Only Derek Dowrey Until Penn State Football

Derek Dowrey came to Penn State expecting to play defensive tackle under the tutelage of Larry Johnson. He was three-time defensive player of the year while playing high school football in Virginia. At 6'3" and 335 pounds, the redshirt-junior guard has all the size needed to dominate on the offensive line. Listed as a backup guard behind Brendan Mahon on the depth chart, there is plenty of opportunity for Dowrey to claim one of the starting spots in the coming years.

Dowrey has a pretty good sense of humor based on his twitter antics; you can check him out @doubledowrey. This picture from high school accentuates his exceptionally long, giraffe-like neck. It has to be a competitive disadvantage for a lineman to have such a long neck, requiring additional space from the neutral zone. It's possible that he may some day get called for lining up in the backfield even though his head is in proper alignment. I only tease him because his buddies did. We're cool, right big guy?

#tbt to the good old days when I lived in the same neighborhood as my two best friends. Love these two like brothers #HarvestRidgeEstates

A photo posted by Derek Dowrey (@dowrey_53) on May 21, 2015 at 3:57pm PDT