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P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L > > on his investment, and that's something he can bask in. "I always like to rep Walk-on University," he said after a game this season. "I still rep that every day." He's doing it to the fullest. Whether it's on the field, in the weight room or in his Monday night chemistry class, Nassib is poised to receive some fitting recog- nition in the coming months. Not only is he nearly a shoo-in for the Burlsworth Trophy, which Matt McGloin won in 2012, he's also getting semifinalist con- sideration for the Nagurski and Bednarik awards, which go to the nation's top de- fensive player; the Lombardi Award, for the best lineman; the Hendricks Award, for the best defensive end; and the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which honors a stu- dent-athlete's "integrity, maturity, per- formance, academics, community and tenacity." James Franklin has even fielded an in- quiry from the Heisman committee. Yes, the Heisman. A long shot, to say the least, but defensive coordinator Bob Shoop an- ticipates a bundle of accolades coming Nassib's way soon. "He's put himself in the discussion to be an All-Big Ten player, potentially the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and an All-American," Shoop said. "He's put himself in the discussion for postseason honors, postseason all-star games, and if he continues to do what he's doing, he can make a heck of a lot of money at the next level." Had anyone mentioned Nassib's name in connection with the NFL five years ago, when he was still a backup offensive tackle and defensive end at Malvern Prep, such talk would have been met with skep- ticism. As recently as this past spring, Nassib seemed set on enrolling in medical school after receiving his bachelor's degree in December. But as his statistical totals grow, so does his draft stock – to the point where he may need to consider postponing his grad- uate studies by a few years. "I do plan on doing that at some point in my life, and this hasn't really deterred me from that in any way," Nassib said. "But I love football and I want to play it for as long as I can." For professional quarterbacks, that's terrible news. Meanwhile, general man- agers, who put a premium on 6-foot-7, 272-pound pass rushers, are starting to reach toward their wallets. After gradually progressing the past two seasons, recording a combined 19 tackles and two sacks as a sophomore and junior, the West Chester, Pa., native has fulfilled his coaches' preseason prophecies that he would produce one of the best years of any defensive end in the country. They were invested in that idea, and their work paid off, as Nassib was leading the nation in three major defensive statistical categories as of mid- November. Heading into the game against Michigan, he ranked No. 1 in the Football Bowl Subdivision in sacks (15.5), tackles for loss (19.5) and forced fumbles (6). And he has done it with a lightning- quick first step and a reach like Stretch Armstrong that has shown the ability to engulf a running back and quarterback at the same time. Nassib has recorded at least one sack in each game this season, adding multiple sacks in five of those games. When he drilled Northwestern quarterback Zack Oliver between the jersey numbers for an 8-yard loss in the fourth quarter of PSU's 23-21 loss, it broke the Penn State single- season sack record, surpassing the mark of 15 set by Larry Kubin in 1979 and tied by Michael Haynes in 2002. Not only is he creating havoc for QBs, he's also forcing game-changing turnovers. Nassib's six forced fumbles this season are the most by a Penn State player since Haynes' school record of seven in '02, and even that mark appears breakable with more games to play. Nassib is the first Penn State player to force two fumbles in two games in a season since Maurice Evans did it in 2007. For Nassib, though, the numbers, and E very once in a while head coach James Franklin just comes out and says it: Here's a story that no one is talking about, and maybe you in the media should write about it. At a press conference in early No- vember, he did just that, encouraging reporters to pull up the box scores from the 2014 season and compare the pro- duction of Carl Nassib – before he be- came maybe the most feared pass- rusher in college football – to Garrett Sickels now. "You could make some arguments that [Sickels] is at a similar point that Carl was last year, having gone back and studied the stats," Franklin said, sitting at the front of the Beaver Stadi- um media room. "That might be something for you guys to do." Well, since he asked... The comparison, however, isn't sim- ply a matter of measuring Nassib's game splits from a year ago against the numbers that Sickels has been posting this fall. As the fabled story goes, it wasn't until this season that Nassib earned his first career start after seeing mostly backup duty on approximately 70 plays as a junior. Sickels, on the other hand, has started every game this season, playing up to 200 more snaps than Nassib did in 2014. On a percentage basis, though, Franklin is right. The output is similar. If anything, Sickels is ahead. Last year Nassib averaged a tackle about once every 10 plays; this year Sickels gets one every 10 or 11. Although Nassib only totaled two assisted sacks last NEXT BIG THING Coaches laud Garrett Sickels' development |

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