Penn State Football: Buchholz’s retirement tough news for D-Line

The news of Ryan Buchholz retirement is tough and unfortunate for Buchholz and the team. Penn State football does have the players to fill in the absence.

First off, VBR wishes Ryan Buchholz the best as he moves on from his football career. The Penn State football junior defensive end announced his retirement on Twitter Wednesday due to continued back problems after multiple surgeries. Buchholz was slated to start this year and be the run-stopping specialist on the line. Without him, Penn State won’t be helpless, but it does obviously change things.

First off, the defense has to fill in his spot on the line. Luckily for the Nittany Lions, the position group can recover. I wrote the defensive line preview last week and discussed the team’s 10 defensive line contributors, including six defensive ends that have playing time.

Junior leading pass rusher Shareef Miller takes one of the defensive end spots, while the five can fill in. Buchholz was the edge stopper in the run game, so another player in his mold would help out the team.

Torrence Brown, Shane Simmons and Yetur Gross-Matos seem to be the best options to fill the spot. All three are on the bigger side of the defensive ends. All three players in the aforementioned group stand at least 6-foot-3 and weigh 250-plus.

Gross-Matos is the biggest of the three at 6-foot-5, 262 pounds. He’s a tough player to push around, and he can lockdown the edge. He’s also a sophomore, meaning he has a high ceiling as he can still grow over the next three seasons.

Brown has the most experience, as the senior of the bunch. He has 52 career tackles and 12.5 tackles for loss, making him a productive option up front.

Simmons, like Gross-Matos, is a sophomore end. He recorded 15 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss in year one. Penn State football has other players it can play at end.

Sophomores Shaka Toney and Daniel Joseph made plays last year but played more of the pass rushing role when they entered the game. However, they do provide nice depth to an already loaded position group.