Blue White Illustrated

LAST WORD T I M O W E N | O W E N . T I M . B W I @ G M A I L . C O M ean Spencer called it earlier this fall. Speaking to reporters on a telecon- ference in November, Penn State's defensive line coach made a comparison between star sophomore Yetur Gross- Matos and the most productive pass rusher he's coached in his five seasons with the program. "He's as close to Carl Nassib as I've had here," Spencer said, "and Carl Nas- sib is doing it at the next level. [Gross- Matos] has a tremendous motor, unbelievable balance and speed and power. This is the type of guy we want to recruit here moving forward." The similarities don't start and end with the physical skills that the two towering defensive ends both possess. They also share a distinction: first-team All-Big Ten notice. Gross-Matos was recognized by the conference late last month, becoming the first Penn State defensive end to receive that honor since Nassib in 2015. Spencer all but predicted it a few weeks earlier. There was, however, a difference be- tween Nassib's award and the honor that Gross-Matos received. Nassib was a unanimous selection, earning first- team honors from both the league coaches and media panelists. This year, only the media got it right. The coaches settled on a third-team selection for the Nittany Lion standout, and that wasn't the only snub that Penn State's defensive linemen received. That Kevin Givens didn't get at least an hon- orable mention nod from either the coaches or the media was an oversight, but Gross-Matos as a third-teamer? That was a total miss. The All-Conference roster isn't broken down into defensive tackles and defen- sive ends. Instead there are four linemen listed on each of the teams, regardless of position. It's hard to see how the coaches determined that there were eight or more defensive linemen who had better all- around years than Gross-Matos. The stats are there to prove it; the film is, too. Only one Big Ten player finished the regular season with more tackles for loss than Gross-Matos's 20. That player was Michigan State's Kenny Willekes, who finished with 20.5 and claimed first- team All-Conference honors. Willekes's TFLs resulted in a combined total of 84 lost yards, while Gross-Matos cost Penn State's opponents 88 yards. Further- more, Gross-Matos's eight sacks during the regular season ranked fifth among Big Ten defensive linemen. One of the players ahead of him was Minnesota's Carter Coughlin, who earned a spot on the second-team All-Conference defen- sive line even though he's listed as a line- backer on the Golden Gophers' official roster. Those totals seem like they should have secured Gross-Matos a spot in the coaches' top eight. But even if the coaches didn't think the numbers were sufficient for a first- or second-team nod, his less-measurable body of work should have factored into their decisions. Gross-Matos was rarely out of posi- tion, even in his first year as starter, es- pecially in the second half of the season. He chased ball carriers down from the backside and also held strong at the point of attack. He proved to be a five- tool defensive lineman who played the majority of Penn State's defensive snaps in all 12 games, which not everyone in the coaches' first team did. In addition to likening Gross-Matos to Nassib, Spencer has described his ath- letic abilities as "freakish." It's not sur- prising that the veteran coach would feel that way, because Gross-Matos demon- strated his athleticism on a routine basis. "His short-area quickness is phenom- enal," Spencer said. "He's able to go straight, make a turn and get back to balance in a matter of seconds." Other coaches must not have noticed. For additional evidence that Gross- Matos should have been rated higher by the coaches, let's go back to the Nassib comparison. In 2015, Nassib set the school record with 15.5 sacks and added six forced fumbles. It was an All-Amer- ica season, one that should not be dimin- ished, but it was also largely predicated on his ability to pressure the passer. Gross-Matos proved effective in that discipline, adding five quarterback hur- ries to his eight sacks, and he's only scratched the surface in terms of tech- nique and rush moves. But where his greatest contributions lie – and what seems to be undervalued in this selec- tion process – is his ability to stand strong against the run. Gross-Matos al- ready has topped Nassib's 2015 TFL total by half a tackle, and he has eight more tackles overall, with one game still to go. The argument can be made that Gross-Matos is just as stout in run de- fense as Nassib was as a fifth-year sen- ior, maybe even more so. Certainly, he's farther along than Nassib, a former walk-on, was in his second season of college football. Imagine what another year or two will bring. "Moving forward, [Gross-Matos] has done a great job of learning the game," Spencer said. "[As a freshman] he was out there to make plays and was running around. See ball, get ball. Now he un- derstands the pre-snap reads. He can look at a formation and have an under- standing about what he's going to get prior to the snap happening. I'm really happy with his progress." As he continues on that track, the coaches' panel will have another chance to get it right with Gross-Matos next year. ■ Who's on first? S

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