Penn State football can have the ‘No. 1 linebacker room in the nation,’ LB Jesse Luketa says
The Penn State linebacker room isn’t short on confidence heading into the 2020 season, and for good reason. The Nittany Lions return arguably the best in the country at the position in junior Micah Parsons and have plenty of talent to fill in around him.
Jesse Luketa is one of the players ready to step into a starting role, and he thinks the Nittany Lions can’t be matched at linebacker.
“We have the opportunity to have the No. 1 linebacker room in the nation,” Luketa said on a conference call with the media Tuesday afternoon. “We’re talented, we’re fast, we’re physical, we’re smart and we’re eager to learn. ... I’m excited for our guys. I’m excited for the country to see what we have to offer and what we’re going to do to opposing offenses.”
Parsons’ presence alone is enough to put the Nittany Lions in the conversation. He finished 2019 with 109 tackles, five sacks, four forced fumbles and a dominant performance in the team’s 53-39 Cotton Bowl win over the Memphis Tigers. Parsons was all over the field against Memphis, racking up 14 tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles in a dominant performance that helped turn the tide of the game in Penn State’s favor.
He’ll be the face of the room, but he’s far from the only talented linebacker the team boasts. Luketa and Ellis Brooks will be battling it out for one of the linebacker spots as experienced players who came into college as four-star recruits. Lance Dixon and Brandon Smith will likely fight for the other open starting job. Both DIxon and Smith were rated as five-star recruits in the 2019 class.
The new starters will have to earn their keep to get the jobs, and they’ll have to stay at the top of their game to keep them with their backups possessing a copious amount of talent.
Regardless of who starts next to Parsons, Luketa is confident he and the rest of the linebackers are at the peak of college football.
“You see the film,” Luketa said. “You see the individuals we have in the room. I see the work we put in day in and day out. Call me crazy. Call me what you want. I know the talent we have, I know how we work, I know how hungry we are. And it’s unmatched. It’s unparalleled. It’s as simple as that.”
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 5:07 PM.
