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Penn State’s defense has been stellar this season, and that should continue against Villanova this weekend.
Penn State looks to follow up its big win over Auburn by avoiding a major letdown this weekend against Villanova. The defense has been locked in from the start of the season and the Nittany Lions should be in a good spot this weekend against the talented FCS program.
Let’s take a look at the top three defensive keys to a Nittany Lions win on Saturday.
Grading Penn State’s performance against Wisconsin in Week 1, where the defense earns high marks all around.
Penn State defeated the Badgers 16-10 in a game that came down to the wire. There were gutsy performances on offense, despite them getting hot in the second half.
Let’s go ahead and grade Penn State’s performance today over the Badgers.
Quarterbacks: C
This is a fair grade, seeing as Sean Clifford struggled early in this game. He finished strong and performed well when it mattered. However, he was still making careless mistakes early in the game.
Penn State heads back to State College next weekend for their home opener against Ball State. This should be an easy one for the Nittany Lions and one for Clifford to really find his groove in the offense. He didn’t play four-quarter football against Wisconsin, but a game with a new offense is now under his belt.
Next: Running Backs
Penn State’s team captains for the 2021 college football season are heavy on senior leadership.
Penn State is looking to rely on veteran leadership on the roster in their attempt to correct the wrongs from the 2020 season. With a challenging 2021 football schedule on tap, beginning with a difficult road trip to Wisconsin in Week 1 as an underdog, Penn State hopes to get things off on the right foot,
The Nittany Lions named their team captains for the 2021 season on Monday, and upperclassman leadership was a consistent theme throughout. Safety Jaquan Brisker, defensive tackle PJ Mustipher, quarterback Sean Clifford, kicker and punter Jordan Stout, and safety Jonathan Sutherland were all named captains and are seniors on the team this season. Redshirt junior offensive lineman Rasheed Walker was also named a team captain for the 2021 Penn State Nittany Lions.
Clifford and Sutherland are now the first three-time captains in Penn State’s program history, a remarkable feat itself. Clifford will be the team’s starting quarterback for a third consecutive season. Sutherland should have opportunities on both defense and special teams this season. Sutherland became the first player in Penn State history to wear the No. 0 on his jersey in 2020 when the NCAA first allowed for the use of the uniform number to be worn by college football programs.
Here is a look at this year’s team captains for the Nittany Lions:
Penn State football returns soon. Who are the key players to watch for the Nittany Lions in 2021?
Penn State enters the 2021 college football season with a bit of a chip on their shoulders. Following a rare losing season played during a pandemic, James Franklin and the Nittany Lions are eager to prove they are better than their 2020 record would indicate. With a challenging schedule right out of the gate, Penn State will have plenty of opportunities to prove itself to the masses this fall.
And they will do so with enough talent on the roster to make some things happen. With experience at quarterback, one of the top wide receivers in the Big Ten, and one of the nation’s top defensive secondaries to rely on, there are a lot of good ingredients for a successful season in Happy Valley. Every position has a chance to play a key role in the fortunes of Penn State this season too.
Here is a look at 21 key players Penn State has on the roster in 2021, listed in no particular order.
A pair of Penn State’s top linemen appear on the watch list for the Lombardi Award in 2021
Penn State is opening camp in Happy Valley as the watch list season begins to wind down. But two more Penn State linemen had their names added to a watch list on Friday with the release of the Rotary Lombardi Award watch list.
Offensive lineman Rasheed Walker and defensive lineman PJ Mustipher were each named to the watch list for the Rotary Lombardi Award, which goes to the nation’s top lineman in college football at the end of the season.
Walker is also on the watch list for the Outland Trophy, which is awarded to college football’s top interior lineman. The Lombardi Award can go to any lineman regardless of position. Walker is considered by many to be a possible first-round draft pick in the 2022 NFL draft, and the preseason accolades back up the idea he may be Penn State’s top offensive lineman in years.
Mustipher was previously added to the watch list for the Lott IMPACT Trophy. He is the lone returning starter on Penn State’s defensive line, although offseason transfers have helped to provide some experience in the trenches in a busy offseason.
Penn State has two all-time winners of the Lombardi Award since the award was first presented in 1970 to Ohio State’s Jim Stillwagon. Defensive tackle Bruce Clark was Penn State’s first Lombardi Award winner in 1978. In 2015, Carl Nassib became the second player from Penn State to win the award.
Tulsa’s Zaven Collins took home the Lombardi Award for the 2020 season. The most recent player from the Big Ten to win the award was Nassib in 2015.
.@KingPJ55 & @Cin5oTre3 have been named to the Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List 👊#WeAre pic.twitter.com/unUc6qAF7J
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) August 6, 2021
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5 questions Penn State will be asked during Big Ten media day
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The summer convergence of Big Ten media, coaches, and players will take place this week in Chicago. As they arrive in the Windy City from Happy Valley, Penn State head coach James Franklin and his player representatives will have some tough questions to answer after last season.
Penn State limped out of the gates of the modified 2020 season to a historically bad 0-5 record before turning a corner and ending the season on a four-game winning streak. The Nittany Lions missed an opportunity to even their record and avoid a losing season by deciding as a team not to participate in a postseason bowl game at the end of a trying year. But perhaps the biggest question for Penn State to answer in 2021 was whether or not you can chalk up the 2020 season to being a product of unique circumstances or if it is a sign of a program on the decline.
