Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1480138
2 4 O C T O B E R 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 formidable cornerback corps has helped Penn State's defense gain the upper hand in skirmishes with pass-oriented opponents P enn State has never had a defensive back selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. After the first few games of the 2022 season, however, red- shirt junior cornerback Joey Porter Jr., has only raised his chances of breaking that decades-long drought next spring. Porter could have left the Nittany Lions during the past offseason. He would not have been one of the first 32 picks in the 2022 draft, but the lanky defensive back from North Allegheny High outside of Pittsburgh certainly would have been a Day 2 selection. Eager to enhance his pro resume, he re- turned this fall and has quickly emerged as one of the nation's best cornerbacks. The 6-foot-2, 194-pound talent was ranked as the seventh-best player in college foot- ball by On3 at the end of September. Porter's best performance of the month came in the season opener at Purdue. The Boilermakers targeted him over and over again with their pass-heavy attack. They beat him a few times, but he was up for the challenge more often than not, fin- ishing with 8 tackles, 6 pass breakups and a fumble recovery in the Nittany Lions' 35-31 victory. Offensive coaches often tailor their game plans to avoid testing talented cor- nerbacks like Porter. Purdue didn't ap- proach the opener that way, but the vet- eran PSU starter took it in stride. "I mean, I enjoy it," he said after the game. "I play corner, so this is what I do for a living. I'm a specialist at [locking down]. The competition was good work out there. They got me a little bit, but I feel like we turned it around, and we stopped them. "That's what we were made to do, you know, so it was really nothing to us. We've got to stick to the game plan and believe what the coach put in for us." Challenges Await Porter will have more opportunities to shine as the Big Ten season heats up. The resumption of conference play will pit him against some of the better wideouts in the country and offer a window into what he offers as an NFL Draft prospect. The son of former Pittsburgh Steel- ers All-Pro linebacker Joey Porter, he's viewed as a Day 1 pick by some — though not all — of the many draft watchers in the media. Robert Gregson of Sports Illus- trated recently listed him in a mock draft as the No. 23 overall pick of the Baltimore Ravens. "Baltimore played against Joey Porter and that vaunted Steelers defense of the 2000s for the better part of a decade," Gregson wrote. "Knowing the impact his dad had against them, the Ravens select his son and add immediate depth and talent to the corner position. Stop me if you've heard that the Ravens like long physical corners (see Marlon Humphrey) and you'll know why this pick makes per- fect sense." There is no question that Porter has everything NFL teams covet. He can run, G R E G P I C K E L | G R E G. P I C K E L @ O N 3 . C O M Air Superiority