Garrett Sickels is the sole survivor of the latest, greatest Penn State defensive line.
Gone to the NFL are 2015 stalwarts Austin Johnson, Anthony Zettel, Carl Nassib and Tarrow Barney.
And they have taken their 70 combined career starts at Penn State along with them. (The second-biggest D-line loss over the past decade, BTW.)
That leaves Sickels, a funny and sturdy and strong-armed defensive end, as the only returning Penn State defensive linemen with any career collegiate starts.
Sickels is a senior defensive end with two years’ worth of eligibility and a dozen career starts – all in 2015 – to his credit. The Red Bank, N.J., native also has a big chip on his shoulder about his teammates returning along the D-line. No one else on the Penn State roster has ever started a game along the defensive line.
Fellow anticipated starters senior defensive end Evan Schwan and tackles Curtis Cothren and Parker Cothran – both fourth-year seniors with junior eligibility — may have game experience. But they’ve never started at the college level. And Sickels is defensive about the criticism they are receiving.
“It really annoys me, to be honest,” Sickels said at last weekend’s Lift For Life charity event. “I try not to pay attention to it. I just put my head down and work every day with Evan and those guys. We know what we’re capable of. We know what we’ve been doing over the summer.”
It’s been a decade since Sickels and the Penn State D-line were in such a pickle.
TRADITIONALLY DEEP
Penn State’s defensive line, first under assistant coach Larry Johnson and now under Sean Spencer, has been known for its depth, thanks to a program-rich tradition of constantly rotating the front four during games. That has meant the Nittany line’s cupboards have rarely been bereft of experience – starting experience, that is.
From 2008 through 2015, Penn State’s defensive line has returned, on average four players a year with an average of nearly 10 starts each to his credit. Not so in 2016. Sickels is it for career starters.
That’s in direct contrast with the group that entered the 2011 season, for instance. Led by Jack Crawford, six defensive linemen returned that year with starting experience (for a combined 59 starts). The 2010 group featured four players with 46 starts, while the returning D-line unit of 2008 had five guys with a combined 46 starts.
(A year-by-year breakdown of the past decade is below.)
You have to reach back to 2007 to find a preseason where Penn State’s D-line was last in a Sickels-like pickle. That season, Josh Gaines was the only returning Nittany Lion with any starting experience along the defensive line, after the Nittany Lions said good-bye to perhaps its deepest D-line ever. Gaines’ loss included Jay Alford (41 career starts), Tim Shaw (32), Ed Johnson (18), Jim Shaw (5) and Steve Roach (1).
Of course, career starts don’t mean everything. Aaron Maybin went into the 2008 season with nary a start and emerged as a No. 1 draft pick. In 2015, Carl Nassib had zero starts to enter the season but exited as one of the nation’s most acclaimed defensive lineman. Schwan, for one, could emerge from the 2016 season as Penn State’s latest ugly duckling along the defensive front.
Still (and we don’t mean Devon, who had 27 starts from 2009-2011)…
…Sickels knows how Gaines felt.
WEIRD SCIENCE
“It’s weird for me,” said Sickels, an affable, honest kind of guy who made hay last year while facing single-team blocking schemes. “It was weird this spring not having guys like Zettel around. Zettel was my official visit host. He was like my older brother. Not having him or Austin Johnson or Carl around has been weird. But we’ve adapted and grown as a unit. We’re ready to go this fall.
“Last year, I was an older guy, but I was still a young guy on that line. I could be the jokester here and there, but now this year I have to be the serious guy – setting the tone for practice and meetings. Evan and I are the two older guys, setting the tone every day. We set that tone hard this summer.”
Sickels, who measures 6-foot-4 and weighs in at 263 pounds, knows he is The (Old) Man along the defensive front. “I’m not tentative at all,” he said. “Last year, a couple of times it was like, ‘Wow, I’m starting this game or that game.’”
And if there is any doubt that the defensive line is counting on Sickels, Coach Chaos dispelled those questions early in spring camp. He calmly delivered the message to Sickels himself:
“You’re ready to make that step,” Spencer said. “You’re ready to be that guy, to make the plays. The biggest thing I want to see from you is to take over a game — big plays on third down, TFL’s.”
Sickels got the message.
“I just have to make things happen,” Sickles said. “You have to be ready to take advantage of your opportunities. I’m ready to take advantage of every opportunity this year.”
Sickels has emerged as a team leader, exemplified in part by his role as a top organization officer in the team’s Lift For Life efforts, which raised over $73,000 last week. That LFL experience, combined with his experience as a PSU DE starter, has solidified his role as a Nittany Lion tone-setter.
“It’s an opportunity to gain more respect as a leader with the team and also make an impact since my family was affected by a rare disease,” he said. “I worked with Ben Kline the past two years when he was president. It’s really humbling to be the president and I’m fortunate to have this opportunity.”
PSU D-LINE CAREER STARTS: 2008-2016
Here is a review of returning Penn State players, and their career starts, along the defensive line by season over the past decade:
ENTERING 2016
Returning (12) – Garrett Sickels (12 career starts).
Lost (70) – Austin Johnson (28), Anthony Zettel (28), Carl Nassib (13), Tarrow Barney (1).
ENTERING 2015
Returning (30) — Johnson (15), Zettel (15).
Lost (57) – Deoin Barnes (31), C.J. Olaniyan (26).
ENTERING 2014
Returning (35) – Barnes (18), Olaniyan (13), Johnson (2), Zettel (2).
Lost (33) – Da’Quan Jones (23), Kyle Baublitz (10).
ENTERING 2013
Returning (20) – Jones (11), Barnes (8), Olaniyan (1).
Lost (49) – Jordan Hill (28), Sean Stanley (18), James Terry (3).
ENTERING 2012
Returning (37) – Hill (17), Pete Massaro (11), Stanley (8), Terry (1).
Lost (74) – Jack Crawford (33), Devon Still (27), Eric Latimore (14).
ENTERING 2011
Returning (59) — Crawford (20), Still (13), Massaro (11), Latimore (8), Hill (4), Stanley (2), Terry (1).
Lost (39) – Ollie Ogbu (39).
ENTERING 2010
Returning (46) – Ogbu (27), Crawford (13), Latimore (5), Still (1).
Lost (45) – Jared Odrick (31), Jerome Hayes (9), Abe Koroma (5).
ENTERING 2009
Returning (39) – Odrick (18), Ogbu (15), Koroma (5), Hayes (1).
Lost (60) – Josh Gaines (33), Maurice Evans (17), Aaron Maybin (10).
ENTERING 2008
Returning (46) – Gaines (21), Evans (13), Odrick (7), Ogbu (4), Koroma (1).
Lost (12) – Chris Baker (7), Phil Taylor (5).
ENTERING 2007
Returning (9) – Gaines (9).
Lost (97) – Jay Alford (41), Tim Shaw (32), Ed Johnson (18), Jim Shaw (5), Steve Roach (1).
