When Jesse Luketa had finished the early morning workouts that became a habit while he was away from Penn State during the spring, he often turned on his phone and issued a challenge.

“What’s up? What are you ‘bout to do today?” is the message Luketa would frequently send.

The recipient, of course, would be fellow linebacker Micah Parsons. Luketa and Parsons would challenge each other, competing from a distance to make sure both did what was needed to ensure they’d be ready when Penn State takes the field in the fall.

“It was like, I’m sending him this, and he might be responding with another workout that he just did,” Luketa said Tuesday on a Zoom call with reporters. “So it was a competition, and I feel like we made sure to keep each other accountable.”

Unlike Parsons, an All-American, Luketa will find himself competing for a starting role once the Nittany Lions can get back onto the practice field.

Luketa, a native of Ottawa, Canada, appeared in 13 games for Penn State last season as a sophomore, accumulating 24 total tackles.

He was listed second behind Ellis Brooks at the Mike Linebacker spot on the Nittany Lions’ spring depth chart, leaving the two upperclassmen to grapple for the position vacated by Jan Johnson.

“We feel damn good about those two guys,” head coach James Franklin said.

Back home in Canada waiting for that competition to begin in earnest, Luketa said he spent his time away focused on improving the intellectual part of his game.

He did his part to stay fit, even occasionally training with Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux, but, in Luketa’s view, the physical aspect of football will come along once he has the chance to re-engage his muscle memory, but he felt he could get an edge by staying sharp mentally.

“I’ve just been studying,” he said. “I’ve been studying our playbook, studying up on teams. I’ve been studying offensive schemes just to try to continue to grow and evolve as a student, that’s my biggest thing. I’m always eager to learn and add to my game in some shape or form.

“The biggest thing for me was taking this time to reemphasize and focus on the things that I’m not as comfortable on and turn them into my strengths. So I feel very confident and I’m excited. I can’t wait to get on the field with my brothers and display that level of confidence and swagger.”

Now a junior, he also feels ready to help lead a loaded Penn State linebacker room, having learned from Johnson, his roommate since his freshman year.

“Those guys are gone, now it’s my turn to step up,” Luketa said. “I have to be the old head in the room because the younger guys are looking up to me, whether it’s jumping on Zoom calls, making sure they’re on top of their stuff, that’s the stuff that I’ve taken upon myself because, as of now, the onus is on me.”

For his part, defensive coordinator Brent Pry has strong belief in Luketa’s leadership ability.

“A guy like Jesse Luketa's got outstanding respect on our football team,” Pry said. “I think back to even a guy like Von Walker. Von was never a premier linebacker. He ended up finding a niche as a special teams guy, but he was a leader in my room and on our team and wasn't the guy that made all the plays.”

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