Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1410640
2 8 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M said. "We're family, so I just love going out every day and playing with those guys. "I put a lot of work into my craft, so I had no doubt in my mind I was going to come in and do what I was supposed to do. I'm confident that I put the work in." His teammates certainly took notice. The pressure he applied to Mertz late in the game was a perfect en- capsulation of Ebiketie's strengths: He's super-fast, has a quick twitch at the snap and is strong enough to shed blocks. "You can't teach speed," senior defensive tackle PJ Mustipher said, "and I don't think you can stop speed oftentimes, so he was able to use that to his advantage and just play reckless and had fun and he made a lot of plays, so I'm proud of him." Added redshirt junior offensive tackle Rasheed Walker, "I wasn't surprised. I was just so proud. AK is one of the best pass rushers I've ever had to block. I kind of expected the performance that he had. He's a great player. He's one of the best pass rushers that I've seen since I've been in college. I'm just grateful to have him on the team. We battled each other every day in camp, every day in spring ball. We got each other better." Ebiketie is also making his defensive teammates better. For instance, senior inside linebacker Ellis Brooks had a team- high 11 tackles against the Badgers and said that his success was partly due to Ebiketie's performance up front. "Playing behind AK was beautiful," Brooks said. "He's a special player, ath- letic as I don't know what, and he's going to have an amazing year. Playing behind him is perfect." So how did Penn State end up with this super standout? It's nothing against Temple, of course, but there's a reason his teammates were taking those play- ful jabs during the summer: Playing at the Group of Five level will never be comparable to playing in the Big Ten or some other Power Five con- ference, and the more tape one has against some of college football's best teams, the better off he's prob- ably going to be once NFL Draft weekend rolls around. Ebiketie did not immediately flourish with the Owls. A redshirt year in 2017 led to a second season during which he hardly played. Ebiketie came to Penn State after a strong junior year at Temple in which he totaled 42 tackles, including four sacks, and won second-team All-AAC honors in an abbreviated season. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL "There's been a buzz about AK since he showed up on campus. He's an explosive guy, a productive guy. I think he'll only get better from this [first game]." C O A C H J A M E S F R A N K L I N O N E B I K E T I E