Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1499919
2 8 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M "Keaton is a guy we feel like we need to train at either boundary or free," Pry said. "We've got a lot of respect for Keaton. We're excited about his abilities at the position. If we need to, we're comfortable putting him back at corner. This wasn't about him not being good enough at cor- ner. It was about his best position poten- tially being safety. "We've got good depth [at cornerback] that should allow us to train Keaton at safety. But at the same time, we've got some other guys who are mixing it up. It's our job as coaches to maximize guys' abilities and minimize their liabilities. We addressed a lot of that as spring unfolded, discussed it some more in the summer, and now there's a plan of action." Steady Improvement Ellis embraced the change, but he needed time to acclimate to the posi- tion, and he had a new coach guiding him through the transition, with former Vir- ginia assistant Anthony Poindexter taking charge of the Nittany Lion safeties in the 2021 offseason after Tim Banks left for Tennessee. Over the next two seasons, Ellis made steady improvement. He played in 11 games with one start in 2021 and fol- lowed up by starting all 13 games last fall alongside Brown. Ellis had a career-high 4 pass breakups in the season opener at Purdue and went on to finish the season with 24 tackles, including 2 for loss, and 7 breakups. That he would prove to be a reliable performer in the secondary came as no surprise to anyone within the program. But there was still room for improvement, and as Franklin noted, one more year of eligibility would provide him with an op- portunity to take the next step. Ellis decided to take advantage of that option, announcing on Jan. 13 that he was returning for the 2023 season. A third year at safety, having spent his first two sea- sons as a cornerback, was something he felt could be advantageous for his future in the sport. "Just to have another year with Coach Dex will mean a lot for my development," Ellis said this spring. "I haven't played safety enough. I made that transition two years in. I was starting to feel really com- fortable back there [in 2022] and just felt like I needed another year to prove what I'm capable of at that position." Ellis used the spring sessions to dem- onstrate how far he's come. Within a po- sition group that produced 6 intercep- tions last season — 4 from Brown and another 2 from Wheatley — Ellis has yet to nab one as a safety, but he appears well positioned to change that this fall. During spring drills, he was the defense's "Take- away King," and his habit of coming up with turnovers could well carry over into the 2023 season. Indeed, he has a chance to be the guiding force behind a safety group that appears loaded with talent. "I understand the defense now, so there's a lot less thinking about what my responsibility is and just playing and go- ing off what the offense is doing," he said. "I feel like I'm playing a lot faster and just really, really having fun at the position." ■ Ellis was a 177-pound cornerback prospect when he arrived at Penn State in 2019 but has developed into a 191-pound safety and is set to start for the Nittany Lions again this fall. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS