2024 Penn State Football Preview: Defense

hi everyone this is Nick poock here from Royal Lions Roar while you're here be sure to like this video subscribe to the channel and hit that alert Bell so you never miss any of our new content and if you prefer to listen instead of watch make sure you check us out on your podcast platform of choice where you can subscribe and download each new episode thanks for watching and thanks for listening go State hello everyone and welcome back to Roar Lions Roar I'm your host Tonight Matt philippov itz joined by my phenomenal co-host Mr Bill defilippo Bill hello how are are you uh I'm doing all right Matt uh we're it next week is game week no this is the last like week where we don't have a Penn State football game right it it feels very jarring to say that Penn State plays like next week like it's week zero this week it's a pretty like not that interesting slate but I always kick off week Zero by going to get wings with a buddy of mine so I'm very excited for that and then like the Thursday night slate next week has like some decent games on it so like we're really close to actual interesting compelling college football news that's not like realignment based so I'm very excited to be back at it uh but Bill tonight first things first I want to talk about something that happened to me this weekend because I always like to start the show with a nugget about what's going on in my life bill I flew back from Jacksonville on Sunday and it was like an 11:30 in the morning flight and I have never seen all of the Lord of the Rings have you seen these movies Bill or read the books um I saw do you mean the the like Peter Jackson Trilogy or do you mean like that and The Hobbit and like the Peter Jackson Trilogy the the original trilogy I saw those when I was like 13 or 14 I like I remember them being good movies to whatever extent you're extent you're capable of critiquing art when you were 13 or 14 years old but uh yeah I remember them being very good so I'm watching I've seen uh the first one which names escapes me I saw it maybe like eight months ago so I watched The Two Towers on the plane and this guy next to me had like three Jack and cokes on this morning flight and was like watching my screen next to me and kept asking me what like each creature that shown up on the screen was called and it's like broken my brain the last couple like last couple hours since I've been off that flight it's like I could never imagine being like that on a plane and interrupting some guy who's just trying to watch a 25-year-old fantasy movie and being so enthralled by what that creature was called so that's what happened with me this weekend bill um nice yeah all right Bill we're gonna talk today about what I think is maybe the most how how do I even want to word this the Penn State Defense is what we're talking about you know from clicking on the episode uh first of all thank you for listening uh we're excited to be here to talk Penn State Defense bill this unit I think was frankly the last year's unit was the best Penn State Defense I have seen in my lifetime I think the numbers back it up you go back and you look at those numbers and I apologize to our YouTube viewers for looking away but last year they led the nation with 49 sacks and 11 total tackles for loss they had the nation's best run defense allowing 75 a half rushing yards per game they had the nation's seventh best passing attack I'm sorry passing defense of allowing about 171 yards per game second nationally in Total Defense third nationally in scoring defense allowing 13.4 points per game so fewer than two touchdowns a game bill this defense last year was so unbelievable I truly do not know how we can get on this podcast and ask for really anything better than what we saw last year do you think it's even possible yeah I mean yeah I certainly think it's uh I certainly think it's possible I mean I won't sit here and say that you know I I necessarily expect it or I think it's going to happen or anything like that but going into uh this you know coming out of last season Penn State was fourth nationally in defensive SP plus uh had a rating of 10.5 uh going into this season uh Bill con has uh his updated numbers and I'm trying to uh trying trying to find uh the most recent ones right now but they are slight uh here we go uh coming into this season fourth nationally at 9.7 rating 9.7 so a slight uptick in you know kind of that what SP plus uh Point per game metric still view as one of the top three to five defenses in America and when I think of why this defense can be better you know you go unit by unit on this Penn State team I think defensive tackle is going to be an upgrade I think defensive end probably won't be an upgrade but I don't think it's going to be like a huge downgrade because I really do believe in Abdul Carter playing that position I really do believe in Deni Dennis Sutton playing that we we'll bring deny up in a little bit he did something uh fun the other day uh linebacker is where I'm a little bit queasy but quarterback uh I'm going to give a lot of credit to our pal Ryan Donnell of uh meet at Midfield but Ryan went uh you know his high school football coach was Terry Smith and he said Terry's not one to just say things and he said this Penn State cornerback room is the deepest that he's ever had and I think kind of relative to expectations a lot of this had to do with the fact that Kalin King didn't have a particularly Stellar season there's a chance for this quarterback room to be better and I think the safety room is going to be better cuz it's bringing all the same guys back so I think when you look just on the surface you know Matt I think with you it's a lot of like rapping your head around how a defense can be better looking at what last year's defense accomplished looking at how good of a defense coordinator Manny Diaz was it's going to be very difficult don't get me wrong but when you're just going off of the jimmies and Joe's like yeah I think it is possible I won't say likely I won't say probable I think they have a chance to be as good if not maybe a tiny bit better than what Penn State's defense was last year and I guess kind of saying that there's even that chance for it to match as good as last year's defense was kind of says you know really all we need to say about what we think about this unit Bill one thing I want to hit on that when I was doing some research ahead of this podcast trying to think about where Improvement could come from for that Penn State Defense for me and you look at the Red Zone numbers Bill do you remember like very many offensive like drives for against the pen State Defense that like ended in the Red Zone like you think about the few times they did really allow points like it was like deep passes a lot of the time or like that Northwestern game where Singleton fumbles the opening kickoff and they spot him three points like inside the 15 but like I really don't remember too many scoring drives that like stalled out in the red zone for a lot of teams and you look at the numbers the Penn State Defense allowed points on 92% of their Red Zone opportunities one of the worst in college football and if you would have told me that last year I would have been stunned by that so I guess if there's one place this unit can take a step forward like it it's probably got to be red zone defense I think that's reasonable but I also think a very important thing to stress in that mat uh Penn State allowed the fewest Red Zone attempts in the country uh opposing teams got into the Red Zone 24 you know you said they scored 22 times uh Penn State allowed 24 attempts to the red zone that was the fewest in college football the 22 scores they allowed were the third fewest in college football behind Ohio State in Michigan the 13 touchdowns