Penn State Football: causes for concern following spring practice

Replacing production

When talking about Penn State replacing production this offseason, it is primarily on the defensive side where some issues may arise.

Sure, the Nittany Lions lost Jahan Dotson from the offensive side of the ball, but Parker Washington figures to be just as productive. Plus, acquiring Mitchell Tinsley from Western Kentucky is a huge plus, as well as having two more talented receivers in KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Malick Meiga.

On defense, however, new defensive coordinator Manny Diaz will look to replace Arnold Ebiketie, Jesse Luketa, Brandon Smith, Ellis Brooks, Jaquan Brisker, and Tariq Castro-Fields – five of which were NFL Draft picks.

Beginning with defensive end, Penn State Football will need to find someone to be a disruptive pass rusher, as Ebiketie accounted for over 35% of the team’s total sacks last year, despite not even playing in the bowl game.

There are plenty of names who will see time at defensive end – Nick Tarburton, Adisa Isaac, Dameioun Robinson, Smith Vilbert, and Dani Dennis-Sutton – but are any of them ready to be a dominant pass rusher?

The Nittany Lions will certainly need some guys who can get to the quarterback, especially against some of the better passing attacks in the Big Ten, namely Ohio State.

We already discussed the potential of linebacker being a liability for this team, so we don’t need to go into too much detail on that, but Ellis Brooks led the team with 100 tackles last season, so with his departure, someone is going to have to carry the load in that department.

The importance of getting Ji’Ayir Brown back in the secondary cannot be overstated, but they still need to replace Jaquan Brisker, who could seemingly do it all. Keaton Ellis and Jaylen Reed could turn out to be excellent safeties for the Nittany Lions, but will they be as versatile and impactful as Brisker was? Hopefully, but probably not.

Finally at cornerback, Kalen King very well could end up being better than Tariq Castro-Fields when his Penn State Football career is over, but will he be better this coming year as a sophomore than Castro-Fields was as a redshirt senior in 2021?

Penn State Football had one of the best defenses in the country last year, allowing just 17.3 points per game, tied for sixth nationally. However, it may be tough for them to replicate that this season, especially considering some of the names they are looking to replace from that defense.