UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn knows a thing or two about what it takes to play defense at Penn State.
Lynn, who is entering his first year as the defensive coordinator under Matt Campbell, was a three-time All-Big Ten Honorable Mention at cornerback for Penn State during his playing days. He played alongside Jared Odrick, Navarro Bowman and Sean Lee just to name a few.
Now, back at his alma mater, who does he have as his Mount Rushmore of Penn State defenders?
“Lavar Arrington,” Lynn said. “I feel like you got to put Dan Connor in there. I mean, there’s a lot of linebackers: Paul Posluszny, Shane Conlan, and let me think of one more. I’m gonna go with Jared Odrick just because I played with him, and he was probably the most dominant defensive tackle I saw here.”
Lynn was being recruited by the Nittany Lions when Posluszny and Connor were wearing blue-and-white while he had a front row view of Odrick in action. All three went on to play in the NFL and Connor is currently the assistant linebackers coach at Penn State.
It is important to note that Lynn did eventually put Bowman in for Odrick after it was all said and done, but it did take some heavy thinking.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Lynn joins a staff with the aforementioned Connor and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith. Lynn and Smith go back to when Lynn was being recruited by Penn State and was being hosted on a visit by Smith’s son, Justin King.
“His son was one of my hosts, so I knew who Terry was, and we had met in passing,” Lynn said. “But to actually get to spend this time with him, he’s been awesome.”
Smith’s love for Penn State football is on display daily and that’s not something Lynn takes for granted.
“He exemplifies what Penn State is,” Lynn said. “He’s the same guy every single day. He’s a great leader, not just for the players, but for the staff. And he puts his ego aside. He cares about Penn State football more than anything else.”
