Senior Bowl participant list grows for Penn State with Tariq Castro-Fields
Penn State’s list of participants in the Senior Bowl expanded again Thursday.
Announced via Twitter, super senior corner Tariq Castro-Fields was named to the ‘National’ team led by the Jets coaching staff for this year’s Senior Bowl. He joins former Penn State players Jahan Dotson, Arnold Ebiketie, and Jesse Luketa in official announcements made by the Senior Bowl.
Castro-Fields finished his Penn State career as a mainstay for the Nittany Lion defense. Playing in 52 career games, Castro-Fields finished his Penn State career – even through injury absences – with a 2,314 defensive snaps according to PFF, starting 30 times at corner.
That presence for Penn State’s defense throughout Castro-Fields’ career led to frequent highlighting by head coach James Franklin and, ultimately, a Senior Bowl selection.
“Tariq leads the group. He really does. He’s been a tremendous player but he’s also been a tremendous leader. He’s a culture driver in our program,” Franklin said ahead of the 2020 season. “Defending the pass and pass breakups are great, but the guys that are most impactful and the guys that have an opportunity to really change our season here at Penn State but also change the trajectory of their careers at the next level are guys that can create interceptions, and get their hands on the ball, and even score on defense. Tariq has the ability to do that and we’ve really been emphasizing that.”
Among his career statistics, Castro-Fields notched 138 tackles (93 solo), 10 tackles for loss, he made three interceptions, forced one fumble and made 25 pass breakups and over five seasons.
As a returning super senior this past season, Castro-Fields played all 12 games during Penn State’s regular season, making 32 total tackles, with six pass breakups. For the effort, he picked up honorable mention All-Big Ten nods both from conference coaches as well as the media.
In addition to Luketa, Ebiketie, Dotson and Castro-Fields, prior commitments were made to the Senior Bowl on social media for punter Jordan Stout and safety Jaquan Brisker to participate in this year’s game as well.
The annual Senior Bowl showcase game will be held in Mobile, Ala., and is set for a week of practices leading into a Saturday, Feb. 5 game.
