Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547542
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 6 3 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Unfortunately, Kemajou checks in just below Ezeogu on that pass rush win rate list over the last three seasons. He's sixth at 10.9 percent, a number built mostly on his performance this year. The more frustrating part is what hap- pened with an expanded workload and a more complicated defense. Kemajou has fallen off a cliff in run defense. His awareness and perception on read-op- tion plays have burned Penn State mul- tiple times and added to the run-defense issues. Between that and his contain issues as a pass rusher, Kemajou is missing 25 per- cent of his tackle attempts this year, just behind benched redshirt senior safety Jer- emiah Cooper. He's been losing snaps to redshirt senior Caleb Bacon, who is now the de facto top edge rusher. Kooper Ebel | LB All offseason, we discussed the tran- sition from Iowa State's 3-3-5 to Penn State's 4-2-5 and the learning curve for the linebackers. If there's one player I overestimated in that transition, it's Ebel, a 6-4, 233-pound senior. Here's my assessment of the linebacker trans- fers from Iowa State, a group that also included junior Cael Brezina and senior Caleb Bacon: "While Bacon's athletic traits make him a plus-level starter when used correctly, both Brezina and Ebel are more baseline linebacker types. They move well and can tackle but are not elite athletes or explo- sive, powerful bodies." If that doesn't sound like a ringing en- dorsement of Ebel or Brezina, it isn't. I assumed Ebel could be a baseline Big Ten linebacker who's good against the run and gets hidden in pass coverage. When the season started, that was the case. Yet at every turn, Ebel has underper- formed in his roles. He's struggled as a blitzer, which we highlighted entering Big Ten play. As a run defender, he's struggled with the transition to true off-ball line- backer and the process of reading run- ning backs and filling the right gaps. He's not as bad as fans think, but he's been far from the positive force in the middle that the defensive plan needed. He's also been less physical than expected, after years of bashing his body into guards as a blitzer at Iowa State. As a tackler, he's missed 17.5 percent of his attempts this year. That again isn't as bad as fans think, but it's still the 10th- highest rate among starting linebackers in the conference. Marcus Neal Jr. | S/LB We'll end with Neal, the most interest- ing player on this list. A 6-1, 216-pound junior and one of the more heralded of PSU's Iowa State transfers, he has clear strengths that the Lions haven't been able to unlock because of his clear weaknesses. Neal's coverage skills need to take a step forward to give Penn State more flexibility in its back-end looks. Defensive coordi- nator D'Anton Lynn can scheme around him by placing him in specific coverage roles. At some point, though, opposing offenses will test him in one-on-one or deep coverage situations. Neal hasn't seen that often in his career, and when he has, he's struggled. I still think Neal can be a good foot- ball player for Penn State. The highlights didn't disappear; the situation that cre- ated them did. Lynn tried his best to recreate an environment in which Neal played near the line of scrimmage, but the physical safety couldn't handle play- ing multiple positions, so he was stuck in the secondary. Lynn tried to give him zone coverage looks where he could still trigger downhill to his assignment, but he missed too many tackles in the open field. Locking him into a deep alignment also eliminated his ability to blitz, which was a major strength. In the end, Lynn opted to play freshman Josiah Zayas in his place. That has produced fruitful results. It also locked Neal out of the lineup and ren- dered his strengths useless, necessitating a late-season move to linebacker, a posi- tion that Campbell and Lynn hope will be a better fit for his skill set. If he had progressed as a coverage de- fender, the team would be in a dramati- cally different position. His football acu- men never materialized in a pivotal role that required it. It's one of the biggest underdiscussed storylines holding Penn State's defense back this year. ■ With Max Granville sidelined by a season-ending injury, defensive end Yvan Kemajou had an opportunity to assume a larger role, but his difficulties against the run and as a pass rusher have limited his impact. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL