Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1378330
backer/half-defensive back to stay on the 8eld. "If you're a liability in the passing game and can't cover the back coming out of the back8eld or the tight end, you'll be on the sideline and the coaches will go to an extra defensive back." Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry said Jacobs has all the athletic skills to play the Sam OLB position. "Curtis can do it all," Pry said, "and he's espe- cially good defending the pass." At the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Md., Jacobs played the safety po- sition his sophomore season. He also played at an outside linebacker spot during his senior year, totaling 36 tack- les, 15 tackles for loss and 8ve sacks. During his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons, Jacobs was a wide re- ceiver. As a junior, he totaled 55 recep- tions for 1,015 yards and 12 touchdowns. McDonogh head coach Hakeem Sule said Jacobs made a smooth transition to defense a:er excelling on o9ense during his junior year. "He made the transfor- mation to the defensive side, bought into the role, embraced it and excelled," Sule said. "His future [at Penn State] is at the linebacker position." A:er seeing action at wide receiver, free safety, outside linebacker and de- fensive end in high school, Jacobs is fully prepared to play the Sam OLB position at Penn State. Fans may not know him very well just yet, but they will be talk- ing about him come December. There is no question in my mind that he'll have a breakout season this fall. I believe he has the potential to become the next great Sam OLB at Penn State. Another player who is fully capable of having a breakout season on defense is Porter. He played in eight games during the 2020 season, totaling 33 tackles, two tackles for loss, four pass breakups and a sack. It was an impressive redshirt freshman campaign. At 6-2, 195 pounds, with a 37-inch vertical leap, 35-inch arm length and 4.5-second 40-yard speed, Porter is a prototypical boundary cornerback, the kind of player NFL scouts are searching for to play press man-to-man defense against an ever-increasing number of 6- 3 and 6-4 wide receivers. Some might say that Porter has already had his breakout season. The reason I'm including him here is because I believe he is poised to take another big leap for- ward this fall and develop into a 8rst- team All-Big Ten selection. One NFL scout told me that it wouldn't be sur- prising to see Porter at least think about entering the 2022 NFL Dra:. I hope that doesn't turn out to be the case, because I believe with two more years at the col- lege level Porter could emerge as the best boundary cornerback to ever play at Penn State. Two additional players on defense who I believe have an excellent chance of en- joying breakout seasons this fall are Isaac and Beamon. Isaac played in nine games last year, totaling 13 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. He's 6-4, 252 pounds, has 4.55-second 40-yard speed and has got- ten much tougher against the run. If he can enter the season at around 255 pounds and maintain his weight for the Penn State's two best position battles in spring practice were both on o9ense. Those battles were for the le: guard spot, where senior Des Holmes, redshirt junior Anthony Whigan and redshirt freshman Saleem Wormley were com- peting, and the third wide receiver spot featuring freshman KeAndre Lambert- Smith going up against redshirt junior Cam Sullivan-Brown. For most of the 2019 season, Holmes was a backup tackle who saw action be- hind both starters, Rasheed Walker and Will Fries. It wasn't until Phil Trautwein became o9ensive line coach in February 2019 that Holmes was given an increas- ing number of reps at guard. Whigan came to Penn State in 2019 as a transfer from Lackawanna College. Since then, he's practiced at both guard positions. Wormley was also a member of the Class of 2019 and has practiced at both guard spots. He took his biggest step forward during the fall of 2019 when he shared the scout team's O9ensive Player of the Year award. Coming out of spring practice, it ap- pears that the le: guard position is the only spot on the starting o9ensive line that's not settled. Walker and Caedan Wallace are the starting le: and right tackles, respectively, while Juice Scruggs appears to have won the right guard spot and Mike Miranda will start at center. The starting le: guard position is still unclaimed, and that's partly because one of the contenders was not yet on cam- pus. Eric Wilson, a second-team All-Ivy League guard at Harvard, enrolled on May 18. Listed at 6-foot-4, 315 pounds, Wilson became the 8:h player to trans- fer into Penn State this o9-season. He will join Holmes, Wormley and Whigan in what 8gures to be the team's top posi- tion battle come August. At the third wide receiver position, the competition is between Lambert-Smith and Sullivan-Brown. Lambert-Smith played in all nine games last season and started seven, 8nishing with 15 catches for 138 yards. He reportedly had an ex- cellent spring. The 6-1 wideout is bigger than he was a year ago, tipping the scales at 186 pounds, and he did a much better job with his routes and was more physi- cal going a:er contested catches in spring ball. Sullivan-Brown also had an excellent spring, and a:er missing portions of the past two seasons, he has been able to stay healthy lately. His battle with Lam- bert-Smith will de8nitely bear watching in August. –P.G. These were Penn State's top position battles this spring