When an opposing offense sits down to sort out Penn State’s secondary, the first puzzle is simple enough to ask and hard enough to answer: where exactly is everybody lining up?
That’s the problem facing Temple on Saturday in Philadelphia, because the Nittany Lions have multiple defenders who can move all over the back end. Zion Tracy can handle cornerback, safety and the nickel spot.
Jeremiah Cooper can work at corner or safety. Marcus Neal brings safety skills and the kind of size - listed at 6-1, 216 pounds - that lets him attack the run like a linebacker.
Tracy showed that versatility again in Penn State’s 45-0 win over Marshall last Saturday, when his left hand was heavily wrapped and he still finished with five tackles, four of them solo stops.
Penn State defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn knows exactly what that kind of player looks like. A former Penn State cornerback himself from 2008 through 2011, Lynn had no trouble identifying Tracy’s value on Tuesday.
“Zion, he’s probably the most versatile DB we have on our team,” Lynn said Tuesday.
“He’s a nickel with a corner skillset and who’s smart enough to play safety.
“There’s going to be times where Zion is going to be at corner, there will be games where Zion’s playing safety,” Lynn continued.
“He’s kind of a chess piece that we can move around each week.”
That flexibility extends beyond Tracy. Penn State has a group it can lean on at safety, including Tracy, Cooper, Neal, Jamison Patton and true freshman Josiah Zayas. Zayas got the start against Marshall and was credited with two tackles and a quarterback hurry.
“There’s a lot of guys that can play,” Penn State head coach Matt Campbell said Tuesday, referring to his secondary.
“I think the ability for all those guys to do multiple things (is) really big.
“I think that will be a constant. I feel like a lot of guys we can play a lot of different combinations, how we use them, when we use them, what does that look like.”
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For Penn State, Suheys legacy reaches well beyond his pro career, rooted in his time as a reliable and rugged presence in the backfield before he became known in Chicago as Walter Paytons lead blocker. He also found the end zone in the Bears Super Bowl XX victory, a fitting footnote for a player whose value was often measured in the hard work that helped everyone around him shine. [Read more 🡒]
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The timing leaves Penn State waiting to see when Arrington can get back into the mix, with a return that could come around Week 6 or 7 if the rehab stays on track. Even then, he will be trying to make up missed time in a spot where practice reps matter, especially for a player hoping to carve out a role on the edge. For now, the question is less about what Arrington can do and more about how soon the Nittany Lions can count on him again. [Read more 🡒]