It has been a long season for Penn State’s defensive front, but the Nittany Lions are still managing to power through the Big Ten schedule with one of the best defenses in the nation despite the losses on the scoreboard and in the trenches.
First it was defensive end Adisa Isaac who was ruled out for the season before the year ever started which prompted the move of linebacker Jesse Luketa to a hybrid linebacker and defensive end role.
Then it was longtime starter PJ Mustipher, one of the most experienced and tenured defensive tackles in the Big Ten. He was injured early in Penn State’s loss to Iowa and ruled out for the remainder of the year as well. Penn State is also without the services of once presumed starting tackle Hakeem Beamon for the entirety of the season.
“Those aren’t quick fixes,” Penn State coach James Franklin said on Tuesday. “I think the combination of [Derrick] Tangelo, as well was [Coziah] Izzard and Dvon Ellies, those guys have stepped up. You know they probably weren’t ready to do it right away in the second half [against Iowa] and probably weren’t ready to do it right away the next game but they’re getting better.”
The trio had a solid outing against Ohio State this past weekend, as a collective they racked up four tackles with 1.5 tackles for a loss. It wasn’t an eye-popping outing, but the Nittany Lions managed to hold the Buckeyes to just 19 first half rushing yards, in no small part to Penn State’ defensive front with help from its linebacking corps right behind it. Albeit Ohio State did most of its damage on the ground in the second half.
For the most part Penn State has leaned on Tangelo, the Duke transfer who had already proven his worth playing solidly in relief of Mustipher all year. Now in a much bigger role, the transfer portal product will get an even larger opportunity to prove his worth against the likes of Michigan and Michigan State down the road, not to mention this Saturday’s trip to Maryland.
“Tangelo was already playing at a pretty high level,” Franklin said. “But obviously his rep count has increased dramatically from what we were doing before. I that’s part of what I kind of discussed earlier […] in development and recruiting and all these types of things so that when you do have injuries of prominent players that you really feel like you have the next guy stepping up.”
“You always want to be in a situation where you have obviously a really talented guy as your starter with another starter in terms of ability and experience behind him and then a young up and coming guy that you’re excited about. You really want to have that at every single position and with some of the injuries that we’ve had it has thrust those guys that were young developmental guys that we were excited about into much more significant roles right away.”
The good news for Penn State is that the relatively new NCAA rules allow for true freshmen to play in up to four games without losing a season of eligibility. While this doesn’t directly apply to Penn State’s challenges in the trenches, both Ellies and Izzard were both able to make appearances earlier in their careers without burning eligibility. In turn, both were just a bit more prepared when the moment came for them to step into a much larger role.
A role they will continue to grow into.
“For Izzard and Dvon the number of reps they have has gone up dramatically,” Franklin said in closing. “I thought they battled, really thought they battled and did some nice things but we’re gonna need probably two more guys. We typically like to have five defensive tackles rotating the entire year. We typically like to have five defensive ends rotating the entire year. Obviously losing a Adisa Isaac before the season started and then losing PJ early in the season changes that, but that’s when we’ve been at our best, when we’ve had a rotation of five guys.”
As for Mustipher, the senior’s 2020 season doesn’t count towards his eligibility due to an NCAA relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, so in theory he could return for yet another season. Time will tell his intentions and interest in doing so.
