Penn State football’s defensive line is quite good, and Boise State’s offensive coordinator was a big fan of a certain linemen.
For many, the first guess would be Abdul Carter, and that’s technically not a wrong answer.
Dirk Koetter did say that he wouldn’t be surprised if Carter, who won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in his first season as defensive end, if a top five Draft pick come April.
But perhaps Koetter’s most eye-opening quotes were about a 6-foot-1, 288-pound defensive tackle named Zane Durant.
WHAT KOETTER SAID ABOUT DURANT
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“Man, I would like to be that guy’s agent,” Koetter told reporters Tuesday. “He’s got a crazy combination of quickness and power, and I think that guy is very disruptive on the inside.”
Durant has one year of eligibility left, and currently, probably would not be drafted too early based on projections.
Last week, ESPN's Mel Kiper listed Penn State's Zane Durant as the #9 DT in his midseason 2025 NFL Draft prospect position rankings.
Average landing spot for the #9 DT in the last three drafts is Pick 117 (Round 4). https://t.co/jYpxE3FVXh
— Tyler Donohue (@TDsTake) October 30, 2024
But make no mistake, Koetter has a point.
Durant wasn’t named to either the Big Ten’s first or second-teams. That confused people, because Durant has become arguably one of the best defensive tackles in college football. He’s more than doubled his tackles from last season, going from 17 to 38, and even playing on the interior, has 24 pressures, which is third on the team. He also has 10 tackles for loss.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Durant was named to third-team All Big-Ten. Many felt that wasn’t enough.
SIMPLY THE BEST?
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now: Deion Barnes
So is Penn State the best defensive line Boise State has faced all season?
For Koetter, it’s no worse than No. 2.
“They’re right there with Oregon,” he said. “And it’s just been a long time since I’ve stood, you know, since I’ve studied Oregon (the teams played Sept. 6.) But they’re, they’re right there. I mean, just right off the top. First off, I think they have four defensive ends.
Koetter went onto say that defensive ends Carter, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Smith Vilbert and Amin Vanover could all be starters on most teams.
“11 (Carter), 33 (Dennis-Sutton), 92 (Vilbert) and 15 (Vanover),” he said. “And they play them a lot. They play all four of those guys. They like to play three at a time on pass downs.”
“So, yeah, we know. We, you know, we know we have our hands full with that front and they’ve wrecked havoc on plenty of teams, and that’s going to be a big key to the game is if we can neutralize that front.”
No. 6 Penn State and No. 3 Boise State are scheduled to kick off at 7:30 New Year’s Eve night on ESPN from Arizona.
