Only Dvon Ellies Until Penn State Football

After a brief love affair with punters and kickers, today’s days until countdown gets beefy.

With just 91 days until Penn State kicks off its season in Camp Randall against the Badgers of Wisconsin, we turn our attention redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Dvon Ellies out of McDonough High School in Maryland.

Ellies joined the Nittany Lions as a four-star recruit in the class of 2019 and played in just one game that season, retaining his redshirt status. In 2020, he took a slight step forward, appearing in three games and making his first-career sack and tackle for loss against Rutgers.

This year, Ellies will be expected to continue that growth and step into an even larger role, spelling penciled in starter PJ Mustipher. At 6-foot-1, 304 pounds, Ellies brings plenty of heft to the defensive tackle position but is also impressively sudden for a man his size. He can get into gaps and track down ball carriers as well as quarterbacks. His emergence as a viable option would be a huge boost to John Scott Jr.’s defensive line rotation.