Penn State cornerback pipeline continues flourish under Terry Smith

When Christian Campbell was selected in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, he ended a 10-year drought at the cornerback position for Penn State. Taken by the Arizona Cardinals, Campbell was the first Nittany Lion cornerback to go since Justin King was selected in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams.

In four months, Joey Porter Jr. is expecting to hear his name called in the 2023 NFL Draft. Enjoying a career trajectory that saw year-over-year improvement, that moment is expected to come in the first round. 

“He just kept getting better within our program, from the strength and conditioning perspective, from a technique and fundamental perspective, from an overall football perspective,” said head coach James Franklin, turning to the architect behind that progression. “Terry Smith did a phenomenal job with him.”

The notion has held for a growing list of Smith’s pupils in the past nine seasons at Penn State. 

When Porter Jr. is inevitably selected, he’ll be the Nittany Lions’ second corner chosen in as many years, following Tariq Castro-Fields in the 2022 draft. They’re in succession to 2020 pick John Reid and 2019 selection Amani Oruwariye. 

At a position considered a backbone of Penn State’s defense, with Porter Jr., Smith will send his fifth corner into the NFL this offseason in the past six cycles. Dating back to 1982, Smith’s output will account for nearly half of the 11 total players selected at the position in the program’s history. (Though undrafted in 2018, Grant Haley is in his fifth season playing in the NFL at cornerback, now with the Los Angeles Rams on injured reserve.)

Smith and the Nittany Lions added Elliott Washington, Zion Tracy, and King Mack to the position on Wednesday in the Class of 2023. Pointing to the track record of recent success that has created a virtual pipeline to the NFL, the formula is one Smith expects to continue to produce results.

“Proof is in the pudding,” Smith said Wednesday. “When you even talk Zechariah McPherson, I think we’ve had a corner drafted the last four or five drafts. Joey will keep that running. Kalen, whenever he decides to take that move, he’ll be the next one. It’s hard to say there’s a DB coach that can say that across the country with consecutive (picks). 

“But we just got good kids here. They listen and pay attention and they lock in and they play hard. They’re good athletes. We have good coaches and the system behind Manny Diaz is a little more corner friendly, and I think it showed this year in the way we played.”

With Porter Jr. selected as a second-team All-American, notching 11 pass breakups, Kalen King racking up 18 breakups and two interceptions, and another nine breakups from Johnny Dixon, Penn State’s corners collectively produced their best season yet. 

And despite Porter’s departure to the NFL, the Nittany Lions expect to continue to boast talent at the position that allows an aggressive defensive approach.

“Whether it was Brent Pry or Manny Diaz, we were able to call certain things or run certain schemes because of the confidence that we had in our defensive backs and specifically with our corners,” Franklin said.