Sept. 4, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Exactly a month ago today, Brent Pry took the podium for his first Media Day session in his new role as defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions.
The very first question? What was his plan to adjust to the departures of four defensive linemen heading to NFL? Among those four are defensive tackle Austin Johnson, defensive end Carl Nassib and defensive tackle Anthony Zettel, who all had standout careers in the Blue and White that ended in 2015. Defensive tackle Tarow Barney was also a solid contributor for the Nittany Lions.
The departures were no reason to be concerned for Pry, who mentioned that it wasn't the first time he he has dealt with good players leaving. While not always leaving for the NFL, Pry addressed a room full of media members with some of his own perspective.
"There's talent. There's just not a lot of experience," Pry said. "There are young guys, highly recruited. There are old heads that just haven't played a lot because they've played behind those [NFL] guys. I think we've got great depth. It's unproven depth, but the roster in that unit right now looks better than it has since we've been here."
That collection of talent featuring young and familiar faces making up the "unproven depth," finally got its chance to make an impact as the Nittany Lions opened the season Saturday with a 33-13 win against Kent State in Beaver Stadium.
Six Nittany Lions earned their first collegiate start against the Golden Flashes. Half of that number came from the defensive line with junior Parker Cothren, senior Evan Schwan and redshirt freshman Kevin Givens all lining up on the front four. Joining the new guys were familiar faces in juniors Garrett Sickels, (DE) and Jason Cabinda (MLB) and seniors Brandon Bell (SAM) and Nyeem Wartman-White (WILL), who returned after missing the 2015 season due to an injury.
Leading 16-13 at halftime, it was the starters who held it together, with Bell leading the way with five tackles, Wartman-White and Sickels combining for a sack and Schwan posting one tackle for a loss of three yards.
The show began in the second half.
"The end of the second quarter felt like one of those things where you saw glimpses of it, but it was never really transferring into continuing momentum," Sickels said. "At the start of the third quarter, we started making plays left and right and everyone could just feel it."
On Kent State's first drive, sophomore cornerback Amani Oruwariye caught a pick-six and returned it 30 yards for Penn State's first interception return for a touchdown since 2014.
On the next drive, freshman Shareef Miller, one of 19 players to make their first career appearances, sacked Kent State quarterback Justin Agner for a loss of 10 yards. Miller finished with 1.5 sacks and a career-high five tackles.
Two drives later, Bell grabbed his third career interception on the Penn State 13.
"The ball came up on me hot," Bell said. "I turned my head around and it was in my face. It caught me off guard but I was lucky enough to catch it."
Holding Kent State without a score in the second half, Penn State logged six sacks, most of which came from the depth on the bench. Sophomore Antoine White and redshirt freshman Ryan Buchholz combined for 2.5 sacks for a loss of 17 yards. White closed out the day with a career-high five tackles, while Buchholz's one sack was the first of his career.
The Nittany Lions totaled seven sacks in the win against the Golden Flashes, marking the most since recording seven at Northwestern in 2011. The new-look defensive line accounted for six of those seven sacks.
Buchholz, junior Tyrell Chavis (DT), redshirt freshman Ryan Monk (DT) and redshirt freshman Robert Windsor (DT) were also among the group of 19 Nittany Lions to make their first career appearances, all rotating in on the defensive line.
"Sometimes we didn't capitalize on our opportunities and other times we did," Sickels said, reflecting back on the much improved second half. "During the off-season I took it very personally when people were saying that I played in the shadows and what are we going to do without AJ (Austin Johnson) and Tarow (Barney), but seeing everyone help out today really made me proud to be the head of that field."
The new Nittany Lion defensive line has certainly emerged, with a new look, but one that has potential. Each year is always a little different but with the first win out of the way, Penn State's defensive line is poised to continue to showcase its new personality this year.