Penn State football’s Jayson Oweh looks to seize opportunity after 2 years of waiting
Jayson Oweh has been tuning out the noise for over two years now.
As a former four-star recruit and the 76th-best player in the Class of 2018, the redshirt sophomore defensive end arrived at Penn State in the fall of 2018 with sky-high expectations. Oweh was pegged to have an immediate impact, but he’s done more waiting than playing in his two-plus years on campus so far.
After a strong game in only his second career start in last week’s loss to Indiana, it looks like that will change. Oweh finished with just two tackles but led the team in quarterback hurries with nine. His play was recognized by Pro Football Focus, which gave him the highest grade of any defensive player in the Big Ten last week.
Now, he’ll look to build on that performance as No. 18 Penn State hopes to rebound in its first home game of the season Saturday against No. 3 Ohio State.
Even after the past two seasons — in which he combined for 25 total tackles and seven sacks — Oweh doesn’t feel any extra pressure to prove to the world what kind of player he is.
“I always have goals for myself, so it’s just internal pressure,” Oweh told reporters Wednesday. “I wanna reach goals. But in terms of external pressure, you guys create it. Like I said, you guys always create the narrative. I just have goals that I wanna reach and things that I wanna do. And if I meet those and keep on progressing, I feel like it’s just gonna tell itself.”
Oweh didn’t start playing organized football until he was a junior at Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey. So, it makes sense why he didn’t immediately find his footing in college.
He’s always been a freak athlete, though — evidenced by his top-10 ranking on Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks List” in back-to-back years. At 6-foot-5, 252 pounds, Oweh has reportedly run a 4.33-second 40-yard dash and has a vertical jump of 36 inches. He also benches 380 pounds and power cleans 365.
Soon after Nittany Lions first-year defensive line coach John Scott Jr. was hired in February, he watched tape of Oweh from last season. The athleticism jumped off the screen.
“Jayson was very explosive and you saw a big-time athlete just going out and making plays with his athleticism,” Scott Jr. said. “He still was kinda raw in a couple technique things. I think Jayson matured from last season to this season, because I feel like now, you see more of the technique.”
Head coach James Franklin said that though Blair Academy did a “tremendous job” of preparing Oweh to play in college, the obvious jump in competition level in the Big Ten provided a learning curve.
Studying from the sideline has allowed him to improve, and Oweh now has demonstrated that he’s starting to understand the intricacies of football.
“He came in and got better and improved his fundamentals and technique and his football IQ,” Franklin said. “Last year, obviously he showed some flashes. Now this year, he’s starting to put it all together.”
Redshirt senior defensive tackle Antonio Shelton has also seen firsthand the strides Oweh has made during his time with the program. Playing alongside Oweh has made the game more fun for Shelton.
“Jayson is gonna go as he wants to go,” Shelton said. “The sky is the limit for Jayson Oweh.”
Blocking out the outside distractions has seemed to pay off for Oweh so far. On Saturday, he’ll not only start but the Nittany Lions will need him to have a solid game to have a chance to upset the Buckeyes.
Lucky for Penn State, Oweh believes what he did on the field last week against the Hoosiers was just a glimpse of what he can do.
And if he’s right, he’ll be a nightmare for opposing offenses all year long.
“I’m really thankful for the progressions I’ve made and the progressions I can make, too,” Oweh said. “Because I feel like I’m still only like 60, 55 percent of what I can truly be. So I’m really happy with where I’m going.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 6:05 PM.
