Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1138762
P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> FAST COMPANY D E F E N S I V E L I N E M E N Led by Yetur Gross-Matos, a contingent of speedy Nittany Lion defensive ends will look to get the drop on opposing QBs this fall W hen he first arrived at Penn State, every snap of the foot- ball seemed like third-and- long to Yetur Gross-Matos. Former Nittany Lion offensive lineman Andrew Nelson used to go up against Gross-Matos in practice. While he could- n't help but be impressed with the new- comer's speed, he knew that all the fast-twitch muscle in the world was not, by itself, going to get the job done. "He was pass-rushing every play," Nel- son told PennLive.com back in 2017. "He showed a lot of athleticism that way, be- cause when it was third-and-10, he torqued it up on guys, the first-team guys. He proved that he was going to be a great player, no doubt about it." But, Nel- son added, Gross-Matos needed to refine his talent. He needed to get past that freshman orientation phase in which players tend to rely on raw athletic ability because "you don't really understand what you're doing." "He's started to take steps," Nelson concluded. "He's going to be a problem for guys, eventually." Eventually has arrived. On the heels of a great sophomore sea- son in which he won first-team All-Big Ten honors from the media, Gross- Matos is the leader of a deep and talented Penn State defensive end corps and is being hailed as a likely first-round NFL Draft pick whenever he chooses to turn pro. Gross-Matos's numbers from last year show just how thoroughly he's internal- ized the lessons of his freshman season. He was devastating against both the run and the pass in 2018, finishing with 54 total tackles, including 20 tackles for loss and eight sacks. It was only the 12th time in school history that a player totaled 20 or more negative-yardage stops in a sin- gle season, and those TFLs may have only hinted at the kind of backfield havoc he's capable of causing as a junior. "He still is a somewhat young and inex- perienced player, so all of that experience he gained last year, he's going to come into this season with just so much more confidence in what he can do," coach James Franklin said. "He's gotten stronger, he's gotten bigger. He's about 265 pounds now and still can run and change direction and bend. "He's just one of those guys who, when you have a list of all the characteristics that you're looking for in a defensive end, he's got most of those boxes checked. Usually you'll have a guy who has seven of the 10, but they're not big enough yet or they just don't have a whole lot of length to them, or they're missing something, experience or what- ever. But at this point, year two of having a significant role for us, he's got most of |