Tom Allen on Penn State football CBs: We’ve turned a ‘question mark into a ‘strength’ of the defense

When the Penn State football team hired defensive coordinator Tom Allen, the secondary was in question. The Nittany Lions had three players leave for the 2024 NFL Draft, including Johnny Dixon, Kalen King, and Daequan Hardy. All three players were starters and major contributors during the 2023 season. But with fall camp underway, Allen has explained how a potential weakness has grown into a strength for Penn State heading into the season.

We all remember the scenes from the Peach Bowl against Ole Miss. The inexperienced secondary was picked apart by Jaxon Dart and the various Rebel receivers. Penn State football and James Franklin took that result and decided to take action. The Nittany Lions added two game-changing cornerbacks from the transfer portal AJ Harris from Georgia and Jalen Kimber from Florida.

On Saturday, defensive coordinator Tom Allen spoke with the media and explained how the secondary has taken a step forward.

“First of all, it was a position when I was first hired that we were concerned about,” Allen said. “Just losing three guys from that position to the NFL was an obvious hole to fill. We had some talented young players and just didn’t know how they were going to develop. So, that became a major focus.

Obviously, brought in two transfers mid-year that turned out to be tremendous assets to our program in so many different ways. So that room has turned a question marker into a positive, one of our strengths of the whole defense.”

Allen’s philosophy on rotating players

Syndication: Hanover Evening Sun

A staple of the way that Manny Diaz coached his defense at Penn State was heavy rotations of different players. With Diaz gone, will Tom Allen take a similar approach to rotating players in 2024?

He provided his explanation on Saturday of how rotating players specifically at cornerback naturally creates more depth.

“So, depth at that position is critical. And I’m a big believer in playing lots of guys. I’ve been that way my whole career. You want to have a good rotation so you’re able to be at your very best at the end of the game. Now, also at the end of a very long season, that’s the expectation that it’s going to be a long season.

“The more guys you can play, the more depth you’re going to create. …Guys that can cover, guys that can tackle. That’s one of the things that coach Terry Smith has done a phenomenal job of building a room full of guys that have the traits you’re looking for. The speed, the twitch, the ability to make plays in space defensively. Have that physical, and mental toughness to them. Super excited about that group and plan on playing a bunch of them.”

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