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spot and Jesse Luketa at the Will – had solid years. Brooks was the team's lead- ing tackler with 60 stops, including 5.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Luketa was right behind Brooks in second place with 59 total tackles, while Smith was 47h with 37 tackles, a team-leading eight tackles for loss and two sacks. But those numbers don't re5ect the di6culties this unit endured in 2020. The Nittany Lions failed to make the kind of big plays that were a signature of the great Penn State defenses of the past 30 years. Brooks, Luketa and Smith only caused two fumbles and totaled just one sack. One area in which the unit fared better was in making tackles for loss, to- taling 16. That was mostly because of Smith's inspired play at the Sam posi- tion in the second half of the season, when he produced six of his eight TFLs. Other than that, Brooks, Luketa and Smith looked tentative for much of the season. They didn't seem comfortable taking a leadership role on defense a7er Micah Parsons made the decision to opt out of the 2020 season in early August. All three linebackers had problems against the pass last season. Brooks was- n't able to build on his strong perform- ance as a backup the year before. Despite seeing limited snaps at middle line- backer, he totaled 39 tackles, four tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in 2019. When he got on the 4eld that year, he had a habit of making big defensive plays. But that wasn't the case in 2020. Luketa also struggled at times, never seeming entirely comfortable playing at Parsons' Will OLB position. He didn't always tackle well in space and wasn't able to put pressure on quarterbacks. He wasn't disruptive on defense the way Parsons had been throughout the second half of the 2019 season. Luketa, Brooks and Smith didn't seem fully acclimated to their roles during the 4rst half of the 2020 season. That brings us to this spring. As of this writing, the Lions had only 4ve scholar- ship linebackers available for practice: Brooks and fellow middle linebackers Tyler Elsdon and Kobe King, and outside linebackers Curtis Jacobs and Smith. There's been speculation that Smith will move to the Will OLB spot, which would make Jacobs the top contender at Sam. It will be interesting to see who emerges from spring practice as the leader at linebacker, especially with Luketa and Charlie Katshir missing the drills due to injuries. (Luketa was reportedly out with a shoulder injury that required minor surgery, while Katshir has struggled to stay healthy throughout his career.) The linebacker corps is my biggest concern regarding Penn State's defense this spring. If the Nittany Lions are going to challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten East Division crown, the linebackers will need to make game-changing plays. Smith in particular must be ready to take his game to the next level. In my mind, he is the player who needs to 4ll the role Parsons played in 2019. That's the an- swer the Lions' defense needs this fall to truly excel. ■ OFFENSE LT Rasheed Walker Bryce E7ner Olu Fashanu LG Des Holmes Anthony Whigan Ibrahim Trarore C Mike Miranda Nick Dawkins Golden Israel-Achumba RG Juice Scruggs Saleem Wormley Nate Bruce RT Caedan Wallace Landon Tengwall Jimmy Christ TE Brenton Strange Theo Johnson Tyler Warren WR Jahan Dotson Cam Sullivan-Brown Jaden Dottin Slot-WR Parker Washington Norval Black Cam Sullivan-Brown WR KeAndre Lambert Daniel George Malick Meiga QB Sean Cli7ord Ta'Quan Roberson Christian Veilleux RB Noah Cain** Keyvone Lee Devyn Ford Caziah Holmes John Lovett DEFENSE DE Arnold Ebiketie Bryce Mostella Amin Vanover Zuriah Fisher 3-tech. DT Derrick Tangelo Hakeem Beamon Dvon Ellies Coziah Izzard 1-tech. DT P.J. Mustipher Fred Hansard Cole Brevard DE Adisa Isaac Nick Tarburton Smith Vilbert Sam OLB Curtis Jacobs Charlie Katshir** MLB Ellis Brooks Jesse Luketa** Tyler Elsdon Kobe King Will OLB Brandon Smith Charlie Katshir** Jesse Luketa** CB Tariq Castro-Fields Johnny Dixon Daequan Hardy Joseph Johnson III CB Joey Porter Jr. Keaton Ellis Marquis Wilson Kalen King BS Jaquan Brisker Tyler Rudolph Enzo Jennings FS Ji'Ayir Brown Jonathan Sutherland * Includes only players who are enrolled at PSU this spring | ** Availability this spring uncertain due to injury P H I L G R O S Z ' S S P R I N G D E P T H C H A R T * O F F E N S E D E F E N S E

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