they allowed uh tied for the second fewest uh behind Michigan with 11 and then Ohio State and Kansas state with 13 and then the field goals uh you know that was a little bit different Penn State allowed a bunch of field goals in the Red Zone but opposing teams you know once they got into the Red Zone I I I I don't have what percentage of those those drives ended in field goals compared to touchdowns but nine of the uh 24 trips ended in field goals uh which was you know a middle of the road number nationally so the thing was a lot teams didn't get into the Red Zone a lot against Penn State when they did they usually scored but it happened so infrequently uh and this is absolutely a Thing Worth uh Doge earing as we talk about uh this year's team and you know how they can get better and where some potential weaknesses and all are it happened so infrequently the team scored and they got down there that is an area where you kind of look at it and go you know it's just going to be so hard to limit opposing teams to essentially two trips into the Red Zone you know 24 attempts in 13 games essentially two trips into the Red Zone a game that might go up like all these sorts of things but I do think it is worth mentioning that like part of you know that number that percentage is a little bit high that also never happened never gotten to that point against last year's defense and then like you mentioned you have situations like uh you know Indiana's couple long touchdowns against Penn State a few things like that yeah so Bill we'll close the book on last year's defense by just answering this one question a lot of guys are off to the NFL after this one Adisa Isaac with the Ravens you know chops with the dolphins Curtis Jacob has been getting some really good reviews with the Chiefs you know you lost Johnny Dixon Keat Ellis who's still with the Titans dayin Hardy with the bills Ken King with the Packers obviously Bill who's the guy who was on the Penn State defense last year who's no longer on the roster that you think is going to be hardest to replace and I can go first if you want uh yeah you go we might have different answers on this so you go first I'm gonna say it's dayquon Hardy and that's not to take a shot at the current cornerback room but I think Deon Hardy's ability to play inside play outside his real Underdog mentality his willingness to come up and be a tackler in the Run game I'm not saying that's not going to exist with you know cam Miller AJ Harris Jaylen Kimber Daven Collins Elliot Washington like all of those guys I'm sure are going to be phenomenal players in their own right but I think dayquon Hardy may have been Penn State's best corner last year like that doesn't feel controversial to say with like the impact he was simply able to make defensively let's even take out his special teams impact but I think it's going to be really hard to replace a guy like dayon Hardy especially as Tom Allen goes to more of a 4-25 defense I I just really think replacing the fifth year senior who played his best ball his final year who was such a I'll call him a bright spot of that peach bow which was you know tough for the secondary as a whole but dayquon Hardy went out there and he battled his ass off against some NFL you know receivers so I got to give the guy credit for that I think it's going to be pretty tough to replace Hardy but even with that being said I still feel like that you know cornerback room can find a way to rebuild him in the aggregate so I will actually disagree pretty strongly with that okay um I think the fact that they're moving to that to a more 425 and they're kind of getting rid of a slot cornerback and they're replacing that with more of a hybrid role that a safety uh big line you know that like what marcusen played here essentially is kind of how I view that new lion roll well well the thing is Marcus Allen was even like a deep safety this is going to be a guy who was a little bit higher up in on the line of scrimmage yeah and if it that is true if it is a guy like uh Jaylen Reed uh Jaylen Reed 6 foot n uh not 6 foot n wow six feet tall 209 pounds uh you look at uh during Tom Allen's time at Indiana one of the guys who played kind of that uh bigger slot position was you know a guy who was really good at that was Marcelo MCC Bell who was 6'4 214 pounds da Juan Hardy for how great of a football player he was 59 179 I wouldn't it this mostly comes down to the fact that like I just don't think that's really going to be a position on this Penn State Defense even though I I'm I love dayquon Hardy as you know the guy I am going to go with is Curtis Jacobs and I mostly view this as when I look at this Penn State Defense where do I see the weakness a potential weakness and I'm a big fan of Tony roas I think Dom duuk is going to do some really good things guy like Tamir Robinson is going to be a good football player for Penn State but I do think linebacker is to whatever extent I have a position of concern on this Penn State Defense it would be linebacker and you know you kind of go through those names am I am I super worried about replacing AA ISAC or chop Robinson no because I think Abdul Carter and Deni Dennis Sutton uh are freaks of nature I mean vanover is a really good player Zariah Fischer has been around for you know they guys there when he gets healthy yes quarterback uh kayin King bit of a Down year last year Johnny Dixon was a good player uh but I think they have a ton of talent and depth in that room so I'm not too concerned I look at linebacker I look at how big of a question mark it is you know Kobe King's a good football player uh Tony Rojas a really young guy but a really promising guy Dom Duca a guy who has you know worked really hard to get better and better going from a runon to where he is now but it's a couple of guys who still need to prove themselves a bit and and still need to prove that they could do it over the course of 13 game SE I I they don't have to prove that they could be good football players because they have shown that it's can you do it over the course of an entire season and we knew Curtis Jacobs was a guy to do that so he's the guy you know I go right to Curtis Jacobs as if I could go back time and get one guy from last year's team and say hey we're gonna need you on next year's team I can't even remember if Curtis Jacobs had enough eligibility uh he would had his but they could he would had his Co year I would have picked C Curtis Jacobs in a nano second yeah I mean that's fair and the the existence of the line position is a bit of a like mystery for me right now just to see what it's going to look like because you mentioned you know who was the Indiana player who played it like his measurements at that 6'4 like that feels more Marcus Allen to me than like what Jaylen Reed is going to be able to play at and that's not to say Jaylen Reed like can't you know lay the wood when you know push comes to shove I think he's the best tackling safety in that room I think he's a wildly underrated player and has been for some time so I'm excited to see as that secondary evolves Bill what else from the Tom Allen defense are you excited to see like what are specific changes or what has you know the Tom Allen defense that you we've been able to watch you know being in the same division as for a long time over the years been for me it's the importance of the middle linebacker position for Tom Allen like I think it's a very very good thing when your middle linebacker is your leading tackler I what that tells me is a lot of plays are remaining in front of your front seven that means you're limiting big plays that means your excuse me your safeties and your Corners who while they could be good tacklers shouldn't be as good tackers as your linebacking unit so when I look at a guy like Kobe King a guy who I think can