Penn State safety KJ Winston set for homecoming against Maryland
Penn State safety KJ Winston is expecting plenty of familiar faces when the Nittany Lions take on Maryland on Saturday afternoon. The sophomore will be a short jaunt from his hometown of Columbia, Md., and he’s plenty familiar with several on the opposing side as well.
The focus this week, however, won’t be on his Maryland roots. It’s about getting his defense back on track after a step back against Indiana last weekend.
“Despite everything that happened in the game, our main thing was to finish on our terms, like always,” Winston said this week. “Everything is not going to go perfect and you’re going to face adversity. Our biggest thing was facing the adversity in that point and how are we going to respond to it. As a team, in coverage and things like that. We went into standard Titan coverage and allowed Dani to get home and get the sack. That’s how we responded and we were happy with it.”
This week brings another challenge in the No. 2 passing offense in the Big Ten. Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa leads the conference in passing yards and touchdown passes while throwing more than any other passer in the league. Starting for the fourth time in his career against the Nittany Lions, Tagovailoa presents some interesting challenges for the defense.
Link: Penn State availability report: Who is out, questionable, at Maryland?
“A great quarterback that can also throw the ball, it makes it harder on coverage. Sometimes he can create, he can extend the play and extend the coverage. That’s where he causes problems. We just have to be able to stay disciplined, stay on our man and plaster the guy when he does scramble. Try to contain him as much as we can, that’s the main goal.”
Winston played against the Terps as a true freshman last season, mostly on special teams. That experience, which matched the formula for the rest of the 2022 season for Winston, put him in a position to excel as a first-year starter in 2023.
“I learned a lot from the older guys. I was just playing special teams, which also played a big role in why I’m allowed to play why I do now,” he said. “You learn from the older guys, the tweaks that they make to put into their games and things like that. They communicate with me all the time, they were treating me just like I was one of them. Just being around those guys, Ji’Ayir Brown, the older guys that are here now like Jaylen Reed, Keaton [Ellis], Zakee [Wheatley], being around them I learned so much.”
Winston originally chose Penn State over the Terps
The 6-foot-2, 203-pound Winston originally chose the Nittany Lions over Maryland in the Class of 2022. He recalled why when speaking with local media this week.
“My main thing, when I came to Penn State, was the honesty,” recalled Winston. “They were telling everything that was the real. I wasn’t getting the same thing from other schools, telling me it would be this way or that way. Penn State was telling me straight up coming in that we’ve got skillful guys, you’ll have work yourself into that spot but we feel you have the ability to do so if you do what you’re supposed to do.”
