Joseph Mupoyi is part of arguably Penn State football’s best position group.
At defensive end, Penn State is slated to start Dani Dennis-Sutton, a former five-star recruit with first-round potential, and Abdul Carter, a first-team all-conference linebacker who should prove to be just as effective, if not more so on the EDGE.
Although Penn State’s defensive end room still looks strong, it isn’t as much of a sure thing as it seemed at the beginning of summer.
Zuriah Fisher suffered a serious injury during spring ball, and his availability for the start of the season is unknown. Jameial Lyons, a guy who many thought would be a breakout player in 2024, was recently dismissed from the team.
With Lyons gone and Fisher’s health in question, the door could be open for Mupoyi to have a bigger role in his second season. He’s the latest subject of All 105, a Nittany Sports Now series profiling each Penn State player.
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 260 pounds
Hometown: Kinshasa, DR of the Congo
Before Penn State: Joseph Mupoyi came to Penn State after a successful career, first at Archbishop Carroll (2021) and then the St. Thomas More School (2022). He helped each team to a state championship. Mupoyi ended his senior season with 14 sacks, 12 tackles for loss and 54 total tackles. A four-star recruit, Mupoyi was one of the last players to commit to Penn State’s 2023 Class, announcing it a little more than a week before signing day.
Last year: Mupoyi redshirted his freshman season.
Where he stands: It might be unreasonable to expect Mupoyi to get a ton of playing time in Year 2. Penn State still has veterans Amin Vanover and Smith Vilbert— who coach James Franklin spoke highly of at Penn State’s media day— behind Dennis-Sutton and Carter. But Franklin also mentioned Mupoyi, and player’s like him and classmate Mason Robinson are guys that could take steps forward and help Penn State a great deal.
A quote by Joseph Mupoyi: ”I like Penn State. I love (Coach) James Franklin because everything he says is true.” — Mupoyi to 247Sports on his commitment.
A quote about Mupoyi: “And then we’ve got Mason Robinson who is going into year two in the program, that we are going to need to take a significant step for us. Then after that, there’s a bunch of guys, whether it’s [Joseph] Mupoyi, whether it’s [Mylachi] Williams, whether it’s [Jordan] Mayer, whether it is [Max} Granville. There’s other guys kind of in the mix there. But I would say for us, you’ve got Vanover, Carter, Dani, Vilbert, Mupoyi and Mason Robinson, probably the six guys that we know the most about right now, if that makes sense.” — James Franklin at Penn State Media Day
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