Only Garrett Sickels Until Penn State Football

Just over two years ago, I returned home late at night from a work conference and realized I needed to write the "Only Garrett Sickels Until Penn State Football!" post for the next morning. I pulled out my laptop and put together a quick post, only to realize I had no photos of Sickels to use, who was coming off a redshirt year in 2013. I decided to look him up and message him on Facebook in the off chance I could pull something from one of his albums. He quickly got back to me and granted permission. I thanked him and told him how I was really looking forward to watching him play in the fall, and said something along the lines of "I'm sure next year I'll have plenty of photos available of you making plays on the field." Well, Sickels has spent plenty of time on the field since his redshirt freshman season.

Sickels became an important part of the rotation in a surprisingly-effective second unit defensive line in 2015, before becoming a full-time starter at defensive end in 2015. Sickels had a productive redshirt sophomore campaign, finishing with 35 tackles, five tackles for loss, three sacks, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. The New Jersey native was overshadowed by Penn State's trio of outstanding defensive linemen, who have all now moved on to the NFL, but will now have his opportunity to shine as the sole returning starter along the defensive line and one of the key leaders of the Nittany Lions defense.

Just 90 days until Penn State football!!