be a 100 tackler player on this defense Indiana's leading tackle last year at over 100 tackles and it was a linebacker I'm very excited to see that shift from hey everybody kind of eats here to where there's a clear lead dog who is going to go out there and is going to kind of clean up everybody's messes if they get past what I think is going to be one of the better defensive fronts in college football I I I think that's I I think that's reasonable um if I am going to pick anything uh when it comes to a Tom Allen defense and what makes me so interesed you know this was uh uh Nick kudi of for the blog he pointed this out it was that Manny Diaz wanted to confuse teams at the line of scrimmage Manny Diaz uh and I think Thomas Frank Carr at BWI had something similar to I I didn't get a chance to watch that one I only saw a clip or two but uh Manny Diaz one his defense to confuse you up front Tom Allen isn't necessarily going to be a guy who does that he's not a guy who uh you know Manny liked to have his guys up on the line of scrimmage and make a quarterback and an offensive line go where's the pressure going to be coming from what are they going to be doing here how are we going to uh react to it all these sorts of things Tom Allen is a little bit more conventional in that way where he gets where he's good at confusing you is on the back end he's really good at making you think one thing making a quarterback think one thing before the snap and then uh and then doing something else I to quote that uh I wanted to point out was uh you know a few from in the 2020 game that Indiana played against Ohio State Ohio State uh you know that that was a pretty famous football game uh that was when you know after Indiana beat Penn State uh went ni Columbus uh Ohio State won that game 4235 Ohio State put up a ton of yards they put up something like 600 yards in that game but there were four turnovers and Justin Fields after the game talked about how he didn't play especially well how uh was making the wrong reads uh Ryan day there was something about wanting to get it back you know there were just things that didn't go well because that Indiana defense was flying around and the quote that I wanted to say uh after the game from after the game this is from Ryan day overall I thought Justin Fields played a really gutsy played really gutsy made some big time thr throws they were blitzing we knew they were going to they were blitzing every snap I mean literally every snap so there was going to be negative plays there was going to be a big plays it's kind of how it played out uh you know Fields certainly want to have those plays and interceptions back uh had to be aggressive you can't be on your heels when you play against a defense like this and that last little bit is what excites me you can't be on your heels when you play against a defense like this that sounds like a Tom Tom Allen defense and that sounds like what Manny Diaz defense wanted to do so if they are going to be able to confuse the opposing uh quarterback by just throwing stuff at him that confuses him if you're going to be able to put uh the opposing team uh the opposing offense on the back foot I think this Penn State Defense has the talent has the uh dudes and has a lot of experience in doing just that that if you're kind of making little tweaks to the system that's going to pay dividends over the course of uh you know uh 12 16 whatever it is football game season and I that's that's a I didn't realize how much Tom Allen really does with the back seven to really confuse folks and with that I think being especially the safety room being the perceived strength of this defense I think that KJ Winston um Jaylen Reed Zaki Wheatley especially can have a lot of fun playing really loose and really free because again you have those Corners in front of you that you trust can get the job done in one-on-one coverage which gives a guy like Zaki wheatle especially the ability to have free reain and cover sideline to sideline with this six foot three frame so really really interesting to see where this Penn State Defense goes but Bill I'm more interested to see if there's a certain place you go for your Collegiate apparel bill is there a certain place you had in mind uh yes it's the place that I'm currently wearing right now I wearing my Penn State wrestling t-shirt from HomeField apparel HomeField apparel is our podcast sponsor as they have been for each of the last three seasons they make some of the coolest Collegiate Apparel in the marketplace today they have a ton of schools and they are always adding more I think today they added South Dakota State University so as the FCS season gets ready to kickoff they are always adding more schools they have T-shirts crew necks sweatshirts hats bomber jackets they have the new what are the boxes called Bill are they kickoff boxes essenti kickoff boxes and with that you get Koozies you get a you get a set of socks you get a couple of t-shirts that are exclusive to those boxes and for our listeners you can get 15% off your first order with promo code R lr24 I am rocking my we are old school lion shirt as we speak for our YouTube viewers and Bill I made plans for how I'm going to watch the West Virginia game I'm going back to the basement bar that the Alumni Association has a deal with uh and I am very excited to rock my HomeField apparel out there for the first game of the year and you can do so too so again it's 15% off your first order with promo code r lr24 at checkout thank you to hfield as always for sponsoring this podcast and Bill this current unit a lot back we'll go position by position and I put in our notes I just put dline in one you know one bullet point but I I really want to talk about this group separately as both D tackles and defensive ends who do you want to talk about first um let's talk about the defensive tackles because I think that'll be a little bit quicker and I you know it was a thing that we talked about after Michigan won the M National Title mat there were a couple of things that really helped them uh one obviously was a widespread cheating scandal that hopefully the NCA brings the hammer down on them for it but the bigger thing was that they had grown men playing every everywhere they had 22 and 23 year olds going up against 18 19 and 20 year olds and you look at Penn State's defensive tackle room and they have the kind of grown men in the middle of their defense that you can then build everything else around and make it so your defense is able to do some really special things because you have those rocks in the center of things and when you say grown men Bill like you truly mean it of the top five guys like I think top five are going to be Devon J Thomas zann Durant Hakeem Beeman kaziah isard and Alonzo Ford two of those guys are in their sixth year two of those guys are in their fifth year and then the other one I think is the most naturally talented of the bunch in Zan Durant that is a phenomenal place to kick things off for your defense I think this is a unit that can be unbelievably disruptive in a way that I think a lot of us were clamoring for after the Michigan game back in 2022 like I think they've done a complete 180 in about like a a 19mon span which is a very impressive feat for Dion Barnes and Company like Dion Barnes has quickly put you know to rest any concerns I had about a really young guy being a position coach at a job like Penn State he has done an unbelievable job cultivating depth and creating a culture that makes guys want to stay for their Sixth and fifth season when there's no guarantee of starting for a lot of those guys like that tells me that that unit is unbelievably competitive and that they're going to be able to trot out fresh legs like basically every drive if they really want to yeah and it gives them a