Penn State Football: Why One Teammate Says Rising Star Jayson Oweh Is ‘Going To Be Unstoppable’

Although he played only four games during his true freshman season in 2018, Jayson Oweh has already made quite the name for himself in the college football world. 

The Penn State defensive end was ranked No. 6 in Bruce Feldman’s college football freaks list, one spot ahead of linebacker Micah Parsons. The list has been described as a way to “showcase guys who generate buzz inside their programs by displaying the type of rare physical abilities that wow even those folks who are used to observing gifted athletes everyday,” and so far Oweh is fitting that bill. 

Coming in at 6’5″, 256 pounds, the 20-year-old still managed to run a 4.33 40 yard-dash and have a vertical jump of 36.5 inches. In the four games he played in 2018, Oweh finished with two sacks and four solo tackles. 

The fact that Oweh ended up one spot ahead of Parsons on the freaks list and ran his 40-yard dash a tenth of a second faster than him didn’t go unnoticed between the pair. The two have joked about it throughout their time at Penn State. Parsons even not so jokingly challenged Oweh to a race last fall.

I would like take the time to challenge @JaysonOweh and race him for the fastest kid in the recruiting class! He did not beat me all summer 🤫🤐👀 https://t.co/cNjtetgH5n

— BLESSEDMVP (@Micah_Parsons11) September 19, 2018

Strength and conditioning coach Dwight Galt takes plenty of pride in the fact that he has helped develop some of the best athletes in college football, but he also loves the fact that they push each other more than anything else. 

“I think it’s been great for them,” Galt said. “Micah’s had great success every step of the way, and he’s very seldom to run into someone that can keep up with him. It’s friendly. They’re really close, and it’s been a great situation for both of them.”

Between both true freshmen, Parsons made more of an impact on the field than Oweh did, appearing in all 13 games and leading the team with 83 total tackles, but Oweh has a strong chance to become a valuable contributor to Penn State’s defense in the near future. 

A four-star recruit coming out of New Jersey, Oweh was recruited to play at Ohio State, Michigan and Alabama, among others, but committed to play at Penn State in January of 2018. 

Why is it so shocking that he was a nationally-sought after football recruit? Because he was focused on playing basketball at Blair Academy and didn’t even play football up until just a few years ago. That was when the football coach at the school begged him to play, and Oweh agreed to play the sport for the first time. 

Although Oweh has been playing football for just a few years and appeared in just four games last season to preserve his redshirt eligibility, his ceiling is arguably higher than anyone else’s on Penn State’s roster. And his teammates have already taken notice of his raw talent.

“It’s really weird, just because of how young he is and how he hasn’t been playing ball for that long,” senior defensive tackle Antonio Shelton said. “But the man is extremely athletic and a freak. As soon as his football skills are really sharp, Jayson’s going to be unstoppable.” 

The Nittany Lions’ defensive line is already an intimidating prospect for offenses to deal with even before mentioning Oweh. Yetur Gross Matos, Shaka Toney, and Robert Windsor are just a few of the players who will be leading an intimidating group of Wild Dogs. 

With a young defensive end like Oweh developing and learning under a group of players like that one, it’s not hard to imagine that his freakish athletic ability will help him become a fantastic defensive end in the near future for Penn State.