Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles told reporters last month, before the start of the season, that he was concerned about the team’s linebacker depth, and a month later, he’s still concerned.
“Still searching,” Knowles said on a Zoom call Thursday. “Still searching. That’s a work in progress.”
Although that comes across as pessimistic, there’s a true freshman in that position group that Knowles is excited about, and it’s the same player LB coach Dan Connor praised last week.
THE DOWNEASTER ALEX
Graphic by Penn State Athletics: Alex Tatsch
WPIAL football fans will be happy to know that Penn State is quite excited about Alex Tatsch, who played his high school ball at Latrobe before starting his Penn State career this season.
“We’re trying to bring Tatsch into the mix,” Knowles said. “You know, again, he’s a true freshman, so that’s difficult. But we think he has the skills to do it. So we’ve been really trying to get him into the mix to see how far he can progress this year.”
Knowles also said that Tatsch— who made his college debut last Saturday against Villanova— could burn his redshirt.
“I think that’s a possibility for him,” Knowles said. “We evaluate everything, even the D squads when they’re going against our offense. We saw enough things with him in the skill level to show that he could possibly come in and compete this year as a freshman, the linebacker skills. So we thought it was worth the investment to start getting him meaningful practice snaps, meaningful game reps, because he showed those skills. So you really always have to choose who you’re going to invest those reps in, and we saw enough really good things on the practice squad and in other situations to think it was worth the investment.”
KNOWLES ISN’T THE ONLY ONE
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Jim Knowles isn’t the only Penn State coach who’s high on Tatsch.
When Connor was asked last week about Penn State’s LB depth behind Amare Campbell, Tony Rojas and Dom DeLuca, Tatsch was the first name he mentioned.
The two-time All-American and 2007 Bednarik Award (best defensive player) winner went on to list the similarities between Tatsch and himself as a player.
“He’s wired the same way I was at that age,” Connor said. “He’s probably a lot more mature than I was, but it’s similar wiring to what Tony has. I was incredibly hard on myself. I was highly competitive. I wanted to be not just the best on the team. I wanted to be the best linebacker in the country, and that was the goal through my whole process. It’s nothing I would say out loud or talk about, but I had my mind set on that. A lot of the guys have that similar trait, but there’s something with Tatsch that does remind me of a younger version of me, aside from the fact he looks like me and acts like me somehow. It’s kinda creepy. But he has some of the traits where it’s similar.”
Two days after Connor talked him up, Tatsch made his college debut, playing 21 snaps against Villanova.
He made them count, having a tackle for loss on the last possession of the game.
As promising as Tatsch is, Penn State would prefer not to need him for 21 snaps against No. 4 Oregon next Saturday— unless Penn State blows out Oregon.
But PSU is preparing for a close game, and that game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 on NBC.
