Arnold Ebiketie talks Penn State experience so far, improvements, more
New Penn State defensive end Arnold Ebiketie has received nothing but "rave reviews" since showing up on campus earlier this year, head coach James Franklin said at the start of summer camp.
The Nittany Lions were always going to need the Temple transfer and man they call "AK" to be a force this season, and that's especially the case now that the teammate who was expected to start on the other side of the defensive line, Adisa Isaac, is out for an indefinite amount of time and likely the entire season due to an undisclosed injury.
Ebiketie, who stands 6-foot-3, 256 pounds, has bulked up some since arriving following an All-AAC career with the Owls, and he has a quick step and plenty of explosiveness. Talking at the team's media day last Saturday, he looked the part, too, and the key now will be transitioning that talent and physique to game day at the Power-5 level.
"Ebiketie, you know, it's been kind of rave review since he showed up on campus. He tested well and has gotten bigger and stronger," Franklin said. "Obviously, he's been a very productive football player over his career. We plan on continuing that and really taking it to a whole other level."
Added defensive coordinator Brent Pry:
"I'm very excited about AK and the transition he's made. He's not just a talented guy, but also an intelligent football player that has picked up our scheme and our system very well"
A three-year letter winner at Albert Einstein in Silver Spring, Md., Ebiketie was born in Yaounde, Cameroon, and also starred on high school basketball court. He played in just one game over his first two seasons at Temple but then exploded onto the scene as a starter for the first time last fall, when he ultimately finished with 42 tackles, four sacked, and three forced fumbles.
The chance to showcase his game on a bigger stage immediately became a desire following the 2020 season, and proximity to home helped the Lions land him.
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"I'm from Maryland, and Penn State is three hours away," Ebiketie said. "I didn't feel like going all the way to the West Coast, or the south, so I definitely felt like it was the right fit for me."
It was the right fit for Penn State, too, which needs his veteran presence and considerable skillset more than it could have imagined it would when he committed on Dec. 31, 2020. He's only improved since arriving in State College for the spring semester while also helping out his younger teammates by pointing out flaws in their game or little mistakes that he himself once made but has since corrected.
"Just the schemes and stuff and the competition level," Ebiketie said when asked about his Penn State experience so far. "It's a little bit different with the scheme Coach Pry runs and the techniques Coach [John] Scott use, so during the summer, that was some of the emphasis I had in terms of improving my game.
"Now it is training camp season, so I feel like I have time to kind of put that work I did in the summer to good use during this camp."
Penn State will need the work to equal production as it prepares for a 2021 season opener at Wisconsin.
"We can be really good," Ebiketie said. "We have a lot of great pieces, a lot of great players, and I just feel like it's just a matter of us putting the work in during this camp, and everything will take care of itself.
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