Penn State offense might be full of things to be critical of but the Nittany Lions’ defense was among the best in the nation for a reason last year. 2024 might mean a lot of new faces on this side of the ball but that doesn’t mean we can’t look back at one of the best defenses the program has put out on the field. Today it’s time to grade the linebackers.
The Grade: B+
The Good: Penn State posted 10 games this season in which opponents rushed for fewer than 100 yards, two of those games resulting in negative yards rushing. That doesn’t come back to just linebackers, but the Nittany Lions don’t boast the nation’s top rushing defense without them. Abdul Carter is as athletic as they come, Curtis Jacobs as experienced and Kobe King rounded out into breakout season form to give the Nittany Lions a bit of everything at linebacker. Add in the rising star of freshman Tony Rojas turning heads in garbage time and there’s a lot to look forward to in 2024. Penn State’s defense wasn’t on the field for very long, which dampens some degree of stat-padding, but most were probably expecting more production from Carter in particular. In many respects no one unit on Penn State’s defense did all the heavy lifting, a great example of how teamwork can make everyone better. The Nittany Lions’ did their part at linebacker, making good on a three talented starting options. Credit here to Dom DeLuca as well, a special teams ace with legitimate depth to every down linebacker play.
The Not So Good: On the whole this group is not that different than Penn State’s coverage units – very good, but maybe not quite as good as expected. Abdul Carter is a fantastic player, finishing fourth on the team in tackles with a gutsy Peach Bowl effort while injured, but on the whole he didn’t have the sort of Micah Parsons level season that a lot of people were expecting or hoping for. That may have been an unreasonable bar to cross in the first place, but Carter has that talent.
As for his cohorts in Jacobs and King, the latter took the next step in his play while Jacobs continued to be a steady and experienced force for the Nittany Lions, but neither rose to the level of some of the great linebacker rooms Penn State has had in the past. When it’s all said and done, it’s hard to really parse any aspect of Penn State’s defense in 2023 and come back with some truly glaring issue, but these linebackers weren’t all-world level like fans may have hoped for. The grade isn’t knocked so much because of actual shortcomings as much as not quite living up to the hype. Maybe a harsh metric considering how good this group ultimately was, but such is the standard of linebacker play at Penn State. 227 yards on the ground to Michigan hurts too, but then again the Wolverines won a national title that way.
Overall: It might be true that Penn State has put forth better linebacker units in terms of elite talent and production, but that doesn’t mean this group was anything to laugh at. The Nittany Lions excelled at all three levels, and linebacker has long been the bread and butter of what makes Penn State football, Penn State football.
See all of the Positional Grades HERE.
