Penn State Football: Joey Porter Jr. Shines, Avoids Miscues in Season Debut

Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. is a polarizing figure for fans and to a certain extent coaches as he walks a delicate line between aggressive play and the kind of hands-on coverage that saw him flagged for more than his fair share of penalties in 2021.

Enter an older and perhaps wiser Porter in 2022, coming off an eight tackle effort that also included a whopping six passes defended with just one penalty to his name against Purdue. One game does not a trend make, but Porter managed to navigate an active night in coverage against an offense that wasn’t afraid to throw his way – a decision that at one point nearly resulted in an interception by Porter.

It made for a strange dynamic to watch unfold on Thursday night, Penn State’s top corner also being one of Penn State’s most active defenders. So often cornerbacks are simply avoided as teams throw away from them, but Purdue went right at Porter, either hopeful of drawing a few drive-changing penalties along the way, or simply unafraid in a confident passing attack.

“Obviously it’s unusual to have a guy that’s as highly thought of as Joey. I don’t know if they necessarily targeted him, but they didn’t avoid him,” Penn State coach James Franklin said earlier this week. “A lot of times people will just go in a different direction. But I just think they were just going to run their offense and do what they do, and where the defense or the quarterback’s progression took them, they were going to go.”

It’s fair to say Purdue came into Thursday a confident team. The Boilermakers won nine games last season and had the nation’s No. 5 ranked passing attack at 355 yards per game. A total of 12 interceptions put Purdue in the bottom third of the nation, but being third in the country in total passing attempts all season only invites the occasional turnover. So was it Porter that invited the attention or simply Purdue’s offense? In the end it was a bit of both.

“I think [they] do as good of a job as anybody in terms of throwing the ball, both the head coach as the coordinator and the quarterback,” Franklin added. “They do a really good job at it. Joey kept getting tested as the game went on and really played well. I think his confidence continues to grow. Obviously it’s a great way for him to start the season.”

Porter will have his hands full as the season moves along, perhaps less so against Ohio this coming weekend, but it’s safe to assume better teams won’t be afraid to test a physical corner in the game’s biggest moments. That is unless Thursday was the start of a truly breakout season, in which case his numbers might go down and his name might come up less often – in this case that’s a good sign for the NFL hopeful, and fans.