UCLA Football Preview: Penn State's Defense Is One of the Best in the Country
That means that tomorrow is probably going to be another long game for the Bruins.
Based on the list of starters from previous games, Penn State will play a pretty standard 4-3 defense as their base defense while occasionally substituting a nickel defensive back in for one of the three linebackers. So far, through four games, they’ve started three of their four games in the nickel.
So, they may start in the nickel against UCLA too, but don’t be surprised if they use a third linebacker during obvious running downs either.
Let’s jump right into who will be starting for the Penn State defense.
Defensive Line
The leading tackler on the defensive line is junior defensive end Abdul Carter. Carter is second on the team with 19 tackles this year including 6.5 TFLs and three sacks. He also has two pass breakups, a quarterback hurry and a forced fumble.
The other starting defensive end is junior Dani Dennis-Sutton, who has only made six tackles through four games including two sacks. Dennis-Sutton also has a pass breakup, a QB hurry, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Considering the fact that he doesn’t make many tackles, he’s a guy the Bruins should run towards tomorrow.
In between Carter and Dennis-Sutton, the Nittany Lions should start super senior Dvon J-Thomas (yes, that’s his name) and junior Zane Durant. J-Thomas has made eight tackles this season including one TFL while Durant has made a total of ten tackles with 4.5 TFLs and two sacks. Durant also has a pass breakup and a QB hurry.
I’m going to take a moment to give a quick shoutout to two of Penn State’s backup defensive ends, Smith Vilbert and Amin Vanover. Each of these guys are fellow SJR Green Knights like I was. They have each made three tackles this year. Vilbert also has 1.5 sacks and he has forced a fumble and recovered one too while Vanover has a QB hurry. I wish them well the rest of the season, but just not tomorrow.
Linebackers
Redshirt junior Kobe King is the leading tackler among the linebackers and he’s third on the team with 18 tackles. King has 1.5 TFLs and a sack. He should lineup as Penn State’s middle linebacker tomorrow.
Sophomore Tony Rojas will start at outside linebacker. Rojas is fifth on the Nittany Lions in tackles with 15 including 2.5 TFLs. He also has an interception, a pass breakup and a QB hurry.
Redshirt freshman DaKaari Nelson looks to be the team’s third linebacker, even though he didn’t start a game until last week. Nelson has only made one tackle this season. He’s the guy that defensive coordinator Tom Allen subbed out for an extra defensive back in the Nittany Lions first three games.
Secondary
Senior safety Jaylen Reed leads Penn State in tackles with 30 including two TFLs and half a sack. Reed has also broken up two passes, had a QB hurry and a fumble recovery. Basically, he’s a playmaker that UCLA would be wise to stay away from.
The other starting safety is redshirt junior Zakee Wheatley. He started the first two games as the team’s third safety/nickel back, but Penn State shifted him to one of the main safeties for the past two games. Wheatley is fourth on the team in tackles with 16 including half a TFL. He is one of the four Nittany Lions to intercept a pass this season and he has broken up two passes.
The starting corners should be AJ Harris and Jalen Kimber. Harris has made 11 tackles this year. The redshirt junior transfer from Georgia has also intercepted a pass and broken up two more. Kimber is a redshirt senior transfer from Florida who has made eight tackles and broken up a pass.
There are three other DBs who have started this year for Penn State. Junior Kevin Winston Jr. has made 13 tackles and forced a fumble. He started at safety in the games when Wheatley started as the third safety. Junior Cam Miller is a corner who has started two games, one as one of the main corners and one as the nickel back. Miller has made 11 tackles including a TFL and a sack. He also has two QB hurries this year. Sophomore Elliot Washington II is the fourth corner to start a game this year for Penn State. He started the Kent State game in place of AJ Harris. He’s made just three tackles this season, but he’s also intercepted a pass and broken one up too.
Analysis
The Penn State rushing defense is the seventh-best in the nation. So, don’t expect the UCLA running game to look any better than it has through the Bruins’ first four games of the season. In fact, it may look even worse tomorrow.
The passing game may not look any better either. The Nittany Lions are 14th in the nation in passing yards allowed with an average of just 154.5 per game. Chase Garbers availability will likely determine how effective the Bruin passing attack is. If he is held out by the coaching staff, don’t expect much offensive production through the air.
Overall, given the fact that Penn State is ranked fourth in the country in total defense, it looks like it’s going to be a pretty bad day for the Bruins offensively tomorrow.
Hopefully, I’m wrong, but UCLA’s offense has been terrible all season and there’s nothing to indicate that it’s going to suddenly get any better.
Go Bruins!
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I took statistics at UCLA and saying 'probably a long game for our Bruins,' is correct.
Ethan, not Chase. Chase played for Cal.