As I get older, those old coaching cliches I have heard replay in my head.
Approaching this column regarding a talented Penn State secondary, I had mixed thoughts.
The coach speech that seemed to resonate the most heading into this piece was this: “When the lights shine the brightest, the crowds are the loudest, the pressure the highest, only the best come out on top.”
Last year, the Penn State secondary in the biggest moments reflected the Sergio Leone spaghetti western classic “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.”
The good was against Ohio State where it held quarterback Will Howard to his lowest QBR (70.7) against ranked opponents. Howard’s average QBR against six opponents that were all ranked in the Top 10 was 94.5, and that included five games of a QBR north of 90.
Freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith, who tortured secondaries in the College Football Playoffs to a tune of 19 receptions, 381 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns was held to just 55 receiving yards against Penn State.
The bad came in the Orange Bowl.
While Riley Leonard was extremely efficient, the bad came on Jaden Greathouse’s 54-yard touchdown reception with under five minutes to go to tie the game.
The bad was done by two often dependable defenders in the secondary where Cam Miller fell down and Greathouse, who isn’t necessarily a receiving prodigy like Smith, broke safety Jaylen Reed’s ankles in one of the most critical plays of the 2024 season.
The ugly came in the Big Ten Championship Game where Oregon seemingly exploited a Penn State secondary that had no answers.
Oregon receiver Tez Johnson set a Big Ten Championship Game record with 181 receiving yards on 11 receptions with a touchdown.
I remember talking to AJ Harris after the game.
One of Harris’ biggest talking points were two key factors that Penn State did not do well on:
“They won the turnover battle…if you lose the explosive (play) and turnover battle, that’s the ball game right there,” he said.
The brightest lights never featured Penn State victorious in its high-profile contests and soul searching began after the Notre Dame defeat.
According to center Nick Dawkins, following the Notre Dame loss at the team hotel, the time for reflection involved major opportunity misses and an unsatisfying finish. That was the genesis of the epic return for Penn State.
“Coming to Penn State, I came here to win Big Ten Championships and win a national championship,”safety Zakee Wheatley said at Big Ten Media Days last week. “The beginning of every year, that’s expectations. Whatever happens, happens. But that’s how I go into the season every year.“
The leader of the secondary whose play skyrocketed after replacing Kevin Winston Jr., only improved as the season progressed.
Wheatley finished No. 10 amongst FBS safeties with an 87.7 run defense grade per Pro Football Focus. This can be highlighted by his Orange Bowl performance, where he led all defenders with 16 tackles, plus a tackle for loss, sack and interception.
“The amount of film work and amount of extra work being put in, the energy around the building right now is electric,” Wheatley said. “With the amount of veteran guys we got coming back and leadership we got going on, it kind of flows from freshmen to seniors. Everyone feels good right now.”
First year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles during pregame warmups ahead of the annual Blue White game. (Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now
The amount of detail emanates from new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
Knowles architected the 2024 Ohio State defense, which according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly was statistically the best in 25 years per his SP index.
Current Ohio State safety Caleb Downs said of playing for Knowles, “Very focused. Very intentional. Hard-nosed, for sure. He wanted it how he wanted it. I appreciate that because you gotta have some opinion on how you want things to be done. I appreciate him for that. He helped our team out.”
The growth of Downs games went from being the 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year to an unanimous All-American in 2024.
Knowles marveled over Downs ability at such a young age, but he is also praising a current Nittany Lion defensive back in a similar fashion.
“I was as impressed with Daryus (Dixson) as I’ve been with any freshman in my career who’s still supposed to be in high school,” Knowles said this summer.
“For guys to come in at that mid-year… he has an incredible maturity and consistency. That maturity that you see—you don’t expect from a high school senior.”
Knowles isn’t alone to complement Dixson’s game, Wheatley singled out potential impact freshmen in LaVar Arrington II and Dixon at Big Ten Media Days.
“I noticed that both of them are very hard workers,” he said. “The minute they got on campus they’ve been ready to show off their athleticism. I’d say LaVar is a freak athlete and he’s going to be a problem, I’d say the same with Daryus. I’ve been very impressed with both of them. In the spring game, Daryus had a game. I’m excited to see what both of them can do for us.”
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Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now
While Dixson’s future is promising, he will have the benefit of veteran stewardship with Harris.
Harris is rated as the No. 7 returning cornerback in the nation by PFF College behind a sophomore season finishing as one of the Top 10 most valuable cornerbacks in the nation according to PFF’s wins above average metric while only allowing 0.76 yards per coverage snap.
Opposite of Harris is junior cornerback Elliot Washington II.
Washington, despite not being a starting corner, finished last season with 26 tackles (18 solo), 0.5 tackles for loss, six pass breakups and an interception. His play was rated as one of 10 most valuable Big Ten corners last season, according to PFF’s WAA metric.
Junior Zion Tracy has carved himself a niche as the nickelback covering the opponents slot receiver. Tracy played 292 snaps in the slot for Penn State last season and will be in that role once again. Tracy had impact interceptions against Ohio State and in the Fiesta Bowl against Boise State.
The cornerback position seems to be a strength heading into 2025, in a similar vein safety was in 2024 with the trio of Winston, Wheatley and Reed.
Safety this year beyond Wheatley doesn’t have the same robust feel it did a season ago, but the talent is there.
Many analysts feel sophomore Dejuan Lane is a surging prospect. Lane saw some immediate action following Winston’s season ending injury, appearing in all 16 games, making 14 tackles (8 solo), an interception and three pass breakups
Lane took time to develop in the live fire of real game experience. While that burned his redshirt, Lane feels it has helped him raise his game.
“I can just look at things and read them a little quicker than I might have been able to if I didn’t burn my redshirt,” Lane said. “That’s definitely helped me a lot with this spring ball, and it’s going to translate into camp and then for the season.”
Junior King Mack returns to Penn State after leaving the program in 2024 to join Alabama. Mack saw an opportunity to potentially play early when Downs left the Crimson Tide to join Ohio State.
Mack only played 106 snaps last season, the majority of those came in a loss at Tennessee.
A change of heart had Mack return where there is plenty of opportunity to provide depth.
”He’d been talking to the guys on our team all year long. Still close with those guys. I think he saw a bunch of the guys that he came in with, with the year two, take a big step, which he would have been a part of that if he was here,” Franklin said.
“And I think, kind of like I talked about before about not knowing what you’re going to get out of the portal as coaches, in terms of the players you’re bringing in, or players going to other programs that don’t know the culture and what it’s going to be like. So for King, I think very early on, it was a no-brainer for us because I think he would have played a significant amount for us last year. And I think for King, why take unnecessary risk? He knows us. We know him. So it didn’t take very long. Once he entered the portal, I had a conversation with him. He was talking to our guys. Dex [Anthony Poindexter] got on the phone with him. We were able to kind of get it done pretty quickly.”
With plenty of talent in the two-deep, many analysts rate Penn State favorable. Both Phil Steele and PFF College have the Penn State secondary rated in their preseason Top 10.
Performance wise, you have to like the fact the unit finished fourth nationally with 20 interceptions as a whole, and only once allowed over 300 passing yards in a game (304 against Boise State) surrendering an average of 192.9 yards per game.
The issue hasn’t been excellence. It’s when the pressure is at it’s highest can the secondary eliminate the big plays and create turnovers to finally showcase itself as the best in the brightest lights on the biggest stage?
Time will tell if the attention to detail by players and coaches as well as the leadership change will have this group on the marquee as winners.
