Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1420595
1 6 N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 1 Ranking of senior Jahan Dotson in ESPN expert Mel Kiper Jr.'s list of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft. Dotson, who caught 43 passes for 494 yards and six touchdowns in Penn State's first six games, is listed as the No. 8 overall prospect in the draft. If he were to be selected that early, he would become the first Nittany Lion wideout to be chosen in the first round of the draft since Bryant Johnson in 2003. In addition to ranking Dotson No. 1 at wide receiver, Kiper has senior Jaquan Brisker listed second at safety, junior Brandon Smith second at outside linebacker, senior Arnold Ebiketie seventh at de- fensive end and senior PJ Mustipher 10th at defensive tackle. The list was published before Mustipher suffered a season-ending injury at Iowa. 2 1 Points amassed by senior midfielder Sam Coffey this season following a goal on a penalty kick in the Penn State women's soc- cer team's 3-0 vic- tory over visiting Indiana on Oct. 13. Coffey scored a team-leading eight goals in the Nittany Lions' first 14 games and has now tallied at least 20 points in all five seasons of her col- legiate career, which began at Boston College. Through the first half of October, she was the nation's active leader in career points with 135. 3 1 Former Penn State play- ers on active Week 1 NFL rosters this season. The Nittany Lions' total ranked 10th nation- ally. Alabama unsurprisingly led the way with 54 players in the league at the start of the season. The Crimson Tide were fol- lowed by Ohio State (50); LSU (47); Georgia and Notre Dame (36 apiece); Clemson, Iowa and Michigan (34 apiece); and Florida (32). 97.4 Percentage of of- fensive plays in Penn State's first six games for which redshirt junior right guard JUICE SCRUGGS was on the field. Scruggs, whose career up until this season had been ham- pered by a serious back injury he suffered in a car accident in 2019, saw action on 419 plays — 250 runs and 169 passes. Having joined the start- ing lineup for the first time this year, he led the team in snaps taken through the first half of the regular season, edging fifth-year senior center Mike Miranda, who was on the field for 412 snaps (95.8 percent). The Nittany Lions' starting of- fensive tackles — redshirt junior Rasheed Walker and redshirt sophomore Cae- dan Wallace — were also on the field for more than 400 snaps, with Walker playing on 408 (94.9 percent) and Wallace on 407 (94.7 percent). No other players on the team were over 90 percent, and only five other players were over 80 percent. Those five were fifth-year senior quarterback Sean Clif- ford (83.5), senior wide receiver Jahan Dotson (84.2), senior left guard Eric Wilson (85.1), junior outside linebacker Brandon Smith (80.3) and senior cornerback Tariq Castro- Fields (80.9). 7. 6 1 m i l l i o n Number of viewers who tuned in to ABC to watch Penn State defeat Auburn, 28-20, on Sept. 18. The prime-time matchup between the Tigers and Nittany Lions averaged a 4.1 rating. That was a 93 percent improvement over the Miami- Louisville game that occupied the same time slot in 2020. The Hurricanes' game against the Cardinals last year was competing against a pandemic-delayed NBA playoff game, but the Penn State-Auburn rating was also 77 percent better than the 2.3 rating that ABC attracted for a Clemson-Syracuse matchup that same weekend in 2019. Viewership for the Nittany Lions' win over Auburn peaked at 8.9 million, and it was ABC's most-watched Week 3 game since 2011. ■ By The Numbers PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL