It's pretty normal for the defense to be outpacing the offense in the spring. This seems once again to be the case after a dominating performance from the defense for most of the first half. The second-team's first trip onto the field didn't look great as Steven Bench led the first-team offense to a quick score, but the first team, led by reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Deion Barnes "touched" Tyler Ferguson for a couple of sacks in the pocket in the very next series.
As we head into halftime, the defense is up 47-30. Here are a few notes from their performance in the first half.
- Jordan Lucas, Malcolm Willis, Adrian Amos and Trevor Williams lined up in the secondary to start for the first team defense. Austin Johnson and Kyle Baublitz got the starts at defensive tackle.
- The defense totaled seven "sacks" in the first half, led by Brad Bars getting to the quarterback twice.
- Trevor Williams, listed as a safety after being converted from wide receiver, played a lot of cornerback in the first half and had a few pass breakups to his credit.
- Redshirt sophomore Jesse Merise had the game's only interception off of a tipped D.J. Crook pass.
- Nyeem Wartman, coming off of an injury, had a big stick on a screen pass early in the first half. He looks back up to speed.
- In former defensive player news, Michael Mauti looks huge and ready to play in the booth. I'm still scared. Also, as Collyer said on Twitter, if he and Maggie Lucas don't make Penn State babies, the world is worse off.
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