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Penn State football looking for new leaders as spring practice carries on

IMG_1698 5 (1)by: David Eckert04/01/22davideckert98
Ji'Ayir Brown
Penn State safety Ji'Ayir Brown. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

As is almost always the case throughout college football at the beginning of every new cycle, Penn State football is working out how to fill the leadership void left by its seniors.

Particularly on the defensive side of things, James Franklin highlighted a need to replace strong voices in the locker room.

Linebacker Ellis Brooks and linebacker-turned-defensive-end Jesse Luketa were the two players Franklin discussed as being particularly impactful in this regard.

“Not only were they experienced players, but they were very vocal players from a leadership standpoint,” Franklin said Wednesday night. “What I don’t want to do is sit here in the fall and talk about how we’re behind from the leadership standpoint.

“You see that where coaches say, ‘Oh, well, we’re not in a really good place from a leadership standpoint, our leadership wasn’t very good.’ We got to develop that. We got to understand we’ve lost some significant guys from an experience and from a leadership standpoint. We got to develop who those leaders are.”

On offense, the Nittany Lions can rely on quarterback Sean Clifford — as they have for the last few years.

Clifford is entering his sixth season on Penn State’s campus, and his fourth as the Nittany Lions’ starting quarterback. By this point, he’s a well-established and important voice in the locker room.

On defense, though, there’s a new leadership presence emerging: Safety Ji’Ayir (Tig) Brown.

“I think Tig and Sean have been really good from that perspective so far. Tig I’ve seen probably the biggest difference,” Franklin said. “Of all the guys in our program it has probably been Tig.”

Can Curtis Jacobs emerge to help lead Penn State?

Franklin said the Nittany Lions aren’t necessarily looking for junior linebacker Curtis Jacobs to be a leader at the moment.

In the fall, though, it will be a different story.

Jacobs is suddenly the most experienced member of a Penn State linebacker room that lost a pair of starters last season in Brandon Smith and Ellis Brooks.

He’s got the charismatic personality that draws people in. By circumstance alone, he seems a natural choice to take the next step into a leadership role among Penn State’s linebackers.

For now, though, Jacobs has other things to focus on, according to Franklin.

“Right now with him learning his new role and the subtle adjustments on the defense, I wouldn’t say that’s a priority for him or for us right now at this stage,” Franklin said. “It’s going to have to be. But right now I think he’s still kind of feeling his way through that. But we’re gonna need that in the fall.”

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