Penn State notes: Kobe King is the bedrock of linebacking corps

Penn State has had a lot of moving parts this season at linebacker, but the one constant has been Kobe King.

A fourth-year junior from Detroit, King ranks third on the team with 48 tackles and has 5.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. He had seven tackles last week in the Nittany Lions’ 35-6 win over Washington.

“Kobe is just playing really well,” coach James Franklin said Monday. “It’s hard to take that guy off the field because he runs your defense. That’s magnified a little bit because Tyler Elsdon has had some bumps and bruises.”

Elsdon, the former North Schuylkill star, has played in all nine games, but he’s seen limited action on defense in recent weeks. He has 17 tackles with two pass breakups. He has split the middle linebacker position with King for three seasons.

Ta’Mere Robinson, a redshirt freshman reserve from Pittsburgh, also had some “bumps and bruises” and missed two games.

“We’ve got to get Tyler Elsdon healthy again,” Franklin said. “We need Ta’Mere to really start coming on now. He’s shown some really good flashes at the Will (weak side) and Mike (middle) linebacker positions.”

Outside linebacker Dominic DeLuca, who was a high school standout at Wyoming Area, missed one game with a hand injury. Playing with a protective cast, he has 17 tackles, two for losses and one quarterback hurry and is getting more minutes behind and with Tony Rojas.

“You know exactly what you’re going to get with DeLuca,” Franklin said. “He can play both outside linebacker positions.

“We don’t have great depth there. We’re developing it but we’ve had some bumps and bruises along the way.”

Beamon leaves: Sixth-year Penn State defensive tackle Hakeem Beamon left the program last week, Franklin confirmed.

The 6-3, 296-pound Beamon had appeared in eight games this season with three…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/penn-state-notes-kobe-king-044700215.html

Author : Reading Eagle, Pa.

Publish date : 2024-11-12 04:47:00

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