Blue White Illustrated

OUTSIDE CHANCE Brandon Smith has a new position, but his work ethic is unchanged A sked about his senior teammate Brandon Smith, Manny Bowen pauses before answering. When he speaks, it's only in praise. Bowen is in a competition with Smith for playing time as preseason camp un- folds this summer. With the arrival of Penn State's 2017 season, Smith has shifted from the middle linebacker posi- tion, where for the past two years he backed up Jason Cabinda. He is now at the Will outside linebacker spot. When camp opened, Smith was running with the first team. With Koa Farmer settling into the Sam OLB position, Bowen was the odd man out as Penn State worked to assemble its three- man starting lineup during the first two weeks of preseason camp. While Bowen says Will is now his primary position, this time he was the one who was repping at MLB behind Cabinda, just for experience, not Smith. And although there was a twinge of disappointment in his voice that he wasn't running with the ones despite starting all but two games a year ago at the other OLB po- sition, Bowen just could- n't find anything bad to say about Smith, who had taken his spot and is making him fight to get it back. "Smart, really smart," the junior says about Smith. "High football IQ , smart kid, and that helps him a lot out here. And he's just real physical." A former walk-on from Lewisburg, Pa., Smith returns for his senior season after seeing extensive action in 2016. He appeared in all 14 games and made two starts, finishing with 54 tackles for a Nittany Lion defense that was hit with a wave of early-season injuries at all three linebacker positions. The year before that, he was one of the scout team defensive players of the year, and throughout his career he's | 2 0 1 7 K I C K O F F S P E C I A L A TEST OF WILLS Smith is competing with Bowen for playing time at the Will outside line- backer position. He was the team's backup middle linebacker last sea- son. Photo by Ryan Snyder

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