Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546586
4 0 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M There are still some questions about the upper limit of his cover- age ability, but he's shown enough to ease the worst concerns there. If Kobe King can play high-level Big Ten football at middle linebacker, Lynn can certainly build a scheme around Ebel, too. 6. Marcus Neal Jr. | S | Jr. Neal can be a genuine eraser and playmaker in this defense this fall. His downhill, explosive pursuit skills make him a tone-setter at safety. He and Rojas have real potential to form a swarming outside-linebacker duo in certain athletic-heavy packages this fall. The open question is his coverage ability. He played middle safety in Iowa State's 3-3-5 defense, which asked less of him in coverage than this Penn State unit will. At some point this season, we'll find out ex- actly how good he is in zone. That uncertainty is why he sits here de- spite his potential to be around the ball constantly. 7. Ikenna Ezeogu | DE | R-Sr. Penn State's top edge rusher has an im- posing frame. Ezeogu is 273 pounds of chiseled muscle, and his presence along- side the interior defenders makes for an excellent run-defense front. His expe- rience as a hybrid player in Iowa State's scheme means Lynn can deploy him at multiple spots along the line. The real question is his pass rush. The staff seems confident he can get to the quarterback, whether from outside or the interior. The numbers don't fully back that up yet, though. Ezeogu lined up out- side the tackle on a pass rush 292 times at Iowa State. He had 1 sack and 2 quarter- back hits in that span. Yes, Ezeogu has dropped weight since then. Still, that's a significant jump to expect. We'll see if he proves us wrong. He played 59 snaps and had 5 quarter- back hurries in the Nittany Lions' first two games. 8. Caleb Bacon | DE/LB | R-Sr. Bacon will play both linebacker and de- fensive end this season, even though he's primarily an edge rusher. A truly multiple defense needs a truly multiple player who can operate both as an edge defender and a space player at linebacker. When he was at UCLA in 2023, Lynn had a similar player in Carl Jones, a 6-2, 230-pound edge rusher who lived be- tween those worlds. Bacon will fill that role this season, and he's thrived so far. Against Marshall, his 6 total tackles in- cluded 3 for loss and a sack, earning him Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors. The reason Bacon isn't higher on this list is because he's neither a starting edge rusher nor a starting linebacker in the Nittany Lions' base 4-2-5. 9. Yvan Kemajou | DE | So. Penn State's other starting defensive end is Kemajou. On opening day, Kema- jou was on the field for 29 snaps, while redshirt sophomore Max Granville saw 22. A few days later, Granville suffered an injury in practice, ending his sea- son and thrusting Kemajou into an even bigger role. Kemajou matched Granville's strong camp with an impressive one of his own. He's a different style of rusher, though, and still needs to prove he can consistently reach the quarterback through power and technique rather than elite burst. 10. Keanu Williams | DT | R-Sr. It's hard to rank specialists highly on a list like this. Williams is very good at what he does. At 6-5, 317 pounds, he's a massive nose tackle who eats up double teams from the one-technique and nose spots. Within that job, he's excellent. Don't expect him to chase plays down or rack up negative plays reg- ularly, though. He'll get some tack- les for loss and stops, but he won't be on the field on passing downs, and he won't often line up far from the A gap. His job is setting others up to succeed. 11. Daryus Dixson | CB | So. Let's start with a well-worn cliché: The best ability is availability. Dixson lands at the bottom of this list because he missed the bulk of training camp. He has a very high ceiling as a physical boundary cor- nerback, but he's also a sophomore who needs live reps to keep developing and integrating into the defense. Still, Dixson proved last year that he's a smart football player. He picked up a complicated 2025 defense well enough to eventually start by season's end. We expect the same growth this year, and he has more room than anyone ahead of him to climb into the top half of this list. 12. Cael Brezina | LB | Jr. Like Bacon, his fellow Iowa State trans- fer, Brezina isn't listed as a starter. But the coaching staff wants him on the field, as evidenced by his 47 snaps through two games. Brezina was second on the team with 11 stops and had Penn State's best tackling grade — 83.9 — from PFF. ■ Caleb Bacon totaled 6 tackles, 3 tackles for loss and a sack against Marshall, earning Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS