Ranking Penn State Football’s top 5 returning players in 2021: Defense

No. 2: Joey Porter Jr. 

Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. was a surprise name that popped up as a starter on the first depth chart in advance of the Penn State Football’s week 1 game with Indiana last fall. However, fans quickly saw why his teammates nominated him as a captain and the coaches named him a starter.

Porter Jr made 25 total tackles, had four passes defended and a sack in his first season seeing the field for Penn State Football. Once Castro-Fields went down with an injury he took over as the number one corner and held up well covering the oppositions best receiver.

In week 7 the redshirt freshman was awarded Big Ten Freshman of the week honors for his performance in the win over Rutgers where he collected seven tackles but blanketed scarlet Knight wide receivers to the point you almost forgot he was playing.

The cornerback depth will be as good as Penn State Football has had next year, but Porter Jr. figures to have a starting job on the outside locked up. At six-foot-two and 193 pounds he has the length and athleticism to a legit lockdown corner next season.

porter Jr, Fields, Hill, Ellis, Wilson and Hardy will be a very formidable group and should all see plenty of reps, however the depth to overcome an injury or just an off day is their for the first time under Franklin’s watch.