Penn State Football: reasons for optimism for the matchup against Maryland

Improvements at linebacker

The linebacking corps struggled at times earlier in the year, but they’re improving and playing good football, which does nothing but make this Penn State defense even more complete.

Middle linebacker Kobe King had the best game of his career at Indiana last week, recording eight total tackles including 2.5 tackles for loss and a QB hurry. He’s played a lot in recent weeks, and if he keeps performing at that level, he’ll continue to see a heavy workload.

To add onto that, Abdul Carter just continues to look more and more like the next great one in the LBU lineage. His speed and instincts on the field are incredible, and he makes the second level of this defense so much better.

If this unit continues to perform well, it will only make things more difficult on the Maryland offense–both through the air and on the ground.