Blue White Illustrated

ing the 2010 season, he was named a 7rst- team All-Big Ten selection at guard. On the other side of the ball, Yetur Gross-Matos and Carl Nassib are my se- lections at defensive end. Gross-Matos had an outstanding 2018 season, 7nish- ing second in the Big Ten with 20 tackles for loss and eight sacks. He was a sec- ond-team All-Conference choice fol- lowing the season. This year, Gross-Matos has 14.5 TFL and 8.5 sacks and recently received consensus 7rst- team All-Big Ten notice. Nassib was a former walk-on who enjoyed a spectac- ular senior season in 2015, earning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors, as well as the Ted Hendricks Award and consensus All-America notice, a:er 7n- ishing with 15.5 sacks. At defensive tackle, my selections are Devon Still and Austin Johnson. Still was a 7rst-team All-Big Ten selection fol- lowing the 2011 season and became a second-round dra: choice of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012. Johnson was a second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2015 and ended up being chosen in the second round of the 2016 dra: by the Tennessee Titans. At linebacker, Micah Parsons recently became the 7rst Penn Stater of the decade to be named one of 7ve semi7- nalists for the Butkus Award. He has been Penn State's leading tackler the past two years, totaling 83 stops as a freshman and making 95 tackles this year, includ- ing 11 tackles for loss and three sacks. Earlier this month, he was named the Big Ten's Linebacker of the Year. My two other all-decade linebackers are Michael Mauti and Gerald Hodges. Hodges was Penn State's leading tackler in 2011 and '12, combining to make 215 stops during those two seasons. Mauti was the emotional leader of Penn State's defense throughout the 2012 season. He and Michael Zordich were the players who helped hold the team together a:er the NCAA gave players the opportunity to transfer without having to sit out at their new schools. A handful of players took advantage of that opportunity, but most did not. Without the leadership of Mauti and Zordich, I'm not sure Penn State would have been able to 7nish the season with an 8-4 record. One linebacker who was hard to leave o8 my all-decade team was Mike Hull, who led Penn State with 140 tackles during the 2014 season. In the secondary, my two cornerback selections are Christian Campbell and Amani Oruwariye, and my picks at safety are Adrian Amos and Marcus Allen. Amos was a 7:h-round selection in the 2015 NFL Dra: by the Chicago Bears, while Allen went in the 7:h round to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018. Allen was the Nittany Lions' leading tackler in 2016 with 120 stops. The cornerback spots were di9cult to pick. I went back and forth between Campbell and Grant Haley, and I can understand why many Penn State fans would choose the latter. Haley was the focal point of two of the most exciting plays of the past decade: a 60-yard re- turn of a blocked 7eld goal that supplied the winning TD in a 24-21 upset of Ohio State in 2016, and later that season, a fourth-down tackle against Wisconsin that clinched a 38-31 victory for the conference championship. Oruwariye was a second-team All-Big Ten selection following the 2018 season. He led Penn State that year with three interceptions and had 12 pass break-ups. Franklin's 7rst Florida recruit at PSU, Oruwariye was a 7:h-round dra: choice of the Detroit Lions this past April. All of the players mentioned here should be remembered for the part they played in continuing Penn State's great football legacy. Many of those players signed with PSU at a time when the pro- gram was being dismissed as a potential championship contender. As recruits, they believed in the coaches' vision. As players, they helped turn that vision into reality. They enabled the Lions to retake their place among the greatest programs in the game. ■

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