Penn State Football: Chop Robinson Listed As a Top Returning Defensive End

The Penn State football team has multiple players swirling around 2024 1st-round NFL mock drafts. One of those players is defensive end, Chop Robinson who transferred in from Maryland before last season.

He truly was a gift from the Terrapins as he was a former 5-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting class and he was rated as the #1 player in Maryland according to 247sports. People knew he was special by the time he arrived at Maryland, but he didn’t get to truly showcase his talents until last season with the Nittany Lions.

In 2022, Chop appeared in 12 games collecting 26 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, and 2 pass breakups. He committed on April 12th, 2022, and joined the team in June of last year. One of the things I am most excited about for Chop is having a full offseason with Penn State. Being able to compete in offseason workouts with your teammates is huge and there will be less stress getting familiar with a new place and new teammates which he faced last season.

During the 2022 campaign, Chop accumulated a 90.6 PFF edge rusher rating which makes Robinson the highest-rated pass rusher since 2014. In the below tweet, you will see many talented defensive ends who are now playing on Sundays, which is where Chop is headed after the 2023 season.

One of the craziest considerations to make when evaluating this player is he came off the bench for the majority of the 2022 season. At the beginning of last season, he was used primarily in passing situations. But, as the season went on Manny Diaz realized that Chop can play both the pass and the run equally well.

Recently, On3 listed their top 10 returning defensive ends and they had Chop Robinson as the 3rd best returning DE in college football.

If Penn State wants to get to the college football playoff during the 2023 season, they will need Chop Robinson to wreak havoc on the defensive line. He needs to be disruptive, sack the quarterback, and cause plenty of turnovers if the Nittany Lions want to achieve their goals.