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T I M O W E N | O W E N . T I M . B W I @ G M A I L . c O M Making his Penn State debut a?er a redshirt season in 2015, defensive end Shareef Miller shined Saturday against Kent State, finishing the game with 1.5 sacks, the first of his career. He also added five total tackles, three of which were solo in Penn State's 33-13 victory. While pleased with his performance, the native of Philadelphia saw room for improvement. "I could've gotten another sack that I messed up on and will watch on film to- morrow," he said. "All this is, is a confi- dence booster, so I just need to keep doing it each and every game." And in practice, too, as his head coach lamented in the postgame press confer- ence. James Franklin said Miller's first game as a Nittany Lion, although it was a good one, puts him in "a tough position." "Because he doesn't practice like that," Franklin explained. "So my point to him was that you played at a much higher level today. Now you have much higher expectations for practice." Asked about Franklin's comments, Miller smiled and attributed it to one of Franklin's motivation strategies, one that he gladly embraced. Junior position- mate Garrett Sickels, however, who refers to Miller as one of his "little broth- ers," was also asked about Franklin's evaluation of Miller. He had a different point of view. "I'd have to disagree with that, because this week at practice Sha- reef was sprinting to the ball," Sickels said, adding that "the way he practiced the whole week leading up to this game, I was ready to see him make some plays." When the final ticks came off the clock in Beaver Stadium, Penn State had tallied seven sacks, six of which came in the second half. The constant barrage on the quarterback forced Kent State freshman Justin Agner into throwing two intercep- tions, one of which was caught by soph- omore cornerback Amani Oruywariye. That play came on Kent State's opening drive of the third quarter. Stepping in front of an Agner pass, Oruwariye re- turned the pick 30 yards for the touch- down. Three drives later, senior linebacker Brandon Bell intercepted an- other Agner pass, halting the Golden Flashes at PSU's 32-yard line. While it was the defensive backs and linebackers reaping the rewards, it was the linemen up front who were forcing the er- rant throws. And for Sickels, who is the lone returning starter from last season's nationally recognized defensive line, the second-half success was more than wel- come. Even if he thought Penn State should have tallied a few more sacks. "We should have had 10, I think," he said. "Honestly, I was really excited to see those young guys make a lot of plays and have the older guys play the way we did, always making plays. You saw our effort chasing down plays from the backside. I was excited to see, when I wasn't in, just seeing how hard this position can still continue to play the game and answer the doubts and questions that anyone had [about the losses from graduation]." He knew what Miller was capable of, along with some of his younger DL team- mates like Antoine White, Torrence Brown, Kevin Givens, Ryan Buchholz and Robert Windsor, all of whom tallied at least one stop. But it was Miller who tallied the most sacks (1.5) and he's eager to get back to work in order to accomplish more. Because that, more than anything, is the message that Miller took from Franklin's comments. No ill feelings whatsoever. Rather, it's just how their coach-player relationship works. "I agree with Sickels on that," Miller said about his practice habits. "Obvi- ously Coach Franklin said that because he wants me [to stay level-headed]. He didn't say it in a negative way. He just said it to keep me going. Come out next week and work hard and that's what I'm going to do. That's how I took it." S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 7 SUDDEN IMPACT PSU defensive line pummels Golden Flashes RECRUITING Junior QB visits Penn State for season opener Penn State hosted a small recruit- ing crowd for Saturday's season opener against Kent State, but there were a handful of notable prospects who made the trip. With just a few scholarships re- maining in the Class of 2017, plus bigger games to come later in the season, James Franklin and his as- sistants were primarily focused on underclassmen this week, and Kennesaw, Ga., native Justin Fields was the most important prospect in attendance. Despite the fact that he's only a junior, the four-star dual-threat quarterback is closing in on a com- mitment, with Tennessee, North Carolina and Northwestern making up the rest of his top four. Having now visited Penn State, North Car- olina and Tennessee, Fields will head to Northwestern next weekend, then make his commitment before the end of the month. Saturday's visit was his second to State College, as he attended camp in July. Another name to remember from the Class of 2018 is athlete Marcus Hooker of New Castle, Pa. The young brother of Ohio State defen- sive back Malik Hooker, Marcus has yet to pick up an offer from Penn State, but one could come this sea- son. As of now, the four-star prospect holds offers from Bowling Green, Temple, Toledo and West Virginia. PSU has also extended offers to a handful of Class of 2019 prospects this summer, one of whom is run- ning back Jordan Houston of Oak- ton, Pa. Saturday was Houston's second visit to State College, as he also attended a camp in July.

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