Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/717693
A cclimating to new defensive line coach Sean Spencer two years ago, Garrett Sickels had a problem: He didn't partic- ularly appreciate the nicknames bestowed upon him. For Spencer, the boisterous assistant with a track record of success to back it up, Sickels was just a lanky 6-foot-4, 246-pound red- shirt freshman. A Rivals.com four-star recruit who appeared in limited action in all 13 games that season, Sickels hadn't yet filled out physically. So Spencer landed on "Skinny Minnie" and "Michael Phelps" when he wanted the young defensive end's attention. Said Sick- els, "Our first fall together, I was like, 'I think I hate this guy.'" Doing his best to combat the ribbing, Sickels pointed out that, growing up five minutes from the beach in Red Bank, N.J., he was, in fact, a swimmer. Spencer's retort was straightforward: "I don't care, man. You're a D-end now." In the time since, Sickels has become a steady presence on the Nittany Lion defensive line, having developed into a full-time starter opposite Carl Nassib a year ago. But lining up alongside Nassib, Austin Johnson and Anthony Zettel, all of whom would go on to hear their names called in the NFL Draft, Sickels became the forgotten man, as accolade after accolade piled up for Penn State's talented trio of linemen. Heading into the 2016 season, he's the only returning defensive lineman with starting experience, and he intends to deliver the kind of per- formance that Penn State fans will remember. A deep study of film from the 2015 season revealed to the assistant coaching staff that Sickels is fully capable of doing just that. While Nassib led the nation in sacks and became a consensus All-American, Johnson racked up a whopping 15 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, and Zettel rounded out his career by ranking among Penn State's tackle leaders, Sickels quietly picked up five tackles for loss and three sacks of his own. And it wasn't just the stat-producing plays that coaches noticed. When they studied the film, they often saw Sickels in the frame, even if someone else was making the tackle. "A lot of times, we define what someone does by [whether he makes] a sack, because that's easy," Spencer said. "But did that guy affect the pocket? Did he play his gap? When you get your opportunity, you've got to finish, but there are other things we evaluate other than just sacks. I evaluate gap integrity, I evaluate running to the ball, and he does." Although often overshadowed by Nassib, Johnson and Zettel, Sickels demonstrated as a redshirt sopho- more that he was capable of doing battle with the Big Ten's best. And maybe more important, he learned what it takes to capitalize on opportunities when they present themselves. That knowledge guided Sickels as he radically |