University Park, Pa. — When Caleb Bacon arrived at Penn State, his position was technically linebacker.
One game into the season, that label already feels inadequate.
Bacon spent much of Penn State’s 45-0 season-opening win over Marshall attacking from the edge, and the results offered an immediate glimpse of why Matt Campbell and defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn believed moving him closer to the line of scrimmage could unlock another dimension of his game.
Bacon finished with six tackles, all in the first half, three tackles for loss and a sack. The three tackles for loss tied his career high, while two came on consecutive plays in the first quarter.
For a player transitioning into a new position, Bacon looked remarkably comfortable.
Maybe that’s because the role isn’t quite as new as it appears.
“I think if you go back to some of Bacon’s last two years, you saw there was a lot of multiplicity in what he did there,” Campbell said after the Marshall win. “You saw him in some very similar modes.”
That’s the key to understanding what Penn State is doing with Bacon.
He’s not becoming something completely different. The Nittany Lions are taking pieces of what made him effective at Iowa State and concentrating them into a role designed to maximize his strengths.
The numbers pointed Penn State toward the edge
Bacon’s 2025 season provided plenty of evidence.
At Iowa State, he played 652 defensive snaps, including 280 against the run, 262 in coverage and only 110 as a pass rusher, according to Pro Football Focus.
Yet Bacon generated 16 pressures and three sacks despite those limited pass-rushing opportunities. His 14.5% pressure rate was just below the 15% threshold generally considered elite.
Think about what that means.
Bacon wasn’t a full-time edge defender relentlessly attacking quarterbacks. He was an off-ball linebacker being asked to cover, defend the run and occasionally rush.
When Iowa State sent him, however, he produced.
Bacon finished second on the Cyclones with 16 pressures and 9.5 tackles for loss while leading the team with three sacks.
Campbell saw an opportunity.
“As we kind of got through spring, we kind of felt like, man, we’d be missing the boat not to add his multiplicity,” Campbell said during fall camp. “He’s a great edge player. He certainly has the ability to slide back and play Mike or Will linebacker at times as well because he’s great in coverage. He’s a smart football player.”
Bacon admitted the move initially surprised him.
“I think it caught me off guard at first, but after talking with Coach Campbell and the coaches, I really felt like it made sense,” Bacon said.
Then he embraced it.
“I’m all about doing whatever is right for the team,” Bacon said. “Coach Campbell has done a lot for me already, and if that’s what he thought was going to be the best thing for the team, I’m going to go with that.”
From Iowa State’s 3-3-5 to Penn State’s four-man front
The schematic change is significant.
Under Jon Heacock at Iowa State, Bacon developed in a 3-3-5 defense where versatility was essential. At Penn State, he’s operating more frequently within Lynn’s four-down structure.
But his Iowa State experience remains valuable.
“We ran a 3-3-5, so that was a big difference coming to a four-down defense,” Bacon said. “But honestly, a lot of the stuff that I did on the line there was moving. I would walk up. For a couple years there, I played MIKE linebacker. A lot of that stuff transitions to what I’m doing here.”
Penn State isn’t eliminating that versatility it’s weaponizing it.
Against Marshall, Bacon played 19 defensive snaps. PFF charted 16 along the defensive line, with another three in the box. He rushed the passer six times and generated a pressure, which became his second-quarter sack.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.His 68.7 PFF pass-rush grade doesn’t jump off the page, but his overall impact did. Bacon earned a 73.3 defensive grade, a 77.2 run-defense grade and an 80.4 tackling grade.
More than a position change
Bacon’s story also helps explain why Campbell trusts him with such a significant transition.
He wasn’t a blue-chip recruit destined for major college football.
“He started off as a walk-on,” Campbell said. “He was a guard coming out of the middle of nowhere, Iowa. The reality is, this guy earned the way to become a great player.”
His career was nearly derailed in 2024.
On the third play of Iowa State’s season, Bacon ran downfield on punt coverage and suffered a serious leg injury. He returned and eventually began rediscovering his form during the second half of 2025.
“He’s worked for everything he’s got,” Campbell said. “Nobody’s ever given him anything.”
Now healthy, Bacon gives Penn State something every defensive coordinator covets: uncertainty for an offense.
He can line up as an edge defender. He can move back to linebacker. His experience in coverage means Penn State doesn’t necessarily have to substitute when changing its defensive picture.
Bacon believes Lynn’s willingness to move pieces around is what makes the defense enjoyable.
“I think it’s really just the diversity,” Bacon said. “He’s got a good feel for it. He’s been around the game for a while. He’s got a good feel for when to call something and what to call.”
There’s another advantage to Bacon playing on the edge.
He doesn’t feel like he has to manufacture everything himself.
“I think it just gives me a lot of confidence, especially with the guys that we have in the middle,” Bacon said. “Our D-tackles played awesome today. Those are guys that are hard to move big bodies.”
When Bacon looks inside and sees those defensive tackles occupying blockers, his assignment becomes simpler.
“I think it just gives you confidence when you look across the line and see three other guys who you know are great,” he said.
Penn State may have found Bacon’s sweet spot
One game isn’t enough to declare the experiment a finished product.
Marshall won’t present the same challenges Penn State will encounter deeper into Big Ten play, and opponents will adjust once they accumulate film of how Lynn deploys Bacon.
But the opening returns are difficult to ignore.
Bacon was already an effective pass rusher when rushing the quarterback represented only a fraction of his responsibilities at Iowa State. Penn State is now giving him more opportunities to do it while retaining the flexibility to move him elsewhere.
That’s why “position change” almost undersells what’s happening.
Penn State isn’t trying to turn a linebacker into a defensive end.
It’s taking a 6-foot-4, 242-pound defender who has played MIKE linebacker, covered in space, rushed from multiple alignments and produced pressure at an impressive rate and moving him closer to the place where he can create the most disruption.
Against Marshall, that meant three tackles for loss and a sack before halftime.
For Bacon, the transition may have initially caught him off guard.
After one game, it’s already beginning to look natural.
