Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/703041
time, but as the season wore on, Sickels continued to produce. In 2014 Nassib fin- ished with only seven tackles, including 3.5 negative-yardage stops and one sack. Sickels, on the other hand, finished the 2015 season with 36 stops, including 5.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. If there's to be any type of correlation between the two, then, oh boy... OUTLOOK The NFL had its way with this unit, drafting three of four starters and some of the most important pieces of a defense that ranked in the top 25 of the Football Bowl Subdivision for the past two years. New defensive coordina- tor Brent Pry and position coach Sean Spencer appear to have the tools they will need in order to offset at least some of the departures. For the first time in years, depth is in PSU's favor. There's a big caveat, however: The top-line talent is mostly unproven. Sickels is the only returning starter, leaving three spots up for grabs. Brown and senior Schwan are vying to lock down the defensive end spot opposite Sickels, while talented redshirt freshmen Buchholz and Miller will likely factor into the second rotation. In an attempt to fill the void that opened up in the middle with the departure of Johnson and Zettel, PSU will have an open competition in preseason practice between eight or nine defensive tackles. Thrift just arrived on campus, and the Lions are hopeful that fellow juco trans- fer Chavis will also be available after completing his classwork at Nassau CC. Two others – Cothran and Givens – made the switch from defensive end this spring to up the ante. – T.O. 2 0 1 6 P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L PHIL'S TAKE Defensive line coach Sean Spencer must find a solid four-man rotation at tackle following the losses of Austin Johnson and Anthony Zettel. For that to happen, projected starters Parker Cothren and Antoine White must play up to expectations, and several of the newcomers – a group that includes juco transfers Brenon Thrift and, if available, Tyrell Chavis, as well as redshirt fresh- man Kevin Givens – need to emerge and be ready to play coming out of preseason practice. Redshirt junior Curtis Cothran has moved from an end position to the three-technique defensive tackle spot. Redshirt freshman Robert Windsor could add depth at the one-technique position. Even with Carl Nassib's departure, Penn State appears to be solid at defensive end, with Garrett Sickels set to begin his second sea- son as a starter and Torrence Brown and Evan Schwan vying for the op- posite spot. Shareef Miller, Ryan Buchholz and Colin Castagna will supply depth. END NO NAME YR HT WT 94 Evan Schwan Sr. 6-6 253 19 Torrence Brown R-So. 6-3 257 97 Ryan Buchholz R-Fr. 6-6 270 3-TECHNIQUE TACKLE 93 Antoine White R-So. 6-2 286 30 Kevin Givens R-Fr. 6-1 275 52 Curtis Cothran R-Jr. 6-5 280 1-TECHNIQUE TACKLE 41 Parker Cothren R-Jr. 6-4 300 54 Robert Windsor R-Fr. 6-4 291 END 90 Garrett Sickels R-Jr. 6-4 249 46 Colin Castagna So. 6-4 253 48 Shareef Miller R-Fr. 6-5 250 OR OR