lot of flexibility in the event that you know let's say a game is going well for Penn State but isn't completely uh out of hand yet you know it's like you know when they play Maryland and they're up 48 to nothing with a minute left in the first quarter or anything you were in a situation where you can afford to then give a younger dude that you feel good about a Caleb arst a TI Blanding a Liam Andrews DeAndre cook ta Cunningham you know if they if you think they can physically hold up and that reps would be good for them you could say okay we're going to throw you out there with Zayn and let you get some relatively high-intensity reps and then if anything goes wrong you could then say all right hakee go back in there kiah go back in there Alonzo Ford a guy who has been starting to get some really nice reviews out of Camp you go back in there there are just so many different things that you could do with this with this part of your defense where you can't necessarily block those dudes one onone no uh if you want to block those dudes oneon-one you have to worry about okay who's going to be blitzing from linebacker the secondary are we going to be putting Abdul Carter and denied Den aut in in one-on ons if we're going to overcompensate for them are we then going to uh be putting one of these big grown men at defensive tackle into a one-on-one or are we going to just be in Max protect and say we need to stop this defensive line and we're going to have to trust our receivers to get like there's it's so interesting and so fun what you can do when you have this much talent at that specific position and it seems like Penn State you know they're they're going to lean on this group on the field and off and you know you asked Franklin about Devon J Thomas and it sounds like he's talking about one of his favorite people to ever live like yeah there's just so much good in this position on the football field at the very top and from a dep perspective that it's hard not to be excited both in what they're going to do and what the rest of the defense is going to do because of them and you mentioned that last Point Bel I'll touch on just really quickly if they're going to go heavy 425 like you're sacrificing anytime you take a linebacker on the field like I don't care how you know sure of a tackler Jaylen Reed is like Curtis Jacobs is a bigger version of that and I wish he was still around so for you to go out there and have these grown men in front of that linebacker group in front of those safeties I think is really going to allow allow Tom Allen to call the defense like the way he would absolutely imagine if he could so really excited for that group but Bill these Edge rushers despite losing like chop Robinson one of the the best get offs I think I've ever seen out of a defensive end Adisa Isaac steady Eddie great guy to have in the program for a long time Zariah Fischer it sounds like he's out for a while you know we won't call it out for the year because you know you never know but overall I think this might be a hot take bill and I don't mean for it to be and check me if I'm wrong I think the cealing of this current defensive end group is might be higher than what they had last year um I don't know I I I can see them having um I could see them being a better group like I don't think it's totally out of the realm of possibility I I I think that when you have a guy like Abdul Carter who is viewed as an a highlevel NFL firstr round pick before he takes a single snap at the position he was named season second team All-American as an edge rusher earlier today by the AP despite despite never being an edge rusher before yes and then deny Dennis Sutton uh a five star in his third year a guy who uh you know I I almost feel like if not for the fact that Abdul Carter moving there adds so much novelty there would be more like o hope maybe Deni Dennis Sutton could be in line for a breakout year um but yeah you just look at those two you look at how they have uh a little bit of depth at the position and I mean vanover Zariah fiser when he gets healthy Smith vilbert vanover I think is wildly underrated man like that dude is I mean you have to see how he holds up in this bigger role but everything we've seen out of him for years has been you put him in there Splash plays seem to constantly be generated like again you have to see it spread out over more snaps but like I'm really excited for that dude in his fifth year yeah and I like I've never seen or heard anything like what is happening right now with Max Granville I'm I mean all the um all the reports out of Camp are that he like has some really special thing tools uh to work with which is insane considering that he enrolled at Penn State like three weeks ago yeah for reference grv was supposed to be getting ready for senior season of high school he is a bit older I do know he is 18 already so like he would have been an older high school player but still to show up to campus when you you know we're expecting to go to fall Camp back or your high school fall Camp back in July and have the kind of reports he's getting tells me that might that guy might be built a little bit different and it's kind of kind of like what we mentioned with the defensive tackle room obviously a little bit different because they need Abdul Carter and Deni Den auton to get reps um at the position but they can afford to give some of the younger dudes that they have in this room opportunities because they have so much talent they could pair them with three of the really veteran dudes along this defens line they could uh you know mix and match and play with this in a way that I find really fun and really interesting and you know they're going to uh a lot of the optimism around Penn State has to do with the fact that this defensive uh this entire defensive line can be really good and again I don't know if I am if I think that the ceiling is higher than it was last year because it was really high but it has the potential to be really really good where are you on the Smith vilbert hype train I'm really intrigued by this guy like I'm I'm truly rooting for this guy maybe harder than I'm going to be rooting for anybody else on the Penn State Defense like sixth year guy has missed two seasons like he's really transform his body like he's 66 292 at the last roster update I really want to see what he looks like in that chop Robinson role where it's an obvious passing down and again I hope they keep from the Manny defense and they pull a tackle off the field and they just put hopefully Smith vilbert you know to rush inside because he's big enough to hold up and let him rush the passer Bill where are you in the Smith vilbert hype train like do you think he is legitimately a guy that can turn into a Sunday player like some people think he is uh I don't I don't necessarily want to put that on him just because it's been such a unique situation right with him where he hasn't played in so long but he's one of those guys that you know I basically said this for the entire offense ask me again after the West Virginia game ask me again on Smithfield after the West Virginia game because I want to see what he um what he's capable of doing build the linebacker room I love the top two guys I think they're great I'm a huge Kobe King fan I think Tony roas is going to get all big 10 honors in his first year as a starter I feel that good about the kid outside of that and we'll we'll treat this bill like there's only going to be two starting linebackers I think that's probably fair with how much 425 we really talking about outside of that bill I'm nervous like you lose Keon Wy for a while with injury Kavon Keys is off the roster they move darari Nelson a really big safety up to linebacker which I think is a great move both for the both for darari Nelson and both for the