Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1464375
1 0 M A Y 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M A sked about pass defense, new Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz made his convictions very clear. "The best coverage is pass rush, and that's a big point we've been trying to make throughout camp," Diaz said. "We're trying to get our sack numbers up, our tackles-for-loss numbers up and our disruption numbers up." That message aligns with how Diaz's defenses typically perform. During his stint as the defensive coordinator and head coach at Miami, Diaz's defenses finished inside the nation's top 13 in sacks three times, leading the country in that category in 2017. The Hurricanes never spent a season outside the national top 10 in tackles for loss with Diaz on staff. To help this Penn State defense reach similar pass-rushing heights, the Nit- tany Lions have turned to the transfer portal. "We need more consistent edge pres- sure," head coach James Franklin said on April 6. "So, [it's a matter of] developing the guys we have, and then obviously we're looking into the portal a little bit for that as well. "Very similar to what we did with Ar- nold Ebiketie, we've got to find some- body who can come in and help us with edge pressure and affect the quarter- back." Penn State found what it was look- ing for on April 12 when edge rusher Demeioun Robinson announced that he planned to join the Nittany Lions after spending his true freshman season at Maryland. Ranked as the No. 62 prospect nation- ally in the On3 Consensus coming out of Quince Orchard (Md.) High in 2021, Robinson played in all 13 games for the Terrapins last year, finishing with 19 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. He will have three seasons of eligibility remaining when he arrives at Penn State. Robinson, who is listed at 6-foot-3.5, 245 pounds, will be looking to make the kind of immediate impact that Ebiketie made as a transfer last year. Ebiketie was much deeper into his college career when he arrived at Penn State than Robinson will be, but he made the most of his lone season in Happy Valley, finishing as a first-team All-Big Ten edge rusher. With the NFL Draft approaching, some analysts think he might be worthy of a first-round pick. Aside from Ebiketie, only two players on last season's team reached the three- sack threshold. One was Curtis Jacobs, a sophomore linebacker. Redshirt junior defensive end Smith Vilbert also hit that mark, getting to the quarterback three times in an Outback Bowl loss to Ar- kansas. Penn State certainly felt the absence of Adisa Isaac, who missed the entire 2021 season with an injury. Playing in a reserve role through his first two LIONS FIND DEFENSIVE HELP IN TRANSFER PORTAL DAVID ECKERT | DAVIDECKERT98@GMAIL.COM NEWS & NOTES After having some success this offseason landing potential offensive contributors, James Franklin and his staff scored a defensive coup in mid-April when they landed edge rusher Demeioun Robinson. PHOTO BY THOMAS FRANK CARR