Blue White Illustrated

July 2020

Penn State Sports Magazine

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player whose best football is still ahead of him. He had a big year for us, and he developed himself into one of the elite defensive ends in all of college football. His length, athleticism and ability to make plays behind the line of scrimmage will serve him well. We are so apprecia- tive of Yetur for his attitude and ap- proach he brought to our program daily. We wish him nothing but the best in the NFL, and we are excited to see him com- pete on Sundays." ANALYSIS It's no secret what Penn State alum Ruhle and general manager Marty Hurney wanted to do with this draft. They wanted to improve a de- fense that surrendered 29.4 points per game last season, second-most in the league. Carolina used all seven of its picks on defensive players, becoming the first team since the start of the modern era in 1967 to do that. With the second pick, Ruhle tapped into his alma mater's formidable talent pool, taking Gross-Matos with the 38th overall se- lection. Ruhle, who is prepping for his first pro season after enjoying collegiate success at Temple and Baylor, has talked about having "positionless players" on de- fense. Gross-Matos fits into that plan, having occasionally lined up inside on passing downs when Penn State wanted to get more than two defensive ends on the field at the same time. "I was asked to move all around the front four, so I have no problem going inside or outside and no issue with it preferencewise," he told reporters following his selection. "Wherever they need me to be, that's where I'll be at." Gross-Matos, who ranks 10th in Penn State history with 19 career sacks, said that one of his goals at Carolina will be to chase down another newcomer to the NFC South. "I want to sack Tom Brady," he said. "There's no one else you could really want more than Tom Brady." K.J. HAMLER WR | 5-9 | 176 TEAM Denver Broncos ROUND/PICK 2nd/46th TEAM SAYS General manager John Elway: "Obviously, with Hamler, he's very, very explosive. [He] really can run YETUR GROSS-MATOS Steve Manuel have a chance to play his way into the :rst round of the next dra<. NFL analyst Matt Miller of BleacherReport.com has him going 28th overall to Dallas in his way-too-early 2021 mock dra<, noting that Freiermuth might have been chosen higher than Notre Dame's Cole Kmet if he had come out this year. Kmet was the :rst tight end selected, going early in the second round (43rd overall) to Chicago. WILL FRIES At 6-6, 309 pounds, Fries has NFL size, and he'll be looking to make his case as a dra<-worthy prospect whenever Penn State gets back to playing football. Spending a season with new assistant coach Phil Trautwein will likely enhance his hopes of getting a shot at the next level. MICHAL MENET Menet considered coming out following his junior season but decided to return and is now get- ting set to start for the third consecu- tive year. Like Fries, the 6-4, 302-pound Menet will bene:t from Trautwein's expertise. His predecessor at center, Connor McGovern, was cho- sen in the third round by Dallas. MICAH PARSONS The consensus All- America outside linebacker will have another year of eligibility remaining after the next football season, but who are we kidding? He's coming out. BleacherReport.com's mock draft has him going 22nd overall to Green Bay, but Miller describes him as a "top-15 player with the athletic upside to be- come a top-10 pick." If that assess- ment is correct – and there's absolutely no reason to think that it isn't – Parsons will become the first Penn State defensive player to be se- lected in the opening round since Jared Odrick in 2010. ANTONIO SHELTON Penn State has had three defensive tackles taken during the James Franklin era, and the 6-2, 315- pound Shelton could become the fourth. He essentially split time with Mustipher last year, but the two will likely start alongside each other next season. If Mustipher is as e;ective at the three-technique spot as it appears he will be, there's probably a good chance he'll be in the dra< pool, too. It would be nice coup for :rst-year de- fensive line coach John Scott Jr. to have both of his starting defensive tackles selected. In fact, if Oweh were to come out early, it isn't all that farfetched to imagine all four of Scott's 2020 starters being dra

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