Depth chart breakdown: Where Penn State football stands at linebacker in 2020
Penn State football may have the best linebacker room in the country this season. The unit will be led by one of the country’s best at the position and, several other talented players ready to take a step forward
Let’s take a look at where the position stands heading into the 2020 season, starting with the team’s potential Butkus Award winner.
Projected starters
Juniors Micah Parsons and Jesse Luketa, sophomore Brandon Smith
Parsons is regarded as one of the best linebackers in college football, and is in for a huge junior season. He’s a leading candidate to take home the Butkus Award, given to the nation’s best at the position at the end of the season. He’ll have two teammates next to him that can more than hold their own at the position. Luketa will likely man the middle for Penn State and should be one of the defense’s leaders, while Smith will play on the outside and have a chance to break out this season.
While those two are gifted players, the unit’s talent begins with Parsons. The true junior almost assuredly has one season left as a Nittany Lion and then can — and likely will — take his talent to the NFL. He’s a first-round lock and a potential top-10 player in the 2021 NFL Draft and should only help his stock this season. Parsons racked up a litany of awards after a stellar sophomore season. He tallied 109 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and five sacks last season. The linebacker capped off that campaign with a 14 tackle, two sack and two forced fumble performance against Memphis in the Cotton Bowl. His elite season shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Parsons has the sideline-to-sideline range to make plays all over the field against the pass and the run. He’s an elite athlete who can sift through the trash to find the ball when running backs are trying to find the hole. He quickly takes away running lanes and has the instincts and strength to make plays in the backfield. He’s capable of covering opposing running backs and tight ends but is at his best when he’s rushing the passer.
The former five-star recruit was projected to play defensive end when he was in high school because of his elite bend and pass rushing instincts. He converts speed to power and blows up opposing offensive linemen on his way to the quarterback. Parsons’ list of football skills is endless and should propel him to plenty of awards and potentially a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidacy.
Luketa isn’t nearly as accomplished as Parsons but he can still make a big impact in the Penn State defense. He’s made two starts and 25 appearances over his first two years on campus and has shown enough to be a likely starter this season. Luketa has 31 tackles in that time and received credit for four passes defended in the 2019 season. Now that he’s likely to start in the middle of Penn State’s linebacking corps, Luketa should see a large increase in those numbers.
The junior is a true downhill linebacker who excels against the run and plays intelligently against the pass. He plays aggressively when he sees the offense is running and attacks downhill to engage and shed blockers. Luketa has little issue dispatching blocking tight ends because of his size and strength and is plenty big and strong enough to take on offensive linemen in the run game. He’s not quick laterally and that can cause issues in man coverage against the pass, but the junior linebacker is intelligent and can put himself in a position to succeed when the Nittany Lions have to defend the pass.
Smith has one of the highest ceilings of any defensive player on the Penn State roster. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound linebacker has elite size for the position and mixes it with athleticism and length to excel in all facets of linebacker play. He made a few bone-crunching plays in 2019 that excited fans, but the former five-star recruit has plenty more to show fans this season. He’s talented and ready to break out after recording two tackles for loss in limited playing time last season.
The true sophomore could be the next great linebacker at Penn State once Parsons leaves the room. He’s an aggressive athlete who seeks out the ball against the run and the pass in a way that can remind fans of Parsons. Smith isn’t the elite pass rusher his junior teammate is, but he has the upside to get there in the future. Comparing the two former five-star recruits increases the already high expectations for Smith, but there’s enough on tape of Smith to give credence to the comparison.
Key backup
Redshirt freshman Lance Dixon
Smith was joined in the 2019 recruiting class by Dixon, a fellow five-star linebacker. Unlike Smith, Dixon preserved his redshirt season and enters the 2020 season as a freshman. He played in three games last season and recorded his only stats when he finished the Idaho game with two tackles.
The redshirt freshman needed to add weight in his first year on campus and still needs to bulk up to handle the run game in the Big Ten. Dixon is currently listed at 6-foot-2 and 223 pounds but has plenty of room to add more weight.
The linebacker spent plenty of time in high school at safety, making his transition down into the box in college more daunting than a traditional linebacker. He has elite positional speed and displayed the athleticism necessary to play the position in college.
He can’t handle the college run game just yet because of his size, but Dixon should be an excellent coverage linebacker as soon as he steps on the field because of his background in the secondary. The redshirt freshman has to beat out Smith for a starting spot, but if he doesn’t he should still see plenty of playing time this season.
Freshman to watch
True freshman Curtis Jacobs
Penn State has kept up its elite recruiting at linebacker with the 2020 class. Jacobs, an incoming freshman, has all the tools necessary to be a dominant player in the middle of the field as a Nittany Lion. He’s a high-level athlete who played wide receiver on offense in high school and has the ball skills to make plays on defense. Jacobs is a natural linebacker who trusts his instincts against the run and pass. He, like Dixon, needs to add some size to excel in the Big Ten, but Jacobs has a chance to be a dominant linebacker in college.
That’s been a theme with this unit, which features upside throughout the room. Jacobs has the potential to be an All-American-level linebacker at Penn State and continue the long Nittany Lion legacy of success at the second level of the defense.
