Lions seeking to fill holes
Defense must find some ways to reduce number of big plays
Big plays have been on James Franklin’s mind this offseason.
He hired new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich to create more of them in 2021 after the Nittany Lions suffered through a 4-5 campaign in the fall. And Franklin is trusting that veteran defensive coordinator Brent Pry can get his Lions to allow fewer big plays next season.
Penn State must replace four key starters on the defensive side — nose tackle Antonio Shelton, ends Shaka Toney and Jayson Oweh, and safety Lamont Wade. The Lions’ linebacker group of Brandon Smith, Ellis Brooks and Jesse Luketa returns and promising youngster Curtis Jacobs will be entering his second year.
Veteran Jaquan Brisker will lead the safety group, and a corner room that features a healthy Tariq Castro-Fields and emerging Joey Porter Jr. could be a team strength.
But the Lions will really miss Toney, Oweh, Shelton and Wade.
“We have to limit explosive plays, probably more so now than ever,” said Franklin, who brought Pry with him from Vanderbilt when he took the Penn State job in the winter of 2014.
“One of the ways you do that is by tackling well. We did not tackle as well as we have. That has shown up in previous years, but as the season has gone on we’ve gotten better.
“An area that we have to improve, that I would not say has been a strength of ours, is creating turnovers. Creating more turnovers is a huge momentum swing.”
Penn State’s defense forced just nine turnovers in nine games — five fumble recoveries and four interceptions.
During Franklin’s time at Penn State, the Lions have produced some very good defensive ends such as Deion Barnes, Carl Nassib, Shareef Miller and Yetur Gross-Mato.
Now PSU must replace 2020 starters Toney and Oweh, both All-Big Ten choices. Key reserve Shane Simmons is also moving on.
Toney was a productive player at Penn State for four consecutive seasons. He posted a foursack game versus Indiana in 2018 and also was a second-team All-Big Ten pick in 2019. Toney finished his career with 29 ½ tackles for a loss, 20 ½ sacks and four forced fumbles.
“He’s extremely quick,” Franklin said. “I think he’s going to test better than people expect. He’s deceptively strong, you know, and I think he has some position flexibility, whether it’s at defensive end or even outside linebacker in a 3-4.
“I think he’s got tremendous quickness and he’s got an unbelievable football IQ. He’s one of those guys that you don’t see very often on the defensive line, where he was making a lot of the calls and communication up front.
“A lot of his playmaking didn’t just come from his athleticism. It came from his football intelligence as well.”