Penn State football no longer ‘Linebacker U’ according to ESPN

ESPN ranked which school produces the best players from each position. Penn State football is in good shape on defense, but they are no longer ‘Linebacker U.’

The fans of the Penn State football program pride themselves on rooting for a team that produces excellent linebackers in the nation. In Happy Valley, Penn State is dubbed as ‘Linebacker U.’  But at the ESPN offices, that’s not really the case. Recently, ESPN put together a piece, ranking a top-ten schools for each position to slap the ‘X Position U’ label on them.

To our surprise, Penn State did not win the top spot of being recognized as ‘Linebacker U’ in the piece. Instead, the number one school was Georgia. That’s okay then, Penn State was likely to be second, right? Not exactly. The Lions didn’t actually appear on the list until No. 5.

According to ESPN, their most notable linebackers, which helped contribute their spot happened to be LaVar Arrington, who spent two seasons with the Lions in the late 90s before becoming a first-round pick. Then, they mentioned Paul Posluszny, a former second-round pick in the NFL.

Lastly, Dan Connor became the third notable mention, who finished a four-year career with the Lions before becoming a third-round pick in the NFL. It seems as though the piece left out some other notable names, who could’ve probably increased PSU’s rank, but that wouldn’t sway ESPN away from keeping the focus on the recent success of Georgia linebackers anyway.

An explanation on the ranking:

"“Historically, the Linebacker U tag might have been reserved for Penn State, and the Nittany Lions are still up there. But the Dawgs claim the top spot since the start of the BCS in 1998, thanks to their array of run-stuffing inside linebackers, pass-rushing specialists on the outside and do-it-all guys cut from the mold of Boss Bailey, who was the heartbeat of the 2002 Georgia defense that ranked fourth nationally in scoring.”"

Penn State found themselves behind USC, Ohio State, and Alabama on the list. Perhaps their new wave of linebackers, which includes the highly-touted Micah Parsons can help improve their rank for the future. But for now, ESPN hasn’t found a reason to consider PSU as ‘Linebacker U’ anymore. So the outcome there isn’t great. However, Penn State did rank higher when it comes to the defensive line list.

At No. 3, ESPN ranked PSU noting a plethora of players who have had excellent careers with the Lions such as Courtney Brown, Anthony Adams, Michael Haynes, Jimmy Kennedy, Tamba Hali, Aaron Maybin, Jared Odrick, Devon Still, Carl Nassib, and Austin Johnson. Again, they haven’t seen the top of the list to be considered ‘Defensive Line U’ as they place behind Clemson and Alabama, but the future is bright for the Lions at defensive tackle and defensive end.