Blue White Illustrated

KEY PERSONNEL DE: Arnold Ebiketie, Zuriah Fisher, Adisa Isaac, Rodney Mc- Graw, Bryce Mostella, Nick Tarburton, Davon Townley Jr., Dan Vasey, Smith Vilbert; DT: Joseph Appiah Darkwa, Ha- keem Beamon, Cole Brevard, Dvon Ellies, Fred Hansard, Aeneas Hawkins, Coziah Izzard, Fatorma Mulbah, P.J. Mustipher*, Derrick Tangelo, Jordan van den Berg, Amin Vanover LOSSES DE: Odafe Oweh*, Shane Sim- mons*, Shaka Toney*; DT: Judge Culpepper, Antonio Shelton* RISING STAR There are a lot of candidates for this designation, but the one who's likely to see the biggest bump in productivity is Isaac. In his rst two seasons at Penn State, he played in 18 games and totaled 27 tack- les, including 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. This year, he's going to be starting for the rst time and will have a chance to show that his four-star rating coming out of Canarsie High in Brook- lyn, N.Y., was an accurate re;ection of his collegiate potential. BIGGEST LOSS It would be tough to choose between Toney and Oweh. They both won rst-team All-Big Ten honors in 2020, becoming the rst Penn State defensive end duo to achieve that dis- tinction since Courtney Brown and Brad Scioli were recognized by the confer- ence in 1998. Toney made more plays behind the line of scrimmage, leading the team with ve sacks and nishing second with 7.5 tackles for loss. But Oweh had 38 total tackles to Toney's 31 and was oen in the opposing quarter- back's face, forcing rushed, errant throws even though he didn't nish with any sacks. Toney was a two-year starter and an o-praised team leader, while Oweh made a bigger splash during the NFL Dra, going late in the rst round to Baltimore, two days and 215 picks ahead of Toney, a seventh-round choice by Washington. Let's call this one a tie. They both made major contri- butions to Penn State's defensive line. NUMBERS GAME Penn State totaled 239 sacks during the past six seasons. Only two schools in the country – Clemson and Alabama – had more. The Tigers totaled 289 sacks during that span, while the Crimson Tide had 256. OUTLOOK With three starters gone, the Nittany Lions have some work to do here. They did some of that work imme- diately aer the 2020 season ended, hit- ting the transfer market hard and coming away with Ebiketie and Tangelo. Ebiketie looks to have a good chance of winning a starting defensive end spot aer winning second-team All-Ameri- can Athletic Conference notice last sea- son at Temple, while Tangelo is in contention for the three-technique de- fensive tackle spot opposite Mustipher. At Duke, Tangelo started 27 games over the past three seasons, totaling 12 tack- les for loss and 4.5 sacks. towel or quit myself. Because I've got somebody who's done it, who's beaten the odds and is having the success he wants to have." Sam Musipher's little brother is get- ting set for his second season as a full- time starter at Penn State. Except that P.J. isn't so little these days. He's listed at 323 pounds, up about 15 pounds from his playing weight last year. Along with that added ballast has come a move to nose tackle, a position he's excited to play after seeing action at both interior spots in 2020. Despite claiming honorable mention All-Big Ten honors, Mustipher wasn't entirely happy with his performance as a junior. Penn State gave up 130.2 rushing yards per game, and its average of 3.7 yards allowed per carry ranked fifth in the Big Ten. It was hardly a disaster, but it wasn't what players and coaches were hoping for. Mustipher, who ranked sev- enth on the team with 35 tackles, thinks that was partly because he wasn't able to hold his ground as well as he did as a 315- pound sophomore. "Looking at the film last season, I was much lighter than I was the season be- fore," he said. "And to be honest, I don't * Starting experience at PSU in 2020 >> ISAAC Lions look to replace three starters P O S I T I O N B R E A K D O W N D E F E N S I V E L I N E DEFENSIVE END NO NAME HT WT YEAR 17 Arnold Ebiketie 6-3 253 Sr./Sr. 92 Smith Vilbert 6-6 256 Jr./So. 40 Jesse Luketa 6-3 251 Sr./Sr. 90 Rodney McGraw 6-5 254 Fr./Fr. 3-TECHNIQUE DEFENSIVE TACKLE 54 Derrick Tangelo 6-2 307 Sr./Sr. 51 Hakeem Beamon 6-3 273 Jr./So. 91 Dvon Ellies 6-1 304 Jr./So. 99 Coziah Izzard 6-3 294 So./Fr. 27 Aeneas Hawkins 6-2 288 Sr./Jr. 1-TECHNIQUE DEFENSIVE TACKLE 97 P.J. Mustipher 6-4 323 Sr./Sr. 53 Fred Hansard 6-3 313 Sr./Sr. 55 Fatorma Mulbah 6-3 305 So./Fr. 95 Cole Brevard 6-3 318 So./Fr. 44 J. Appiah Darkwa 6-5 299 So./Fr. DEFENSIVE END 20 Adisa Isaac 6-4 248 Jr./Jr. 46 Nick Tarburton 6-3 257 Sr./Jr. 36 Zuriah Fisher 6-3 262 So./Fr. 33 Bryce Mostella 6-6 230 So./Fr. OR OR OR OR OR OR

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