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Carl Nassib Accepts Senior Bowl Invitation

Nassib is the second Penn Stater to accept an invitation to this year's Senior Bowl.

By Dan_Smith
Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Penn State senior defensive end Carl Nassib has accepted an invitation to participate in the 2016 Reese's Senior Bowl in Mobile, AL. This comes after senior safety Jordan Lucas accepted an invitation on Dec. 1.

Nassib is a tremendous talent and one of the great stories of the 2015 college football season. The former walk-on defensive end was not even a starter in high school and is now a serious prospect for the NFL Draft. For most of the 2015 season, Nassib has been the leader in the nation in sacks and one of the leaders in tackles for loss. Even with an injury that has limited him to just a few snaps over the last two games of the season, Nassib was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and received first-team All-Big Ten honors.

One eligible Penn State player who has not been announced as having accepted a Senior Bowl invitation is senior defensive tackle Anthony Zettel. While it appears that Zettel has not been invited at this time, there is a possibility that Zettel is invited later due to injuries or other players turning down their invitations. If Zettel is not invited, he would almost definitely be invited to the East-West Shrine Game.

Another player who could potentially be on the Senior Bowl's radar is redshirt junior defensive tackle Austin Johnson. Because Johnson has another year of eligibility, he would have to declare for the NFL Draft and waive that year of eligibility before any postseason all-star games could send him an invitation. However, juniors who are not on track for graduation are not eligible to be invited, so a player like Christian Hackenberg would not be invited even if he does declare for the NFL Draft.

The 2016 Senior Bowl will take place on Jan. 30, 2016 in Mobile, AL and will get a live television broadcast for Penn State fans to check out.

Congratulations to Carl!

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