the matchup this time around? Let’s take a look.

To start, ESPN is giving Penn State a 61.7% and Auburn a 38.3% to win the game.

Both teams lost key players to the transfer portal and the NFL.

Let’s start with Auburn. Quarterback TJ Finley was still on the team last year but he was backing up Bo Nix, who is now the starting quarterback at Oregon. The Tigers still have Tank Bigsby, but it’s worth noting he almost transferred from the program over the offseason.

As for Penn State, its biggest piece lost on offense is [autotag]Jahan Dotson[/autotag]. However, it brought in Western Kentucky transfer wide receiver [autotag]Mitchell Tinsley[/autotag]. And you could certainly make the argument that the offense is stronger this year. On defense, the Nittany Lions lost key players [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag] and [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag]. This will be another big test to see how well Penn State can adapt to the departure of those players.

Let’s head back to our predictions from experts. Heading over to College Football News, its experts have Penn State winning, 27-23, in another close one.

Lastly, we have the writers over at Athlon Sports. All three of its writers picked the Nittany Lions to defeat the Tigers on Auburn’s home turf.

Even though many of these experts have Penn State winning, they still predicted to be a close game. After all, Auburn only lost by eight points last year at Beaver Stadium. Will we see a similar score or deficit this year? Some of the experts seem to think so.

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Every Penn State player on an NFL opening day roster in 2022

Here is every former Penn State plater on an NFL roster to start the new NFL season in 2022.

The start of a new season in the National Football League is here and there will be a good amount of Penn State flavor throughout the league this season. Penn State will have the eighth most players on an NFL opening day roster this season with 34 players appearing on an NFL team’s 53-man roster to start the season (plus two additional players on injured reserve and another on the physically unable to perform list). In all, Penn State claims 44 players are on NFL rosters to start the year with the inclusion of practice squad players.

That includes nine players who were on the Penn State roster in 2021, including wide receiver [autotag]Jahan Dotson[/autotag], defensive end [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag], and safety [autotag]Jaquan Brisker[/autotag]. Dotson is one of four Penn State players on the Washington Commanders, the most of any NFL franchise to start the season.

Former kicker [autotag]Robbie Gould[/autotag] continues to be the elder statesman of the Nittany Lions football family in the NFL. Gould, of the San Francisco 49ers, is entering his 19th season in the NFL.

Here is a look at every Penn State player on either an NFL team’s 53-man roster or practice squad at the start of the 2022 season.

Penn State snapshot profile: No. 36 Zuriah Fisher

Snapshot profile: Where Zuriah Fisher looks to improve in 2022 for Penn State’s defensive line

Going into the 2022 football season, Nittany Lions Wire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Penn State roster.

Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] this season.

The next player is Penn State defensive end [autotag]Zuriah Fisher[/autotag]. The Nittany Lions will have an intriguing room full of defensive ends and some quite big shoes to fill.

Their biggest losses there are [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag] and [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag]. Now, Penn State will look to fill those shoes next season, with Fisher hopefully being one of them.

Penn State snapshot profile: No. 46 Nick Taburton

Snapshot profile: Nick Tarburton could be in for an impressive year with the Nittany Lions.

Going into the 2022 football season, Nittany Lions Wire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Penn State roster.

Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for James Franklin this season.

Next up is defensive and [autotag]Nick Tarburton[/autotag]. Penn State‘s biggest losses upfront are [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag] and [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag].
Those are some fairly big shoes to fill, but it is certainly doable.
 Tarburton could be in for an impressive year with the Nittany Lions.