Curtis Jacobs has a decision to make about his future — this is why he’s waiting to do it
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Rose Bowl 2022
The Nittany Lions are taking on the Utah Utes in the Rose Bowl. Here’s a look at our coverage from Pasadena, California, leading up to the Jan. 2 game.
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Some time after the Rose Bowl ends on Jan. 2, Curtis Jacobs will announce his decision — either he’ll return to Penn State next season or he’ll enter the 2023 NFL Draft.
The decision is one worth pondering for the Penn State linebacker, who has come a long way this season. Jacobs was someone defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said he wanted to see more growth out of during spring practice, and now Diaz — who also coaches the team’s linebackers — praised the linebacker for what he proved this season.
“It’s funny because now we forget, Curtis had never played in the box,” Diaz said. “That’s a different world. ... So the first question is, can you roll your sleeves up and get down and dirty inside the box. Now we know the answer (is) yes. ... His ability to play SAM and WILL so (Jacobs and Abdul Carter) could be on the field at the same time, that’s no easy thing. That shows you what type of football IQ that Curt has.”
Jacobs deferred some of the credit for his success this season to Diaz, who joined the staff after the 2021 season. He said the season has gone well for him, and pointed to some of the versatility his coordinator mentioned.
He knows the system Diaz utilizes — and the type of mentality he wants his players to have — allowed him to evolve and make much more progress this year as a defender.
“It’s been amazing,” Jacobs said. “It’s been a lot more aggressive approach. I feel like I can be a lot more of an aggressive linebacker in this system. And I feel like it’s really showed my talent.”
Part of the growth for Jacobs has been how he’s developed off the field. The always jovial linebacker plays the game with joy — previously mentioning that he even laughs after making a big hit — and has now combined that with leadership ability off the field.
That was the primary area Diaz mentioned in the spring where he wanted to see Jacobs grow, and now at least one of the linebacker’s teammates is seeing it come to fruition.
“He’s definitely grown as a player and a person,” defensive end Adisa Isaac said. “This year for him, from the time he first got here until now, he became a great leader and an even better person — especially on the field. To see him grow game by game, who’s telling what his ceiling is. He has a lot of potential, great player, great skill set. I just want to see him flourish.”
It remains to be seen what Jacobs’ evolution will mean for his decision-making process.
He’ll sit down and talk with his family and that will be the primary driving factor in whether or not he stays or goes. He didn’t want to make the call before the Rose Bowl, because he said that’s the type of thing that can cloud your thoughts and prevent you from playing with a clear head.
So instead he’s focusing on the game now and the decision after. But if this is his last go around, he does know how he wants to be remembered.
“I just wanna be me,” Jacobs said. “Go out and play how I play, play how I know I’m capable of.”
Evolution of the defense
On Oct. 15 James Franklin sat in the away media room in Michigan Stadium discussing what had just unfolded on the field. His Nittany Lions were decimated by the Wolverines’ rushing offense, losing the game 41-17 and giving up 418 yards on the ground in the process.
As he spoke about his team’s performance, Franklin mentioned the need for more size on the defensive line.
Friday morning, Diaz said in a vacuum players that are bigger that trust in each other play better — but he pointed to the latter as the primary issue against the Wolverines.
“What the film said, was size was not an issue,” he said. “What the film said was against Michigan was that trust was an issue. And we started playing slow because we didn’t believe in the guys around us. And that was the hard talk. ... The film we watch doesn’t tell us if we win or lose, it just tells us what our performance was. And we had to be very up front and honest with what happened that day.”
The size of the players on the roster was not going to change in the middle of the season, so his players had to make the change on their own to play together and play with trust.
That’s where the leadership of the unit came in. They had to make the conscious decision to have faith that the player next to them would make the play. And that’s what they did the rest of the way.
“I think that was actually a very important day in hindsight because it forced us to decide whether we were gonna go all in and believe in each other or not,” Diaz said. “The leadership of the guys that are in this room right now — PJ (Mustipher), Tig (Brown) and Curt, I could go on — they saw. ... I love the guys we have and l love the way that we’ve played. And I think once we sort of let go and really played to the scheme, we’ve been very hard to run the football against. ... I think our guys learned a lot that day.”
Quick Hitters
- James Franklin said Wednesday that DE Smith Vilbert will be available to play in the Rose Bowl after not playing all season for an undisclosed reason.
- Isaac will announce whether or not he’ll enter the 2023 NFL Draft or return next year following the game.
This story was originally published December 30, 2022 at 3:24 PM.
