University Park– Here are Penn State football’s starting lineups for the eighth game of the Matt Campbell era, as introduced on the jumbotron prior to kickoff.
Penn State will be without receiver Koby Howard for the fifth straight week and without receiver Chase Sowell for the first time this season.
In their place is true freshman Amarion Jackson. Penn State announced two starting receivers instead of the typical three, with veteran Brett Eskildsen being the other one.
When
Amarion Jackson got to Penn State last winter, he was a defensive back.
But when spring practice rolled around, coach
Matt Campbell and the staff decided to switch him to receiver.
A combination of Jackson’s talent at the position (50 receptions, 900 yards, 16 touchdowns as a senior for Millard South High School in Omaha, Nebraska) and Penn State being shorthanded at receiver (veterans
Chase Sowell and
Brett Eskildsen were recovering from injury during spring camp) led to the move. By the end of the spring, Campbell told reporters he felt Jackson was one of the best overall performers among the freshman class. Jackson kept pushing himself in the summer. It got to the point where his veteran teammates told him to slow down.
“We had to tell him like, ‘Hey, you need to chill out,’ Sowell told reporters at Penn State’s local media day Friday. “We’re about to get to camp. Like you need to make sure your body’s feeling good. Like we’re kind of going a little too crazy, you know?’”
In the words of former
Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, “I’d rather say ‘woah’ than ‘sic ‘em’”.
As fall camp rolls on, Sowell has noticed Jackson trying to find every possible way to get better.
“Whether it’s a release, whether it’s a route, whether it’s just how he catches the ball, how he’s turning up the field,” Sowell said. “Like, he’s just finding different ways, and he’s starting to truly look like a vet, honestly.”
Campbell took the last line one step further.
“Amarion Jackson is not a freshman,” Campbell said Friday. “He is (technically), but he looks like a guy that’s going into his junior year. He looks like a guy that’s got such maturity for a young guy.”
Here’s the full starting lineup.
Special Teams
P: Nathan Tiyce
K: Ryan Barker
LS: Blaise Sokach-Minnick
Defense
DE: Yvan Kemajou
DE: Alexander McPherson
DT: Siale Taupaki
DT: Keanu Williams
LB: Tony Rojas
MLB: Kooper Ebel
DB: Audavion Collins
CB: Daryus Dixson
SS: Marcus Neal Jr.
FS: Jeremiah Cooper
CB: Audavion Collins
SS: Jamison Patton
FS: Zion Tracy
CB: Audavion Collins
FS: Jeremiah Cooper
CB: Audavion Collins
Offense
WR: Amarion Jackson
WR: Brett Eskildsen
LT: Malachi Goodman
LG: Trevor Buhr
C: Brock Riker
RG: Cooper Cousins
RT: Anthony Donkoh
TE: Andrew Rappleyea
TE: Ben Brahmer
TE: Gabe Burkle
QB: Rocco Becht
RB: Carson Hansen
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