Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/349223
hree years ago, Anthony Zettel lined up for Penn State as an undersized defensive tackle. He stood 6-foot-5 but weighed only 259 pounds, and with his relatively lean build, he didn't have enough bulk to excel in the middle of the Nittany Lions' front. Fortunately for Zettel, he wasn't taking on any opposing Big Ten o9ensive linemen. It was his true freshman season, and he was red- shirting as a backup to the likes of Jordan Hill, Devon Still and DaQuan Jones. A four-star prospect as rated by Rivals.com, Zettel was being hailed as a player with a bright future, but the 8t wasn't quite right. Although he had been recruited as a three-technique defensive tackle by the many pow- erhouse programs that pursued him out of Ogemaw Heights High in West Branch, Mich., he couldn't put on the additional weight necessary to thrive at the position. As a result, Zettel moved to defensive end, a po- sition at which he actually lost weight, dropping to 253 pounds in 2012 before adding about 8ve pounds last season as a backup to Deion Barnes. The goal, however, never changed. Zettel altered his eating habits and did plenty of heavy li:ing under new strength coach Dwight Galt, and he's now poised to spend his redshirt junior year at the position he had been expected to play all along: the three-technique defensive tackle spot. Zettel said Galt's weight program is one of the reasons he's been able to move back inside. "When Coach Galt got here I was about 262, and then we just li:ed a lot of heavy weights and put a lot of muscle mass on because I knew I wanted to go inside," he said. "Coach Galt got me where I am weightwise. Plus, I just have been a lot more con- sistent in eating and diet and stu9, trying to eat like 8ve times a day, meals throughout the day. So the weight is the big thing. I think I'm 279 and almost 280, so I'm trying to get up there." Of course, James Franklin had to sign o9 on any position change, so it was fortunate that the Nittany Lions' new head coach had already come to the same conclusion as Zettel even before they got to- gether to discuss the player's future. "I brought him in and had this conversation like I was going to sell him on D tackle," Franklin recalled. "I was talking about it for a while, and he >> T Steve Manuel