2 0 1 7 S E A S O N P R E V I E W
KEY PERSONNEL
MLB: Jason
Cabinda*, Brandon Smith*, Ellis
Brooks; OLB: Manny Bowen*, Cam
Brown*, Jake Cooper*, Brelin Faison-
Walden, Koa Farmer*, Brailyn Franklin,
Jan Johnson, Jarvis Miller, Jason Vranic
LOSSES Brandon Bell*, Von Walker,
Nyeem Wartman-White*
RISING STAR Farmer is a redshirt
junior who's set to begin the second
half of his career this fall. He's hardly
a newcomer. But his status has
changed, in that he's a full-time line-
backer after bouncing back and forth
between OLB and safety in previous
years. To hear James Franklin tell it
during spring practice, Farmer has
accepted the move whole-
heartedly. That's new,
too. "He has been
fighting genetics for
a long time,"
Franklin said. "He's
finally embraced
linebacker, and he's
about 240 pounds
right now. Honestly, I
think he's 239 right
now by not trying to be
a safety anymore.
It's just naturally
happened." The
Lions need a
playmaker to
step forward at
the Sam position,
so Farmer's timing
couldn't be better.
BIGGEST LOSS Bell,
obviously. He ered on the
runback, the Nittany Lions' defense
wasn't the same.
NUMBERS GAME Cabinda
has made eight or more
tackles in 11 of his past 13
games dating back to
the 2015 season.
OUTLOOK The
Nittany Lions
suffered a
lot of in-
juries at
linebacker
last season,
and while the
erosion of
depth caused
some very acute
problems, partic-
ularly in the 49-
10 loss to Michigan,
there was a silver lin-
ing in that several
young players who might
otherwise have seen rela-
tively little game action, or
none at all, instead received
significant playing time.
Bowen ended up
starting 12
games last
LINEBACKERS
WILL OUTSIDE LINEBACKER
NO
NAME HT WT YEAR
43 Manny Bowen 6-1 224 Jr./Jr.
31 Cam Brown 6-5 224 So./So.
33 Jake Cooper 6-1 225 Jr./Jr.
MIDDLE LINEBACKER
40 Jason Cabinda 6-1 239 Sr./Sr.
47 Brandon Smith 6-0 232 Sr./Sr.
33 Jake Cooper 6-1 225 Jr./Jr.
SAM OUTSIDE LINEBACKER
7 Koa Farmer 6-1 239 Sr./Jr.
9
Jarvis Miller 6-2 220 Jr./So.
33 Jake Cooper 6-1 225 Jr./Jr.
25 Brelin Faison-Walden 6-1 208 Fr./Fr.
S P O T L I G H T B Y M A T T H E R B
KOA
FARMER
Big Ten Championship game, they kept
clawing, doggedly believing that they
wouldn't be denied.
Largely, it was effective. It would be
reasonable to assume, then, that the same
mindset will take hold in 2017, as well. But
Cabinda said that's not a given.
The motivation must come from
within, initiated from scratch. With a cast
of new faces in the lineup, thus making it
a different team, it can't be an exact du-
plication of last season's formula.
"Ending on that Rose Bowl loss really
has given this team fuel and that juice
that it needs to go into this next season
with that hunger," Cabinda said. "Really,
that's what last season was about: staying
humble and staying hungry. We were
hungry and we wanted it more in all those
games, so for us it's just going to be about
putting it together and finding a new
identity and knowing this is a completely
different season."
New, however, doesn't necessarily
translate to entirely different. Cabinda
hopes last season's attitude persists into
this year. But it cannot be expected to
simply carry over. Rather, it must be cre-
ated organically, one day at a time begin-
ning in the weight room and with training
exercises this summer and then onto the
practice field during preseason camp.
"Our identity last year was our mentality
and our approach to each game and each
situation or circumstances," he said. "You
never had guys with their heads down or
anything, regardless of whether we were
down 28-0 or if it was 14-14, regardless of
the weather. Our guys approached the
game and every single play the same way.
It would be huge to have that same type of
mentality and just live in every play in it-
self and put everything on the line."
As captain, as the team's leader and
spokesman, he's putting the responsibil-
ity on his own shoulders to help re-craft
that in 2017.
It does, of course, come with the terri-
tory, and it's a task that Cabinda is happy
to perform.
"It's a huge honor and a dream of mine
to be a football captain," he said. "It's
truly humbling and I can't wait to lead
this team and this defense."
■
* Starting experience
in 2016
Steve Manuel
OR
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