depth of the linebacker room I think Tyler ellon and Dom Duca are going to get a lot of run but I feel like we pretty much know what they are again I have no worries about the top two and I think Duca can make some plays when he gets his chance but if an injury piles up Bill I'm nervous about what this room looks like very quickly yeah I I I would agree with that I think that um I think that's when you start wondering like do they have to move Abdul Carter back to linebacker in order to kind of uh deal with the fact that you know that Tony roas messed his ankle up he's going to be out for three weeks and one the to be clear though that's an unbelievable security blanket like that's an unbelievable back yeah for sure uh but I think that in these first couple of weeks when you try to identify players who are going to be really important for Penn State Tamir Robinson or under the radar important Tamir Robinson is one of those guys if he's able to step in and be a uh Steady Eddy at linebacker if he's able to be a guy that you could rely to play Big 10 rely on to play in the Big 10 that is huge for Penn State obviously and that that comes with something you know said it a little bit earlier where Duca and roas both have to show that they could do it over the course of an entire season like I'm confident that they can uh but you know I can be as confident in the world as in as many things I want you still have to go out and do it but watching a guy like Tamir Robinson watching a guy like Tyler Ellen and seeing he was a guy who a who a little bit too frequently just kind of gets you know has his physical limitations that he struggles to get past if he could just have a level of competence about him within those physical limitations and if Tamir Robinson can show in the opening couple of weeks that he is able to play Big 10 foot he could be a big 10 football player early on and you don't suddenly have to worry about like oh God do we have to go to one of the true freshman does Tyrese Mills need to get on the field do toari Nelson gotta get on the field do we have to like search for an answer I think this linebacker room will be fine but navigating these first couple of weeks is going to be a really big challenge even you know with the um with with you know accepting the bowl it's at West Virginia Which going to be a tough game Bowling Green Kent State Illinois and a not great UCLA team at home and the by we in there too and the bye in there they're gonna have to navigate all this and it's going to be uh it's going to be a big CH challenge for uh Tom Allen it's going to be a big challenge just for this linebacker room in general I would no no disrespect to those two Mac teams but I would not mind like not seeing very much of Kobe or very much of Tony roas in those games at all like I would really think those can be great opportunities to cultivate that depth with a ton of Tamir Robinson with a you a ton of Dom deuca um and just see where it goes from there like if Anthony speca if KY Jackson like if those guys can give you anything like I think they're all headed for red shirts but in case they're not that feels like a great opportunity to use two other four games so yep C curious where that ends up Bill do you g to go safeties or Corners next uh again we'll do safeties just because I think that's going to be a pretty quick conversation um this room is going to be unbelievable like this is this might be the of the entire roster and KJ Winston Zaki Wheatley Jaylen Reed they might all be NFL players can I ask you one question on that note actually bill that's a good transition yeah go ahead you're not gonna like this question at all is KJ Winston the first Penn State defensive back to be taken in the first round I will say no just because it's rare that um it's rare that safeties go in the first round okay uh cornerbacks tend to um unless you're unless you're the Lions build your football team by vies more than anything else which is a smart way to build your football team yeah I'm looking at last year's NFL Draft um I don't believe a safety went in the first round uh yeah no safeties went in the first round in last year's NFL Draft um Brian bran Draft before that Brian Branch was um he might have um he was a second round pick um the year before that 200 and uh 2020 two Kyle Hamilton went with the number 14 overall pick and then at the very end yeah definitely and at the very end of the first round Dax Hill and LS seene both went in right the first round 2021 uh there were no safeties picked in the first round 2020 there were let's see no safeties drafted in the first round so I'll just play the odds and say no totally fair Bill broadly speaking though this safety room I think can be the best in college football and shout out to Dex for making that happen like Jaylen Reed I said it earlier in this podcast I think he's one of the most underrated defenders in the Big 10 like he didn't I don't think got any all big 10 mentions last year like not even honorable mention which I think is wildly disrespectful to his play last year KJ Winston kind of usurped Keat Ellis towards the latter half of last year maybe even from the jump if you really think about it Zaki Wheatley a guy who showed a lot of flashes as a red shirt freshman took a bit of a step back last year and from all the reports out of Camp seems to be a guy who has this renewed focus and I think has the best ball skills of anybody on this roster so right there that top three sorry very well might yeah very well might so I just think that that team can really or that unit can really take this defense to a level we haven't seen in a while the depth behind them a bit concerning Lamont Payne a Pittsburgh kid you know moved from corner back there now is it dejon Lane seems to be getting some pretty good reviews out of camp but you know it tells me a lot about what they think about this depth that the Des spite the fact that they lost King Mack who I thought was going to be a starter here as early as next season and I don't feel like it's gonna hurt him that much in 2024 yeah and I I I believe the reports out of C I believe uh our uh friends over at onward State mentioned that Zion Tracy is a guy who could potentially slide into that uh slot nickel back type of role which could then uh let Jaylen Reed play more at safety but you look at you look at the depth in this room especially after darari Nelson got moved to uh linebacker and like you mentioned King Mack uh transferring yeah there's a little bit of uh you know a little bit of concern about what happens if someone rolls an ankle or something but I also think that we've gotten to a point where Anthony po Dexter has like earned the benefit of the doubt um you know Terry Smith is like the king of this like I will just never question anything Terry Smith does we're getting to that point with we're getting to that point with Anthony Poindexter and his ability to get his guys ready to play so uh whether that is a guy like Lamont Payne uh one of the uh true freshmen whomever it might end up being you know I just I just have faith that they're going to be able to they'd be able to figure out the worst case scenario which like it's the worst case scenario it's supposed to suck no matter what but the best caseen is this is the best safety one of if not the best safety room in college football the cornerbacks bill I have my starters projected I'm saying cam Miller and AJ Harris I think cam Miller got a kind of a bad WAP for what happened in the Peach Bowl like listen was it great no was the Penn State Defense you know playing with every tool at its availability no like I think Kim Miller is better than that performance AJ Harris former five star got on the field at Georgia with Kirby Smart like a defensive guy as his head coach like thinking he was ready I think