Penn State well-represented on PFF All-Big Ten team
Pro Football Focus released its All-Big Ten team Wednesday, and Penn State was well-represented with seven first-, second- or third-team mentions.
The first-team featured both tight end Pat Freiermuth and safety Jaquan Brisker. As we detailed earlier today, Iowa's Shaun Beyer was the only Big Ten tight end to finish with a higher grade than Freiermuth this season. Despite playing in just four games, he still led the conference in receiving yards totaling 310.
Brisker was easily the top safety in the conference this season with a grade of 85.7. In fact, he was also the top-ranked safety at the Power Five level and No. 2 nationally behind South Alabama's Keith Gallmon. That earned him All-America honors from PFF, too. Brisker finished the year with 33 solo tackles and 24 assisted. According to the PFF database, he missed just one tackle the entire season.
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Wide receiver Jahan Dotson and defensive end Jayson Oweh both earned second-team honors. Dotson led the Big Ten in receiving yards, totaling 884 yards on 52 receptions. He was also tied with Purdue's David Bell with 8 receiving touchdowns. According to PFF, Dotson was the sixth-ranked wide receiver in the conference, earning a grade of 77.9.
Oweh ended up being the fifth-rated defensive end in the conference with a grade of 85.4. His rush defense grade of 89.8 was the best in the conference. Oweh, who missed the final two games of the season, totaled 38 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss.
Three Nittany Lions earned third-team honors in offensive lineman Will Fries, defensive end Shaka Toney and defensive tackle Antonio Shelton. Fries graded out as Penn State's best offensive lineman this season with an overall grade of 74.0. He was ranked among the top-20 offensive linemen in the conference.
With an overall defensive grade of 73.7, Toney was the 12th-ranked defensive end in the conference this season out of 58. He finished 2020 with 31 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 5 sacks. He also forced one fumble.
Shelton earned a slightly higher grade of 76.3, which ranked fourth overall in the Big Ten this season. He totaled 14 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.
Offensive lineman Mike Miranda was the lone honorable mention.
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