Blue White Illustrated

May 2020

Penn State Sports Magazine

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O F F - S E A S O N R E P O R T At defensive end, Oweh and Isaac are very similar physically, with Oweh checking in at 6-5, 257 pounds and Isaac at 6-4, 256. Isaac was listed at 241 pounds last fall, so he clearly had a very good winter in the weight room before everything got shut down. Whether he's had much opportunity in the months since then to consolidate those gains is an open question. Isaac is from Brooklyn, N.Y., near the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. New York's efforts to contain the virus have been among the most stringent in the coun- try, so while everyone has had to im- provise to some degree as they train at home for the coming season, Isaac may be faced with some particularly diffi- cult challenges. On its April 18 depth chart, Isaac was listed behind Toney, while Oweh, Sim- mons and Vilbert were 1-2-3 at the op- posite DE spot. It's way too early to tell whether that's how it will play out when practice starts up, but this much is cer- tain: The Lions have a lot of good op- tions. As for Scott's acclimation to Penn State, defensive coordinator Brent Pry said it's been as seamless as could be ex- pected under the circumstances. "John has worked with me at three different [schools]," Pry said. "We're very much on the same page. So that transition has been very smooth. John is certainly going to bring some fresh ideas. He's been around some very good football coaches, and he's already impacted our unit that way." LINEBACKER Penn State has lost two veterans here in Cam Brown and Jan Johnson, who combined to make 25 starts last season. But in Micah Parsons, the Lions return a star OLB who may only be scratching the surface of his po- tential even after winning consensus All-America honors as a sophomore. And as far as those vacancies go, they T here's no pause button in football. While collegiate ath- letics are shut down at the moment, coaches such as Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry are still doing what they can to prepare for the resump- tion of football activities, whenever that may be. For Pry, a big part of those preparations in- volves figuring out the best way to deploy All-America outside linebacker Micah Parsons. The last time Penn State fans saw Parsons, he was wreaking havoc on Memphis in the Cotton Bowl, finishing the game with 14 tackles and a couple of forced fumbles and winning defensive MVP honors in the Nittany Lions' 53-39 victory. That per- formance, which followed his selection as Big Ten Line- backer of the Year, may have only hinted at what's to come when he returns to action. "Maximizing what he can do for us each and every snap that he's on the

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