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P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> IT ALWAYS STARTS UP FRONT' ' C O V E R S T O R Y Parker Cothren and Curtis Cothran know they have an outsized role to play in the Lions' success efore their Nittany Lion football careers had even begun, Curtis Cothran and Parker Cothren gravitated toward each other. Members of Penn State's Class of 2013, Curtis arrived from Newtown, Pa., as a 6-foot-5, 240-pound defen- sive end, while Parker was 276 pounds, slated for de- fensive tackle, and a resident of Huntsville, Ala. With identical-sounding last names, the new Nittany Lions found an unusual commonality from which to bond. "It just started off having the same last name, an easy conversation starter right when we moved in," Cothren said, "and we moved on from there." Four years later, that bond has only grown stronger. Calling themselves best friends, Cothran and Cothren have a close-knit kinship born of more than just similar last names. Tabbed as Penn State's starting defensive tackles for the 2017 season, the two players line up alongside each other at every practice and at each game with the hopes of anchoring the team's defensive suc- cess. Their paths to this point have not neces- sarily been straightforward. Both redshirted upon arriving at Penn State before debuting in 2014. Playing different positions, though, their paths diverged quickly. For Cothren, that meant appearing in the defensive tackle rotation in all 13 games as a freshman, then again as a sophomore, making spot contributions along the way. Following the departure of Austin Johnson for the NFL, Cothren advanced to a starting role as a redshirt junior and kept it. Missing only the Purdue game due to an injury, Cothren started 13 games last season and earned an honorable mention All-Big Ten nod for his perform- ance, which included 26 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Cothran, meanwhile, spent his first two seasons of ac- tion as a little-used backup in a deep and talented de- fensive end corps, appearing in only one game as a redshirt freshman before seeing a modest increase in action as a sophomore. Bulking up to become a 280- pound defensive tackle before his junior year of eligi- bility, Cothran had been expected to start alongside Cothren but was held out of the lineup for the first four games for undisclosed disciplinary reasons. He finally earned his first career start at the season's midpoint against Ohio State and held onto the starting job for the remainder of the year. In 10 games, he finished with 21 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and an assisted sack, set- ting up a final year for which he is par- ticularly grateful. "It's definitely a blessing. Obviously I've [worked through] a lot of years here," Cothran said. "You always want to be the starter in your mind, so to finally | TWO OF A KIND Cothren (left) and Cothran arrived at Penn State together in the Class of 2013 and have been play- ing on the defensive line ever since. Photo by Steve Manuel B

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