Penn State Football: The Art of the Pass Breakup by Joey Porter Jr.

So far this season, Penn State has registered 41 passes broken up, a figure that is the best in the nation by a whopping 16 pass attempts. The Nittany Lions are averaging 11.25 passes defended per game, while the second-best team in the nation, Illinois, averages just 7.75. Compared to last season Penn State is just seven pass breakups from tying last year’s mark and 19 from tying the season high for any of the last nine years.

It is an astounding accomplishment just four games into the season, even if some of this is a bit related to the opponents and their offensive tendencies. Penn State has seen the ball thrown at its defense 189 times, which marks the most in the entire nation. At the same time opponents are completing just 51.3% of those passes, with only nine teams putting up a better pass completion rate better than the Nittany Lions. Additionally, Penn State has faced 59 more pass attempts than the next closest team in the top 10 of defensive completion rate.

Of course, defending lots of passes isn’t simply a matter of seeing a lot of attempts. Bowling Green, which has faced the second-most pass attempts in the nation behind Penn State, is allowing teams to complete those passes at a 73.1% rate compared to Penn State’s 51.3%.

Back to the art of breaking up the pass, we might as well ask the nation’s leader is passes broken up, Penn State corner Joey Porter Jr. Through four games of the season, Porter has broken up nine passes, while fellow corners Johnny Dixon and Kalen King both have six to their names, each good enough for No. 9 in the nation. Safety Keaton Ellis is next best on the list at No. 27 with five passes defended. Meanwhile, safety Zakee Wheatley has hauled down two interceptions, a number bettered by just eight players.

So school then. Let’s say I’m running fairly straight down the field, maybe a post route or a fade. How does one go about breaking up that pass?

“That depends on how deep you’re running a route,” Porter said on Wednesday. “So if it’s a quick fade like a back shoulder, I’m running with you and then at 10-to-15 yards I’m chest-to-chest and I’m looking back at the quarterback with you. If the quarterback is going to throw it to you, then I’m head turning and then I’m going to wedge you to the sideline to play the ball. So that’s usually how we do it. Really just to eliminate the back shoulder plays that a lot of teams like to run like Purdue and Central Michigan. To eliminate those we just got to get our head around fast and when we realize it’s not that then we will make a play on the ball. Something like Johnny Dixon on his interception. He came in face tech realized it wasn’t a back shoulder so he flipped his head around and got to pick that, which was [perfect] tape.”

And if I’m running a slant?

“Well,” Porter said thinking about the situation. “It depends if I’m on top of the route and I’m already knowing that you’re running a slant and I’m in front of you, then I will just break it up with my right arm, going through both your hands with a physical force. But if you got to step on me and I got to undercut you, then I’ll come in with my left arm to shoot across your body to push the ball out.”

Noted, class dismissed.