those two you know flanked by jayen Kimber a guy with a ton of SEC experience Elliot Washington a guy who you know burned red shard as a true freshman and alavian Collins a guy who seemed to be like the buzziest name all summer long for most improved player in the program I think no matter what happens here there's a floor that's been established and I'm curious to see if the ceiling can be elevated by what is currently in that room at that top five for sure I mean I I I think that one thing Penn State did not necessarily have last year was you know we go back to the Ohio State game and we go back to Kin King battled against um battled against Marvin Harrison Jr and he just kept getting burned over and over again because that's what happens when you go against Marvin Harrison Jr they have guy in AJ Harris who if it all clicks for him is the kind of guy that you can put up against a Marvin Harrison Jr and he's going to win some reps and I think that is something that they just didn't have last year was a guy who can go up against the other team's best wide receiver and he's gonna get his and I think AJ Harris is that kind of guy you mentioned cam Miller uh he was put into an impossible situation against a wide receiver who's going to be in the NFL next year year in Trey Harris and he got cooked but he fought he kept getting up he kept battling and that says a lot to me for a guy who the most football he ever played was against a lane kein team which is not an easy thing to do right you mentioned Jaylen Kimber a guy who's played a lot of football at uh Georgia and Florida is now going to be up at Penn State all Daven Collins like you mentioned a guy who uh a guy who got a ton of Buzz all off season some really talented youngsters led by Elliot Washington and you know something I just said about Anthony po Dexter but like Terry Smith is the king of I'm not going to worry about things as long as Terry Smith is Penn State's quarterback's coach because he gets his guys ready to play every single week and for the most part they they perform to an all big 10 caliber level every single week so I'm excited to see what this cornerback room has uh in store man they're they're going to be very good because this is just the standard that Penn State's quarterback room has set one thing I you as you were rattling off some names bill it got me thinking think about where these Penn State Corners are from now like they're from parts of the country that have always produced frankly Superior secondary players than like what's in Penn State traditional footprint cam Miller is from Northern Florida Kimber Harris Harris is from Texas I want to say Kimber is from Georgia he might be from Florida that part of the country a Daven Collins from the South Elliot Washington from the south like ter Smith has found a way to fill what has like long been the lone black mark on the Penn State Defense at least like you we're talking 15 years ago maybe that that was always the weak point to now being one of the biggest strengths of the Penn State roster so humongous credit to Terry for that bill you can go anywhere on the defense with this with this last question before we kind of shift gears a little bit who is the one guy on this Penn State Defense not a starter that you think people aren't talking enough about who when he's on the field you're going to be like oh that dude's coming in something Fun's about to happen well he is a starter and it's Deni Dennis Sutton okay um he's a guy that I don't I don't think people are talking nearly enough about and here's the thing that he did that I mentioned earlier in the podcast March 8th 2022 he tweets I will be the best defensive end in CFB and he pins it to his uh Twitter account and it's just been there ever since he got on campus and two days ago on August 17th he quote tweeted and just said standing on it that is the mentality I want out of a guy who's going to get after passers and I feel like again with how much excitement there is around Abdul Carter's move to defensive end there hasn't been nearly enough talk and excitement around the fact that this is a year that is setting up for deny Dennis Sutton Who as a freshman had 16 tackles uh three sacks and an interception as a had that was awesome yeah 23 tackles uh three and a half sacks and two forced fumbles like he's a guy who has been building towards a breakout year and again with Abdul Carter's move to defensive end I just don't think we've gotten to a point where people have gone oh wait Deni Dennis Sutton has the potential to be as good as anyone else who plays this position in college football so I'm really really excited about what we're going to get out of him I'm going to stick in that same position room and I kind of hit on him earlier and it's a mean vanover again that's a guy who per capita like really made Splash play after Splash play and listen I know it's going to be tough to you know want to move Abdul Carter or Deni Dennis Sutton off the field but if like the time comes where it's like hey we want to confuse this quarterback a little bit you're throwing Abdul on the field you bring a mean on the field you drop Abdul in coverage which he's done as a linebacker and has a pick to his name and then you get a mean vanover in there and he's able to give you a little bit of a different skill set than Abdul was able to and I think he's a guy who can again be one of the more disruptive players in the Big 10 so that's a guy I'm really excited to watch as the season ramps up and Bill with the season a time of recording 12 days away again I cannot believe how close we are we hit on our off defensive expectations as a whole bill what are your overall expectations for Tom Allen unit in his first year in Happy Valley so I'm go I'm going to mention um I'm going to mention something that happened back in 200 and uh 20 um and that was the numbers for Indiana's defense which was the best defense that they had at Indiana under Tom Allen um had a number of guys who made it to uh the NFL in one way or number another uh mik mcfaden was an NFL player cam Jones Aaron Casey Rees Taylor I think jayed Williams uh Jamar Johnson Marcelino ball Brian fald uh Taiwan Mullen guys who made it to the NFL uh you know didn't necess not all necessarily all Pros or anything like that but guys who have made it to the league guys who are getting Pion from the NFL which from Indiana is a hell of a place to end up exactly that team was 302 to defensive SP plus 43rd in yards per play 20th in scoring defense they had 25 sacks in eight games which is 3.13 a game which is 14th nationally 17 picks in eight games which was 2.13 interceptions a game which was the most in college football and it's a point that people have said a lot about Tom Allen it's a point people said a lot about Andy C ni but he was doing that with players that weren't super highly regarded recruits were guys who were good football players turned into really good football players got developed into really good football players got really comfortable within his system and showed that they are better than their star rating better than you know all these sorts of things and we're able to get to the NFL you look at this Penn State Defense and it's a lot of guys who were very highly regarded recruits have shown that they could get it done on a college football field and can be NFL caliber players and when you see that when you see what Tom Allen was able to get out of that Indiana team it wasn't as good with other Indiana teams no and this is something I think needs to be mentioned you go through all of his defenses uh 2017 they were 25th in defensive SP plus couldn't find the number for 2018 2019 43rd 2021 73rd 2022 109th 2023 73rd you look at their yards per play numbers their scoring defense numbers not as good but when he had his best