Penn State football’s 38-15 season-opening win over West Virginia this past Saturday at Beaver Stadium wasn’t perfect, and defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton knows it.
Dennis-Sutton was on the field a significant amount, getting roughly 40 snaps, a sign that the former five-star from Millsboro, Delaware, will be playing a bigger role in coordinator Manny Diaz’s defense than he did as a true freshman.
So it was a big night for Dennis-Sutton indivudially, but collectivley, he wasn’t sastified with how the defensive line performed as a whole.
When Rich Scarcella of the Reading Eagle asked Dennis-Sutton where he feels the defensive line has to improve after one game, he gave a direct answer.
“I think everywhere,” Dennis-Sutton told Scarcella and other Penn State beat writers via Zoom Wednesday.
Dennis-Sutton went on to say that although he feels the D-line “hustled” and “played hard,” he felt it was a “sloppy game” for the unit.
“We didn’t get a lot of pressure,” he said. “We didn’t get many TFLs.
Penn State’s defense ended the night with six tackles for loss, but of those six, only two came from defensive linemen: One each for ends Adisa Isaac and Chop Robinson.
Dennis-Sutton credited West Virginia. WVU has an established offensive line led by center and All-American candidate Zach Frazier, and Dennis-Sutton said West Virginia’s running back, CJ Donaldson (18 carries, 81 yards) was “really tough.”
Dennis-Sutton said he felt West Virginia ran read options to try and slow down Penn State’s defensive ends, and expects this week’s opponent, Delaware, to try to do the same.
Overall, Dennis-Sutton wants to see more, and feels Penn State’s line is capable of producing it
“We have the ability to do that,” he said, “but I don’t think we showed that as much as we should have against West Virginia.”