Head coach James Franklin will be very likely to be asked some questions riding along the lines of wondering how Penn State bounces back in 2021 after last year’s setbacks. You can fully expect Franklin to push forward and leave 2020 behind him, but it is an important question to raise for anyone trying to figure out who Penn State is in 2021.
Prior to last season, Penn State had won 11 games three out of the previous four seasons with three appearances in a New Years Six bowl game and winning two of them. This is why the 2020 results were so surprising for many. Injuries and player availability throughout the week were issues as well, as Penn State at times may have been riding a thinner roster than realized at times due to COVID protocols.
So when Franklin is asked about last season and what to expect this season, expect the standard response that Penn State has a lot going right in the program and they are ready to prove something after last season.
As things stand right now, Penn State’s offense is Sean Clifford or bust, or so it would seem. One of the main talking points during the spring football practice season was what Penn State will do to add depth and exp[erience at the quarterback position. Pulling a target from the transfer portal seemed obvious, and Penn State did make a push to add to its roster at the position before ultimately losing out on TJ Finley from LSU. Spring has now come and gone and the summer is half over and Penn State still has not found a suitable passer in the transfer portal to pad the depth chart.
So, is this still part of the game plan, or is Penn State now going to move forward running the risk of not having experience behind Clifford? The ceiling may be pretty high for options like Taquan Roberson and Christian Veilleux, but Franklin made it seem pretty clear he’d much prefer to have a more experienced option available should he need it this fall.
Penn State had 10 players named to the Athlon Sports preseason All-Big Ten teams for 2021.
We are now officially in preseason mode. In addition to kickoff times being released, the preseason all-conference lists are starting to make the rounds. Athlon Sports released its 2021 All-Big Ten team heading into the upcoming season, and a few Penn State players were scattered throughout.
Penn State wide receiver Jahan Dotson and offensive lineman Rasheed Walker were included on the first-team offense. This is not too surprising given Dotson was among the Big Ten’s best receivers in 2020 and Walker is already being projected as a potential first-round draft pick in the 2022 NFL draft. Jaquan Brisker was the only Nittany Lion to appear on the first-team defense by Athlon Sports.
Offensive lineman Mike Miranda was the only Penn State player to appear on the second team for either offense or defense. Dotson was honored as the second-team punt returner, however.
Running back Noah Cain, defensive lineman P.J. Mustipher, linebacker Brandon Smith, and cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields appear on the third team. Wide receiver Parker Washington made the fourth team.
Penn State’s 10 players making the four all-conference teams by Athlon Sports is tied for the third-most in the Big Ten. Ohio State leads the way with 13 players. Wisconsin and Iowa each had 11 players included. Indiana also had 10 players represented. For what it is worth, Rutgers had nine players and Michigan had seven. Make of that what you will.
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Freshman Kalen King and veterans Sean Clifford and Tariq Castro-Fields were among the spring winners for Penn State football practices.
Penn State brought their spring football practices to a close on Friday evening in Beaver Stadium in front of a limited number of fans. Before James Franklin and his staff get too deep into their next stages of the offseason schedule, Penn State coaches handed out their post-spring awards to players who stood out this spring.
Freshman Kalen King certainly left a big impact on the coaching staff with an impressive spring, and veteran leaders like Sean Clifford and Tariq Castro-Fields have continued to display their leadership skills on and off the practice field.
Here is a look at the Penn State spring football award winners, as announced by the program on Monday.
PJ Mustipher is Penn State’s only returning starter on the defensive line, and he continues to work hard to improve his game for 2021.
Name: PJ Mustipher
Number: 97
Position: Defensive Tackle
Class: Junior
Height: 6′-4″
Weight: 326
Hometown: Owings Mills, MD
High School: McDonogh School
Twitter: @KingPJ55
Overview
After an offseason of roster turnover on the defensive line, Penn State knows it can feel confident with the return of PJ Mustipher plugging up the middle of the line this fall. Mustipher is the only returning starter on the defensive line in 2021, although the additions through the transfer portal will help keep a veteran presence on the line of scrimmage.
Mustipher started all nine games for the Nittany Lions in 2020, and he played well enough to earn honorable mention All-Big Ten accolades from the Big Ten coaches and media. The Penn State coaching staff named Mustipher the defensive player of the week twice last year, after games against Maryland and Michigan. Mustipher continues to delight the coaching staff in the offseason with his performance in offseason workouts and spring football practices.
“Iron sharpens iron.” Good on good makes everyone better, and @KingPJ55 gave the ##OL all we could handle this week. Disruptive in the run game and the pass game. Impressive stuff! Great job this week, PJ! #WeAre pic.twitter.com/3ZxQcQN7Va
— Phil Trautwein (@CoachTrautFB) April 10, 2021
🦾 𝐈𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 🦾
‣ PJ Mustipher (@KingPJ55)
‣ Jonathan Sutherland (@jay_suth)#IronLions x #WeAre pic.twitter.com/ITuZf8Q9zz— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) February 20, 2021
Football runs in Mustipher’s veins. His older brother, Sam Mustipher is a former Notre Dame offensive lineman who currently plays in the NFL for the Chicago Bears. Mustipher’s father, also named Sam, previously played for West Virginia. The Maryland native was a two-time captain in high school and continues to be a leader for the Penn State defense heading into 2021.
Mustipher could probably have made a case for being on the Penn State wrestling program if he wanted. In high school, Mustipher was a two-time All-American and a state heavyweight wrestling champion in 2017 and 2018.
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