8/3/2021 football Edit

ESPN puts Penn State football among best for producing talent at two spots

Nate Bauer • Happy Valley Insider

Senior Editor

Is in his 17th year covering Penn State football and men's basketball for Blue White Illustrated.

Dennis Onkotz and Jack Ham and Greg Buttle and Shane Conlan and LaVar Arrington.

Names essential to the establishment and maintenance of the moniker "Linebacker U" attached to the Penn State football program, the Nittany Lions' production of elite talent at the position hasn't particularly subsided in the time since.

With Paul Posluszny, Dan Connor, Sean Lee, NaVorro Bowman, Michael Mauti, and Gerald Hodges all having outstanding collegiate performances then going on to have NFL careers in the past two decades, the Nittany Lions still very much lay claim to the title.

In fact, in the Nittany Lions' updated 2021 media guide, the phrase can be found six times, listed prominently on the sixth page of the book with an impressive statistic attached.

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Penn State Nittany Lions Football 2021 media guide — Penn State regularly highlights its success developing linebackers. (Penn State Football Media Guide)

Further, Penn State highlights the fact that its 63 linebackers drafted into the NFL is the best all-time among college programs, besting Southern Cal (59), Ohio State (58), Notre Dame (47), and Oklahoma (46).

Beyond the draft, Penn State also lists its nine linebackers to have earned NFL Pro Bowl invitations, with four earning the distinction of All-Pro First-Team selections and another five that have won Super Bowl titles.

Penn State Nittany Lions Football linebackers — Penn State football's list of NFL linebackers. (Penn State Football Media Guide)

Does Penn State's history at the position, and the Linebacker U nickname, still hold the top spot in today's national college football landscape, though?

According to an updated Position U feature from ESPN, the answer is no.

In an annual piece that has appeared at ESPN.com claiming to analyze which schools should earn the distinction of 'Position U' in major college football, the Nittany Lions do not hold the top spot at any individual spots in any of the game's three phases.

Before breaking down the two positions that Penn State did land, however, let's take a look at how ESPN writer David M. Hale describes how the rankings were created. With the extremely important caveat (in Penn State's case, anyway) that the starting point is set at 1998 with the advent of the BCS, here are the other determining factors for their rankings:

So, what makes a school Position U? It's a combination of college success, draft stock and NFL success. Our formula awards points for all-conference and All-America selections, rewarding the best college performers. It awards points on a sliding scale based on where a player is drafted, rewarding impressive NFL evaluations. Then, using data from Pro Football Reference, we add more points for production through the first five years of the player's NFL career -- beyond that, credit belongs to the NFL trainers and coaches -- so that the draft busts and the late bloomers all get credit, too. Of course, we also need to account for the transfer portal, which is an increasingly big issue in the rankings. Our plan: Awards won in college belong to the school where it happened. The draft and NFL production get credited to the last school a player played for.

— David M. Hale - ESPN

As a result of its criteria, Penn State does not appear among the top 10 college football programs at quarterback (No. 1 - Oklahoma), running back (No. 1 - Alabama), receiver (No. 1 - Southern Cal), tight end (No. 1 - Miami), offensive line (No. 1 - Alabama), defensive back (No. 1 - Ohio State), kicker (No. 1 - Florida State), or punter (No. 1 - Texas A&M).

Defensive line and linebacker, however, did warrant Penn State inclusion.

First up, Penn State appears at No. 4 on a defensive line list topped by Alabama thanks to its 10 defensive linemen drafted in the top two rounds in Nick Saban's tenure with the Crimson Tide, alone.

1. Alabama

2. Florida State

3. Ohio State

4. Penn State

5. Clemson

6. Texas

7. LSU

8. USC

9. Tennessee

10. Oklahoma

At linebacker, meanwhile, Penn State also cracks the top 10, falling to No. 5 on a list topped by Georgia this year, ESPN citing the Bulldogs' eight linebackers drafted in rounds one and two since 1998.

2. Alabama

3. Ohio State

4. USC

5. Penn State

6. Oklahoma

7. Michigan

8. Clemson

9. Miami

10. Florida

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Penn State's inclusion, or not, in future iterations of the Position U feature will be interesting to follow given the program's more recent success stories.

At tight end, the Nittany Lions have produced two second-round choices in the past four drafts in Mike Gesicki and Pat Freiermuth, while the running back position has seen a surge in talent in the first-round selection of Saquon Barkley and second-rounder, Miles Sanders.

With a stable of talent at running back again this season that is only expected to get stronger in coming seasons, Penn State head coach James Franklin has even said he expects to be considered among the nation's best in developing talent at the position.

“I think we're building a reputation. (If) we keep going in this trajectory, there could be people in a couple of years talking about us as RBU,” Franklin said at the Class of 2019 signing day press conference. “I love it. I love when guys never ask you about the depth chart during the recruiting process.

“Guys understand, if you're going to go to a school that you want to compete at the highest level for conference championships, for National Championships, and all those types of things, you're going to have to compete wherever you go. The top programs are recruiting the best players in the country year after year after year, and if you expect to compete in the NFL, then you'd better learn to compete on a college campus. I love that guys are embracing that and not fearing that.”

Additionally, in Allen Robinson, Chris Godwin, and K.J. Hamler, the Nittany Lions have also started to churn out high-end receiver talent that has made its mark in the NFL, while 2021 No. 12 overall draft choice Micah Parsons could signal a push back into prominence for Penn State's linebackers.

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