Blue White Illustrated

January 2016

Penn State Sports Magazine

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members of Penn State's Class of 2015, Spencer said. "He's really a ball of mus- cle. When we recruited him, he played linebacker, fullback [and also on the de- fensive line]. Where do you play him? I think we've found a home for him at de- fensive end." As for Miller, he's described by Spencer as having "unbelievable twitch and the ability to get o; the ball. It's funny, I know they're from the same area, him and Deion Barnes, but they have an unbelievable resemblance on the :eld [in how] they learn and the way they carry themselves." When Penn State recruited Miller, he stood 6-5, 225 pounds. He entered the December bowl practice sessions at 250 pounds. At defensive tackle, redshirt sopho- more Parker Cothren, redshirt freshman Antoine White and true freshmen Robert Windsor and Kamonte Carter are the only current scholarship players ex- pected to return in 2016, with Buchholz potentially joining them in the interior line. Cothren and White had 12 tackles apiece during the regular season and combined for two tackles for loss and three sacks. All of those players will bene:t greatly from the bowl prepara- tions and spring practice. I'm particu- larly interested in following Windsor's progress. He stands 6-4 and is up to 286 pounds. "He's a guy who we were really excited about when we recruited him," Spencer said. "We were lucky to get him late in the process. He's guy who could play for us now." LINEBACKERS Moved from outside to inside linebacker following Nyeem Wartman-White's season-ending injury against Temple, sophomore Jason Cabinda is Penn State's leader in tackles with 92. Redshirt freshman Troy Reeder started most of the season at the Will linebacker position and had 67 tackles. Junior Brandon Bell, who was never completely healthy, totaled 54 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks from the Sam position. Von Walker, a special teams captain, backed up Bell. Walker and true fresh- men Manny Bowen and Jake Cooper will bene:t the most from December's bowl practices, but Cabinda, Reeder and even Bell will improve thanks to the extra ses- sions. DEFENSIVE BACKS Penn State is los- ing two quality starters in the second- ary in strong safety Jordan Lucas and cornerback Trevor Williams. Lucas was a captain this fall and a three-year starter; Williams started the past two seasons. On paper, Penn State appears to have depth at cornerback. Second-year starter Grant Haley has 35 tackles, two interceptions and leads the team with seven pass break-ups, while true fresh- man John Reid :led in when Haley was hurt early in the year, starting two games, posting 27 tackles on the season and intercepting two passes. Sophomore Christian Campbell and redshirt freshmen Amani Oruwariye and Daquan Worley all have played this fall, and Penn State will have true freshman Garrett Taylor in action this spring. A four-star prospect, Taylor is redshirting as he recovers from an ACL injury he su;ered during his senior year of high school. At safety, Marcus Allen, Malik Golden, Troy Apke and Koa Farmer have all played this fall. Allen is Penn State's sec- ond-leading tackler with 75 stops, 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack. I expect true freshmen Jarvis Miller, Ayron Monroe and John Petrishen, all of whom are red- shirting, to get a long look at safety this month. SPECIAL TEAMS Penn State needs help just about everywhere in the kick- ing game. Joey Julius and Tyler Davis converted 17 of 19 :eld goal attempts, but they need to improve the accuracy of their kicko;s. Daniel Pasquariello averaged 40.3 yards per punt during the regular sea- son. Thompkins was the Nittany Lions' leading punt returner with a 7.8-yard average, but he also had three fumbles. The one bright spot was Farmer, who did a good job returning kicko;s, averaging 22.5 yards. Everyone on special teams will bene:t from the extra practice time in Decem- ber. ■

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