Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1410640
O C T O B E R 2 0 2 1 31 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M lege football years would actually be spent at defensive end. He's played mostly special teams so far and had only two career tackles heading into the 2021 season, but head coach James Franklin and other mem- bers of the staff have raved about his potential and have even evoked one of his more celebrated predecessors, Carl Nassib, who's now in the NFL. A for- mer walk-on, Nassib was unheralded at Penn State up until the moment he won a starting job as a senior, then he went out and enjoyed one of the best seasons ever by a Nittany Lion defensive end, totaling 15.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss in 2015. Of course, few players go into a sea- son expecting to produce numbers like that, and Tarburton's goal in August was simply to put himself in a position to help out wherever and whenever he's needed. "Ever since the spring and into this camp, I'm fighting for a role on this team, whether that's as a starter or whatever that may be," he said. "I'm just doing every- thing I can to lead this team and help others." It's much easier to do that when winter conditioning work, spring practice reps a n d s u m m e r wo r k o u t s are possible rather than while waiting for some- thing to heal up and the rehab regimen to end. And that's exactly what Tarburton had this past offseason — a chance to be a full partici- pant in the Nittany Lions' preparations for the 2021 cam- paign. " I t's a m a z i n g ," Tarburton said. "Just looking back on my p rev i o u s yea rs. I haven't been healthy for a camp since my true fresh- man year, and I'm excited to finally be healthy. It's been a long time coming. "I mean, obviously the summer was a big, whether that's conditioning, tech- nique, drill work, basically doing any- thing I can to just get better." His position coach has seen the work he's put in lead to production. "If you watched him in spring for prac- tice and then throughout fall camp, you kind of anticipated that the guy was go- ing to be who he is for us this year with how physical he was," Scott said. "He was in the right spots, and you know you're not going to find a harder worker on this football team than Nick Tarburton. "Nick's right up there with PJ and all those guys on how hard he works," Scott added, referring to senior defen- sive tackle PJ Mustipher. "He prepares the right way, and he's a technician at his craft. It's been incredible to watch him bounce back from the injuries and things that he had earlier." Scott has had to do some reshuffling during his second season as an assistant with the Nittany Lions. Isaac's injury obviously threw the predicted plan for a loop, and there are younger players like Smith Vilbert, Zuriah Fisher and Amin Vanover who might be ready for their own breakout season in addition to Jesse Luketa, who will split time at end and linebacker. Hakeem Beamon could see more time outside than inside, as well. They will all play, of course, and other names will enter the mix throughout September. To hear Tarburton talk, he's just happy to finally be full-go for the start of a sea- son, and that should lead to his best year in blue and white. "I'm just more experienced, just get- ting better, a lot healthier, and continu- ing to improve my craft, and I feel like I've been able to do that this summer," he said. Added Scott, "Ever since I've been here, Nick has been that type of glue guy who you've got to have in your pro- gram. My hat's off to [head trainer] Andy Mutnan and his staff, and [head strength coach] Dwight Galt and his staff, for get- ting Nick healthy and getting him strong and feeling good." ■