Penn State has had a defensive end selected in the NFL Draft’s first round each of the past two seasons.
In fact, the Lions have had an edge rusher taken in the first 50 picks of the draft in five of the past six years.
Dani Dennis-Sutton showed Saturday why that trend figures to continue in April.
The senior defensive end was the most dominant player on the field in No. 2 Penn State’s 46-11 season-opening win against Nevada. For his efforts, Dennis-Sutton is our BSD MVP for the week.
Dennis-Sutton’s
impact was felt early. Nevada had worked itself into Penn State territory on the game’s initial drive, but it was Dennis-Sutton who forced a fumble – the first of three Nevada turnovers. The Lions scored on the subsequent drive and never looked back as they moved to 1-0.
He later set up another easy score for the Lions by forcing another fumble. On the day, Dennis-Sutton forced two fumbles, matching his total from all of 2024.
For the game, Dennis-Sutton finished with five tackles, 2.5 of those for loss, a sack, and a pass deflection. Even that doesn’t explain the dominance that he showed on the line of scrimmage.
“That No. 33 is as advertised,” Nevada coach Jeff Choate told the press after the game.
Others Considered
Kyron Hudson, WR: In his much-awaited Penn State debut, Hudson showed chemistry with Drew Allar. He caught six balls for 89 yards, including a touchdown as the Lions perfectly executed a two-minute drill to close the first half.
Ryan Barker, K: Admittedly, you probably saw more of the sophomore kicker than you wanted. But, Barker was 4-of-4 on field goal attempts to open the season.