Blue White Illustrated

T H E 2 0 1 7 S E A S O N and the leadership role that comes with it, Cothran echoed the sentiment. "I definitely feel a big responsibility," he said. "I've obviously been here for a while now and I know the way things get done. It's definitely mentoring them each week and getting them ready for the games each week. It's awesome. It's definitely an honor." The other Nittany Lions have taken no- tice. Cothren is said to be quieter than Cothran, but both players have emerged as role models for the group's younger players to emulate. "They're the leaders," said redshirt sophomore defensive end Shareef Miller. "We follow them. They're the seniors, we follow them, and they lead by example for us to feed off of them." Well aware of the example set by those who came before them, Cothran and Cothren are aiming to uphold a standard of excellence. They know that Penn State has been buoyed by a succession of NFL prospects, players who have enabled the team to finish in the top half of the FBS sack statistics in each of the past six years, tying for first two years ago. Those successes have inspired the current de- fensive tackles. Their goal? "Just to keep doing what we've been doing in recent years, and even build upon that to be a lit- tle better," Cothren said. "We've had some success in the past years and we're looking to not only continue that, but better ourselves." Should those plans come to fruition, other team goals are likely to fall into place. It's a responsibility Penn State's defensive tackles take very seriously. "We want to have a huge impact. We al- ways know it starts up front and we know we set the tone for every game as far as the defense goes," Cothran said. "It al- ways starts up front." ■ T alking to his father a few days before Penn State's game against Georgia State, senior safety Marcus Allen in- sisted that he would get an interception before his Nittany Lion career was over. It was hard to believe that it hadn't happened already. Allen had been a starter since midway through his true freshman season and was probably the most experienced player in a secondary full of veterans. He had been on the ;eld for hundreds of passing attempts, but heading into the Nittany Lions' noncon- ference ;nale against the Panthers, he hadn't come away with any the=s. In fact, he had more fumble recoveries – three – than interceptions. But in the second quarter of the game, Allen stepped in front of a pass intended for Tamir Jones and dashed up;eld. He found a bit of daylight and picked up a few blockers. Wideout Penny Hart man- aged to trip him up, but not before he had returned the ball 50 yards. "I'm happy, I'm ecstatic," Allen said in the media room a=erward. "I really just spoke it into existence. I was talking to my father two days before the game. I said, 'Dad, I promise you I'm going to get an interception before I leave Penn State.' And it came. So I'm really happy. It feels like my birthday." Allen wasn't the only one celebrating. His interception was one of three against Georgia State, as cornerbacks Grant Haley and Tariq Castro-Fields also picked o< Conner Manning in Penn State's 56-0 victory. With those interceptions, the Lions increased their team total to six, a num- ber that put them in a tie for ;=h place in the Football Bowl Subdivision through the ;rst three weeks of the season. Takeaways had been a priority for Penn State during the o<-season. A year ago, the Lions came away with 10 inter- ceptions as a team to rank eighth in the Big Ten. Only six of those picks were by the secondary. This year, the Lions' defensive backs had already totaled six interceptions through three games. Haley was leading the way with two, while Allen, Castro- Fields, Troy Apke and Amani Oruwaryi had one apiece. What's more, Penn State had also bro- ken up 16 passes, including a team-high ;ve by Christian Campbell. A year ago, the Lions broke up 50 passes as a team, so they are on pace to handily surpass that total as well. And yet coach James Franklin sees po- tential for further improvement. "I still feel like sometimes, on the perimeter, we give people probably too much credit," he said. "I think we give up the easy speed out or hitch, where I think we can hang in there. We've got some corners who can run, we really do. I think sometimes we play a little bit so=er than we need to. I'm even talking about deep thirds and things like that and deep quarters. "But overall, it's very good to see Cas- tro-Fields get in there and make a play on the ball with his length. It was very similar to what Amani did a few weeks ago [against Akron]. To see Marcus get a turnover was awesome. … He has been one of the better ;eld generals in the country in terms of getting our defense lined up and making adjustments. I think that he is one of the more physical safeties in the country, so to see him get an interception and almost return it for a touchdown, I'm really happy for him and our defense." Allen was thrilled, too. The absence of any interceptions on his career stat sheet had gnawed at him – so much so that he worked with the receivers in the o<-season, catching pass a=er pass using the JUGS gun. But now the drought is over. "Doing all that work to get one play re- ally paid o<," he said. "Hard work de;- nitely pays o<." ■ Takeaways spark PSU's early-season defensive surge |

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