Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1537537
6 0 A U G U S T 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M / / / / / / / 2 0 2 5 F O O T B A L L P R E V I E W / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / O ne of the reasons why Penn State is likely to find itself among the most highly ranked teams in the country when the preseason polls are unveiled in a few weeks is because the defense has been perennially strong under a succession of coordinators. The Nittany Lions were good enough under Brent Pry to earn the longtime James Franklin lieutenant a head coach- ing gig at Virginia Tech following the 2021 season. They were even better un- der Manny Diaz, prompting another ACC team, Duke, to choose the Penn State DC for its head coaching vacancy two years later. Then last year, under former In- diana head coach Tom Allen, the Lions surrendered the seventh-fewest yards (294.8) and eighth-fewest points (16.5) in the FBS, a performance that propelled them into the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. This fall, the Nittany Lions will try to uphold that legacy of success while adapt- ing to their fourth defensive coordinator in the past five seasons. Jim Knowles is com- ing off a national championship at Ohio State, and after helping the Buckeyes lead the country in total defense (254.6 yards per game) and scoring defense (12.9 points per game), he is eager to elevate the Lions. The players Knowles inherited from Al- len will ultimately be the ones to deter- mine how far PSU goes this fall. Whether because of their own talent or a lack of depth behind them, several of those play- ers will have outsized roles in that effort. Here, then, are the Nittany Lions' key- stone players on defense. KEYSTONE PLAYER NO. 3 Defensive tackle Zane Durant We could list every veteran defensive lineman on the Penn State roster here, but wouldn't that be boring? Instead, we're making hard choices, including bypassing one of the Nittany Lions' biggest differ- ence-makers on the defensive front in senior edge rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton. The reason we're doing that is because Durant is an absolutely irreplaceable part of the front four. He's the keystone player of this unit. Coming out of spring practice, BWI had the interior linemen ranked fifth among Penn State's defensive position groups. While certain players stepped up and showed signs of progress during the team's offseason drills, there's still no player in Durant's stratosphere at his po- sition this year. The 6-foot-1, 294-pound veteran will play a starring role on the de- fensive front alongside Dennis-Sutton. But unlike at defensive end, where super senior Zuriah Fisher looks to be a formi- dable bookend to his All-Big Ten counter- part, Durant is a singular force — at least for the moment. While most fans probably don't think of Durant as a run-stopper, he was the team's best run defender at defensive tackle in 2024. He tallied 42 tackles, which ranked third among Big Ten interior defend- ers. His tackles were 1.7 yards downfield last year, which was good for 12th among starting defensive tackles in the confer- ence. Durant's missed tackle percentage was very high, as reflected in his 42.1 tack- PENN STATE'S KEYSTONE PLAYERS: PENN STATE'S KEYSTONE PLAYERS: DEFENSE DEFENSE This trio will be a mission-critical part of PSU's effort this season T H O M A S F R A N K CA R R | T F R A N K . C A R R @ O N 3 . C O M Veteran tackle Zane Durant was one of Penn State's top defensive performers last year. He finished his junior season with 42 stops, a total that ranked third among Big Ten interior defenders. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS