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Defensive lineman Smith Vilbert will become the first seventh-year Penn State football player.
The top backup, who grew up in Haiti, announced on social media that he intends on returning for the 2025 season. He used his fifth season as a redshirt in 2019, received an extra sixth season of eligibility with the COVID pandemic and successfully petitioned for an NCAA medical waiver for this seventh season.
Vilbert missed the 2023 to injury and all but one game of the previous season.
His return further boosts the restructuring of a Top 10 Nittany Lion defense and a top College Football Playoff contender, overall, for 2025.
Just in the past week, Penn State has gotten word that these standouts would return for another season before heading to the NFL: defensive tackle Zane Durant, running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton and center Nick Dawkins.
Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions defensive end Smith Vilbert (92) celebrates a play in the first half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Quarterback Drew Allar and safety Zakee Wheatley previously announced their return decisions.
The 6-foot-, 285-pound Vilbert − who sometimes lines up at defensive tackle − enjoyed his most active season yet in 2024. He played in all 16 games and made 12 tackles with four for loss and 1.5 sacks, including an early tackle for loss in the College Football Playoff loss to Notre Dame. He also forced two fumbles this past season and recovered one.
Vilbert’s story is unique. He’s talked about growing up in poverty in Haiti, living in a bare-bones duplex with at least 10 extended family members on one side, and he and his parents, two sisters, aunt and grandmother on the other.
He was only 5 or 6, when his mother left for America and…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/hes-back-seventh-penn-state-200703081.html
Author : York Daily Record
Publish date : 2025-01-14 20:07:00
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