talent he had his best defense and I expect him to have his best defense yet now if pen has the 32nd best defense in the country by defensive SV plus that's a catastrophe but I think this should be a top 10 unit a unit that's gets after quarterbacks that leans on where it has talent where it has veterans gets to the quarterback forces interception does the stuff that we expect out of a Penn State defense uh I think it was Jaylen Reed has some quote where he basically said like it's very similar to what Manny Diaz wanted us to do and if the defensive players are still comfortable they still have a good sense of what they have to do and they could perform within that framework and Tom Allen is able to uh build up relationships with players and understand how to best use them by the time the first game rolls around I see no reason to think this won't be a top 10 maybe even top five unit in the country again I think the floor is like seven like the number seven defense in the country I think that's the floor I feel good about that I feel like that's really high but I really like what this unit has um one thing can I mention one other yeah hit me go ahead oh no go ahead go ahead no when you're when you're done I'll I'll get out they had 24 turnovers last year do you know the interception to fumble recovery Breakdown off the top of your head uh no I do cuz I know it it's 12 and 12 that's wild okay that you got 24 turnovers and it was evenly split amongst inter ition and fumble recoveries that tells me that's not turnover luck that's tell me that tells me you're making plays like it'd be one thing if it's like oh my God they recovered you know 19 fumbles or whatever I think that this unit just by being coached by Manny for as long as it was has a certain level of SE ball get ball that is going to maintain itself through Tom Allen's defense I think they're going to be aggressive I think they're going to be able to play very freely and I think with the two Edge rushers leading the charge and a group of grown ass men in the middle of that defense I think this unit can be equally as disruptive do I think they're going to allow more yards and more points yes but I think that they're going to be better set up for success by a Penn State offense that I don't think is going to leave him hung out to dry all that often anymore so overall I think this can be unit can be top seven good and I'm anxious to see how they handle Garrick green a quarterback who I think is going to be one of the more dyamic signal callers they're going to play all season long that that's fair and you actually you hit on the thing that I wanted uh to mention there Matt which is that Penn State is going to be it's not going to be as dominant I would say or it shouldn't be as dominant on defense this year for the simple reason that they are trading out some absolutely gly uh opposing defenses or opposing offenses uh rather with units that are a little bit more competent on uh on that side of the ball and I'm going through the list of some of the teams that Penn State played in conference play last year and where they were in offensive SP plus Northwestern was 100 12 Indiana was 105th Michigan state was 122nd ruter was 97th Iowa I I don't have I'm trying to find their number right here because I know they were um I know it was really funny and I want to make fun of Iowa 129th like out of like 133 teams yes like there were some truly abhorent opposing offenses in conference play on their schedule last year um did I look up Illinois no I didn't look up Illinois hold on I'm GNA say Illinois was like 112th that's my pick for Illinois 92 that was close 92nd so there were five opposing offenses Penn State played last year and then obviously there was Ohio State and Michigan who were going to be a legout but you look through the offense as pen State's going to play this year Ohio State 25th in offensive best plus heading into the season USC is fifth West Virginia is 23rd and then this Washington is 26th but that comes with the really big asterisk on it um and then you look at kind of the quote unquote bad teams Penn State is going to be playing you can lump Washington in there if you want Wisconsin 77th Purdue 70th Minnesota 89th Maryland 82nd sounds pretty bad and it is pretty bad but that is also a step up on some of those really abhorent offenses that Penn State went up against last season and I just think it's worth remembering that even if this Penn State team you know Matt you talked so much about how dominant they were and that was 100% true but even if this Penn State team allows more than 11.4 points per game even if they allow which is third nationally more than 223.000 yards per game which was first national we has fewer than 49 sacks which was um which was the most nationally even if those numbers aren't as good as a function of who the other teams are they are going to be playing against this is still going to be an outstanding defense it just won't be able to like you know little brother ruter or Michigan State or Northwestern or Iowa as easily as it does uh Wisconsin or West Virginia or you know USC especially I'm glad you called that out I think that's a really good point people and I probably didn't even think about nearly enough is that yeah the defense was great the offense they played were not just bad they were dumpster fires so good yeah and it went it and it lended itself to seeing the very best version of Penn State's defense 100% um and we got the very best version of Penn State's defense we're not probably not going to get the very best version of Penn State's defense again this year but they still should be one of the very best in the country in the face of that and you I I'm very interested in that USC game part especially because USC is not as good on offense as it has been it shouldn't be as good on offense as has been at recent years and we've seen that when USC is put on the back foot by an opposing defense like the Notre Dame game last year things could get really really ugly for them and I'm very interested to see if Penn State can make or however many games against Utah over the years and I'm very very interested to see if Penn State can make what should be an excellent offense Look Silly by just going out there and being essentially mentality monsters against them well that's a that's quite a long ways away so for now we're just going to have to wait and see how they perform against what I think is going to be one of their three biggest test of the year in that West Virginia offense bill that's our Penn State defensive preview thank you for joining me for it we're going to end this by shifting gears with a bit of a game and Bill with the season starting next week I've been thinking a lot about you know the past the past of Penn State and you're a big NBA fan if I'm not Mist mistaken bill is that correct I would call myself that yes one of my favorite bits every single season in the NBA is that first week of the season is the are we playing who he play the phenomenal TNT segment hosted by Ernie Johnson unsoed by sponsorship is who he play for so bill there's a lot of Penn State transfers from like even guys who are taking advantage of their sixth season who are still in college football so Bill I have four Nam here I could do a lot more we'll see how you do and I might add a couple to them okay but we're going to play who he play for former Penn State player Edition B just start off I'm I'm I'm warning I'm warning our listeners right now I'm going to be swearing during this first off former linebacker one of the highest recruited ranked linebackers to ever come to Penn State out of Michigan Lance Dixon who he play for he was at West Virginia but I believe he transferred to Western Michigan that is incorrect Bill he now plays for the Toledo Rockets with former