PSU defensive tackle Mustipher ready to step up on and off field
As many counties in Pennsylvania start to open, fans are becoming more interested in the diversion sports provides. Penn State supporters likely are keen to know how Brent Pry plans to roll with a unit that was eighth in Football Bowl Subdivision in scoring defense by allowing 16 points a game and had a rush defense that allowed 95.0 yards per game for a fifthplace ranking in 2019.
Smart football observers know that cornerbacks and safeties like Tariq CastroFields, Lamont Wade, Marquis Wilson, Keaton Ellis, and Joey Porter Jr., will be essential if the pass defense is going to step up after allowing 7.4 yards per attempt and 12.2 yards per completion.
But it’s just as obvious that the Nittany Lions’ defensive line must play better, too.
If there are going to be football games in 2020, junior defensive tackle PJ Mustipher likely will have to be great for Penn State to live its best football life. The Maryland native has shown flashes of excellence with 5.5 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and one sack in the 25 games he has played in so far.
There will be time to discuss how new defensive line coach John Scott will get the best out of Mustipher. But the world beyond
Beaver Stadium looms larger due to a confluence of factors such as police violence against African Americans, poverty, protests and a COVID-19 pandemic that forces everybody to pay attention.
Mustipher believes his team can lead the conversation about healing and restoration.
“If all the guys in locker rooms all over the country and Penn State football can start this conversation, and lead this conversation, then I think change can happen everywhere,” Mustipher said during a virtual news conference Tuesday. “We have so many different diverse backgrounds and guys come from all over the place.”
Sunday, offensive lineman C.J. Thorpe gave an impassioned speech at a rally honoring the life of George Floyd. The death of Floyd in Minnesota last week has fueled world-wide anger and protests, and Mustipher discussed what it meant to hear his friend speak with such passion.
“C.J. being the catalyst to start this conversation,” Mustipher said. “He stepped out there. It’s not easy to do that and speaks volumes to the leadership we have in this locker room.”
Mustipher told reporters that he doesn’t want the conversation around Floyd’s death to stop.
“I don’t want this to be a one-week or a one-month thing,” he said. “I want this thing to be all year round. I want us to be talking. Twenty years down the road, I don’t want kids to feel like they don’t have a voice. I want us to be doing stuff in the community. What can we do to change things? I want us never to forget this feeling we have right now because it’s so important.”
Eventually, Mustipher will run through the tunnel and onto the field. The band will play. Even if there aren’t fans, there hopefully will be football games. Every play will get scrutinized, but today, there are more pressing issues.
Mustipher doesn’t want people to forget what’s happening now.
“It sucks that we have to go through this, but it’s important that we remember this feeling we’re having,” Mustipher said.
“We continue to move forward as a country, and you know, just put ourselves in the best position to be in a country where unity is key.”
Mustipher knows that changing over 400 years of racial disparity will take more than words. He has a unique position of influence as a football player at a school with national championship ambitions.
With that privilege, though, comes great responsibility, and he embraces accountability with his words and deeds.
“I want to be a representative of what to do for kids who want to be in my position,” Mustipher said. “I want to do it the right way.”