Blue White Illustrated

F A S T F O R W A R D >> A N E A R L Y L O O K sacks this past season – the fifth con- secutive year in which it totaled 40 or more sacks. That was good enough for third place in the Big Ten and ninth in the FBS. But there were some moments during the regular season in which the pass rush wasn't as domi- nant as many had expected going in. Penn State totaled only four sacks in nonconference games against Buffalo and Pitt, prompting Franklin to note after the win over the Panthers, "We've got to get to the quarterback more consistently." The Lions fin- ished their season with six sacks against Memphis in the Cotton Bowl. They'll be looking to keep the heat on opposing passers in 2020. QUOTABLE Franklin on Mustipher, a former standout high school wrestler: "I love wrestlers. Obviously, being here at Penn State with our wrestling program, [you] see what Cael [Sanderson] does, see how those guys work, how they compete. I think it's a really, really good sport for junior high and high school football players to play. The work ethic and the mental- ity are so good. And that's who [Mustipher] has been. He's a worker." LINEBACKER KEY RETURNEES Ellis Brooks, Lance Dixon, Charlie Katshir, Jesse Luketa, Micah Parsons, Brandon Smith KEY LOSSES Cam Brown, Jan John- son NEWCOMERS Tyler Elsdon, Zuriah Fisher, Curtis Jacobs OUTLOOK Despite losing two starters, this should be one of Penn State's stronger position groups in 2020. Any position group with Par- sons as its centerpiece is going to be strong by definition. Parsons was everywhere in the Cotton Bowl. He tied a career-high with 14 tackles, had two of Penn State's six sacks, broke up a couple of passes and forced two fumbles. The Nittany Lions may have given up 39 points and 542 yards, but they got a | M icah Parsons first put together a consensus All-America season, then followed it in the Cotton Bowl with the best game of his career. Helping Penn State earn a 53-39 win against Memphis at Cowboys Stadium, Parsons was named the game's defensive MVP thanks to his 14 tackles and a pair of sacks. During a season in which he fully evolved from an uncertain and raw sophomore into one of the nation's best run-stopping linebackers, even Parsons understood that the electrifying per- formance broached new territory for his career. "This was another level," he said. "This was my best game." Parsons' assessment might have been an understatement. Having vacuumed up tackles since his true freshman year, leading the Nittany Lions with 83 stops despite starting just one game in his 2018 debut campaign, then following it with a team-leading 95 tackles during Penn State's 2019 regular season, Parsons had already be- come a steady presence at the top of the stat page. He helped consistently shut down opponents' rushing attacks, as the Nittany Lions allowed only 95.0 yards per game on the ground, the fifth-best average in the Football Bowl Subdivision. But while he made an outsized impact in his first 25 college games, Parsons was never as big a presence as he was against Memphis. Twice, he was credited with forced fumbles, one of which abruptly ended the Tigers' best opportunity to retake the lead early in the second quar- ter. Three of his tackles were in the Memphis backfield, including a 10-yard loss on a reverse in the first quarter. He also broke up two passes, although he would have preferred another shot at a ball that slipped through his hands in the fourth quarter, a drop that denied him his first career interception. And then there was his biggest play of the afternoon, a game-wrecking quar- terback hurry late in the third quarter. The Nittany Lions were protecting a slender 38-36 lead and had just surren- dered possession on a failed fourth- down conversion attempt. They had forced the Tigers into a third-and-8 and were in desperate need of a stop. Par- sons' next move did that and more. Launching himself through the Mem- phis offensive line and toward quarter- back Brady White, he forced the redshirt junior to try to get rid of the ball by any available means. It floated out of his hands directly into the waiting arms of Penn State safety Garrett Taylor. An unimpeded 15-yard jaunt was all it took for Taylor, via Parsons, to reach the end zone and give the Nittany Lions a 45-36 cushion that wouldn't truly be threat- ened the rest of the way. "We like pick-sixes. They're good. Ob- viously, it was at a huge time in the game," Penn State head coach James Franklin said. "For our defense to come back [in] what you would probably con- sider a sudden-change situation, and be able to get that play, I think it was a huge momentum play in the game. … That was, I think, really, really important." Parsons agreed. "We wanted to just challenge them up top with some pressure. Obviously, I was able to get my opportunity and make the most of it, and I'm grateful for it," he LONE STAR STATEMENT Micah Parsons wrecks Memphis in the Cotton Bowl, setting the stage for what could be a huge junior season

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