I I knew it State receiver Jaden dotton okay I knew it was somewhere in the mac and I I I couldn't remember where in uh where in the Rust Belt it was at okay also out of that 2019 recruiting class real quick bill on this note Noah Kane led the Bengals and rushing over the weekend in their preseason game so shout out to Noah Kane as always the other running back in that class Devin Ford was at Penn State for a while was on the roster as recently as 2022 Bill Devon Ford who he play for did he go to the Ricky Rony School of former Penn State uh football players as he had Old Dominion he is not at Old Dominion he spent some time this spring as a safety at Notre Dame and he has since moved back to running back so he is a still a running back at Notre Dame okay I I thought he went to he went to Notre Dame I couldn't remember if he like went to Notre Dame and then transferred somewhere else or okay I I didn't realize he was still there all right 0 for two for Bill we're going to shift gears a little bit to some more recent players on the Penn State roster this guy never started a game for Penn State but at one point had us wondering is this guy the future of Penn State football Christian Veer who he play for um he was at pit and he just transferred from pit I'm so happy about this [Music] um did he I'll give you a conference conference go ahead Sun [ __ ] I was gonna say oldia uh the Sun Belt Louis Louisiana lafette he is at Georgia State in Atlanta playing for the Panthers oh my God Jesus Christ I knew that I have one of my uh my I have a co-worker uh Robbie kalend who's been on the Pod for uh um Big 10 over unders and he went to Georgia State so I should have gotten Jesus Okay Christian V went from Nittany Lion to pit panther to Georgia State panther that dude loves cats that's right he's he stayed with the big cats yes Bill last one you're gonna have no idea where this guy goes I'm super excited about it yeah unfairly thrust into the spotlight many moons ago on a cold night in Iowa City taquan Roberson is still in college football Bill taquan Roberson who he play for he obviously was at um he obviously was at uh Yukon but he has since I I know he has since left Yukon I'll give you I'll give you a hint he is on a roster that features another Penn State transfer on a roster that features another Penn State transfer okay a damn it it wouldn't play uh I just pulled up the clip of Shaquille and Neil saying guandong tigers and then screaming KN how over and over um hold on I think I let me let me try that one more time we're doing this for the bit folks AIO cont thank you for listening this is great this is great audio content that Matt thrust on to me tiger uh so that is my uh formal guest guandong Tigers Bill he is in the Big 12 on the Kansas state wild cats roster right now with Dante I was stunned by this development as well good for H good for him is he is he still playing quarterback or they a quarterback on the roster yeah good for him I they Kansas state has a their their starting quarterback is a guy named Avery Johnson who is a uh who's a really good football player so good for uh good for taquan that he was able to able to get a job there I I wonder if him and Dante cus like just sit there you know over over lunch and complain about uh Penn State football and complain about James Franklin um and then Dylan Edwards comes in and says boy if you want to know what it's like playing for a bad football program I let tell you something about uh the Colorado Buffaloes bill you went over for four I have a couple others if you want I can there's some folks who will now play for FCS schools if you want those in there sure do you do you remember Bill signed as a wide receiver a fairly highly rated one way back in the day John Dunmore John Dunmore who he play for um did he go to did he like go to FIU for a second or something went or state for a minute Oregon Oregon State that's right uh no where is he he is at talson University in the CAA okay Jamari Buon at one point in time a four-star Prospect thrust into almost burning red shirt as a true freshman for pen State Bill Jamari button who he play for didn't he go to like New Mexico or New Mexico State he at New Mexico state but he is no longer there okay uh um I will guess he is also at Townsen I he at Grand Valley State back home in Michigan okay Bill I'll give you a recent one this year he transferred Malik Mega who he play for I know you won't know this yeah uh Quinnipiac it is not Quinnipiac he is at Coastal Carolina so the Canadian gets to go to mle beach I I did know that one damn it okay all right should we call it there bill or do you want one more give me what at this point how much worse can it get that is true punter allegedly family member Alex beteta who he play for uh rice there we go bill you end Strong by getting the punter transfer refering to Conference USA on the money Bill thank you for joining me in who he play my listen I if there's one thing I know it is where my cousin Alex petta uh plays his college football so I'm I more than any of the other outstanding young men you just mentioned I am rooting for Alex to do great things um yeah I've told I've told the story in the Pod before but uh when he first committed to Penn State like through a family member he through through one of his family members they found out there was someone in the Penn State Universe the last name to philipo and he has some relatives with the last name to Filippo so I always always root for uh always root for cousin Alex to uh to succeed and Thrive and do some really great things on and off the football field at Rice University so if you played along uh let us know your score you can tweet it at rlr blog or just tweet it at PSU Matt 2005 and let Matt know how you did um because he he won't know we play this until the episod out please don't I only only we do that if you did worse than me because otherwise I will be humbled uh well thank you so much bill for joining me in that game thank you for joining me for the defensive preview I'm very excited to see this unit play in 12 days again it's wild that it's you know back next week Bill do you have your first game plan set yet I do not I'm act I'm actually after we're done here I've mentioned this before my brother-in-law is a big WVU fan uh so after this I'm going to go see uh my sister's family and my brother-in-law and I are going to I'm going to sit down and basically say like we need to figure out if we're going to this football game if not I will probably do what I have done for each of the last two Penn State openers uh and I will purchase 12 bottles of Rolling Rock and drink them alone and see how many I can get through by the time the game ends oh amazing uh we'll be back in your feed next week with I believe I'll commit to it now two episodes we're doing our annual preseason over under picks I just finalized them with friend of the show Stanley uh maybe we'll drop that yet this week so weing your feet again this week be on the lookout for that if not we'll drop it next week uh and then with our West Virginia preview so we're very excited uh to get the season rolling as always be sure to follow along on your podcast platform of choice if you're listening on Apple podcast be sure to leave us a Fest star review um we're on Twitter over rlr blog if we're on YouTube hit that like button hit that subscribe button uh jump in the comments talk about the Penn State Defense with Penn State fans we always have a really great Community start to form around this time of the year last year Bill we had a lot of comments on our West Virginia preview from some rival fans um who are very nice to us which I'm very excited to see if that returns uh this year so as always thank you for following along and for my co-host Bill defilippo I'm Matt Fitz we'll see you next week