Penn State Nittany Lions - College Football 2019 Season Preview
Last Updated: 08/21/2019 at 10:27 AM ET
Many new faces will be present on the 2019 Penn State Nittany Lions football team. A new quarterback will be under center is the biggest change, while coaches must find replacements for players that left to play in the NFL, transferred or graduated. Even with all the changes, high expectations remain for coaches, players and fans.
Micah Parsons is expected to have a big year at linebacker. Parsons led Penn State a season ago with 83 tackles despite only starting one game. Alongside Parsons will be seniors Jan Johnson and Cam Brown giving Penn State a solid starting linebacker corps. Two players with experience return to the secondary in strong safety Garrett Taylor and cornerback John Reid. Tariq Castro-Fields will start at the other corner while Lamont Wade and Jonathan Sutherland battle to start at free safety.
The defense will be the dominant force for Penn State in 2019. The offense will need time to come up to speed with a lack of experience under center and at each of the skills positions. The defense appears to have strength both in the front four and back seven, with the linebacker corps the strength of the unit. However, do not expect the final result in 2019 to be equal to the success of 2018. Projected win total 9