UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Junior defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos (Spotsylvania, Va.) was among the 10 players named to the Big Ten preseason honors list, as selected by the conference's media members.
Gross-Matos, who is also on the Lott IMPACT Trophy preseason watch list, claimed first-team All-Big Ten honors from the conference's media last season. The junior finished second in the Big Ten and No. 12 in FBS with 1.5 tackles for loss per game in 2018. He was also eighth in the Big Ten and No. 47 nationally in sacks per game (0.62).
Gross-Matos became the 11th Nittany Lion to record 20 tackles for loss in a season (12th occurrence). He is tied with Bruce Clark (1978), Todd Atkins (1994), LaVar Arrington (1999) and Aaron Maybin (2008) for eighth place on Penn State's season tackles for loss list. Against Indiana in 2018, Gross-Matos had a career-high 10 tackles, the most tackles for a Penn State defensive end since Carl Nassib had 10 stops at Temple in 2015.
The Nittany Lions' home schedule features three non-conference games and four Big Ten Conference match-ups. The Nittany Lions open the season against Idaho (Aug. 31; 3:30 p.m.), Buffalo (Sept. 7; 7:30 p.m.) and the 100th all-time meeting with Pittsburgh (Sept. 14; noon) in non-conference action. In Big Ten play, Penn State welcomes Purdue (Oct. 5; noon), Michigan (Oct. 19), Indiana (Nov. 15) and Rutgers (Nov. 30) to Happy Valley.
For information on joining the Nittany Lion Club and reserving new season tickets for the 2019 Penn State Football season presented by PSECU, as well as club seating in Beaver Stadium, fans can visit www.PSUnrivaled.com, call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office weekdays from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Nearly 4,500 new season tickets have already been sold for the 2019 campaign.
