Penn State Football: Replacing defensive line losses to NFL

Shareef Miller and Kevin Givens are headed to the NFL, taking a huge portion of Penn State football’s D-Line production with them.

It’s that time of year where players have either exhausted their eligibility or are forgoing their final years to enter for the NFL draft. Penn State football lost two significant defensive line to NFL announcements in junior defensive line Shareef Miller and junior defensive tackle Kevin Givens.

Those two announcements hurt the D-Line depth but don’t take as much away after first glance. Two starters return and all of the depth behind them is back too. With the way Penn State rotates defensive line, the reserves have plenty of experience to work off.

Starting with the productive leader of the unit, sophomore defensive end and havoc creator Yetur Gross-Matos returns for what could be his final year in Happy Valley. The upcoming true junior busted out for a 54-tackle, 20-tackle for loss, eight-sack 2018. He was nearly unblockable at certain points with his 6-foot-5, 252-pound frame.

Soon-to-be senior defensive tackle Robert Windsor is the other starter back on the line. He saw time in each of his first three seasons, including winning the starting job in 2018. After gaining the job, he compiled 38 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, completing a talented outside-inside presence between Gross-Matos and Windsor.

Those two seasons mean more to the development of this D-Line than anything. Both busted out for huge seasons despite not having started in the prior season. Gross-Matos and Windsor bring back guaranteed stars on the line, but that’s far from the only players back for Penn State’s front four.

Redshirt junior defensive end Shaka Toney headlines a deep, versatile reserve corp. Toney is likely to step into a starting role this coming year. His first two seasons saw him make 40 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks in 24 games and zero starts – imagine what he could do with more snaps. His speed off the edge and slimmer build makes him a blinding-quick pass rusher opposite Gross-Matos.

The defensive end position group has even more backups behind Toney that combined for another productive core between Daniel Joseph, Shane Simmons and Jayson Oweh. The trio combined for 25 tackles and three sacks and should bolster the line with another offseason. Defensive tackle isn’t without its depth either. Antonio Shelton, PJ Mustipher and CJ Thorpe combined for 33 tackles and three tackles for loss.

Overall, nine different defensive linemen come back to Happy Valley, showing that plenty of production and experience will be here even with the losses of Givens and Miller.