In Gross-Matos, Nittany Lions Have Influence and Experience

For a two week stretch of his sophomore season, Yetur Gross-Matos was among the best defensive linemen in all of college football.

Already a starter for the Nittany Lions last year, Gross-Matos quietly built a solid campaign through the first half of the season. Against Indiana and Iowa in the middle of the year, though, Gross-Matos went on a tear.

First collecting 10 tackles in a 33-28 win at Indiana, including a pair of sacks, Gross-Matos followed the performance with nine tackles and a career-high four tackles for a loss in a 30-24 win against Iowa, earning him the program’s Defensive Player of the Week honors in the process.

So impressive was the combined performance that Penn State head coach James Franklin made a bold assessment of it.

“We were excited about Yetur and we thought he had a chance to make a move this year,” said Franklin. “His production over a two week period of time is probably as good as I’ve been around at the defensive line position, in terms of a complete game; tackles, tackles for loss, sacks. That type of production is pretty impressive.”

To reach his own goals for the season ahead, and those of Penn State’s defense as a whole, Gross-Matos is going to be counted upon to continue that trajectory for the 2019 slate. If the projections claiming him as a potential first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft are to become a reality, Gross-Matos might even have to improve upon it.

To do so, he’s likely to stay on the same path that has brought him thus far. And that path, more than any other element, begins in earnest on a practice field on which he truly excels.

“Yetur is a guy that he doesn't know anything else but full speed,” Franklin said last season. “Some guys you have to coach that and they figure it out later in their careers. Some guys you fight with them their whole career and they never practice as hard as they should practice, and then it never translates and they never end up maximizing their potential or their ability. And then other guys just naturally have a great motor… I think Yetur has got a great motor.”

Throughout the course of the 2018 season, that motor showed itself not only on the practice field but also in game action as well.

By the conclusion of the Citrus Bowl, Gross-Matos had accumulated 54 tackles and, more impressively, 20 tackles for loss and eight sacks for the season. Complementing his sheer volume of tackles, tackles for loss, and sacks, Gross-Matos added a pair of forced fumbles and a fumble recovery to his tally.

He finished tied for seventh in the league in sacks and second only to Michigan State's Kenny Willekes in tackles for loss. The numbers were good enough to earn Gross-Matos a first-team All-Big Ten selection by the media and a third-team nod from the conference coaches, as well as the team’s Reid-Robinson award as its outstanding defensive lineman.

But what struck Franklin most regarding Gross-Matos’ play was the frequency with which his numbers were less a symptom of the scheme than of simply an outstanding individual performance.

Whether via an unimpeded route to a ballcarrier provided by a stunt, or simply beating a block and making a play, Franklin said Gross-Matos was finding success regardless of the avenue. “A lot of his tackles, if you'll go back and watch his production, it's not at the point of attack. He's the backside end, and he's running the play down on the opposite side of the field,” said Franklin. “Whenever I can show that in a team meeting on Sunday and show those type of effort plays, I think it goes a long way.”

That has created an important influence from Gross-Matos to the teammates around him.

For a naturally quiet guy, on the field and off, it’s an influence that might not initially be evident. Compared to Clifford the Big Red Dog by position coach Sean Spencer, often taking in information with a smile on his face without saying a word, Gross-Matos offers a constant positive example to the rest of the room.

“He doesn't say anything, he just looks at you," said Spencer this spring. "But he's such a go-hard guy on the field that he leads by example. When I turn on the film and I want to tell Jayson Oweh, this is how you practice, and Yetur is running sideline to sideline and not taking a play off, that's being a leader in itself. It’s not just that he makes plays, it's his approach. His approach is full-speed, go all the time. What you guys see on the game field and what that guy does in practice is the exact same thing.”

And that, Franklin has echoed, can be instrumental in setting the tone for an entire team.

Said Franklin, “I think what's really good and I think what's really important is when your team sees a guy like that practice like that all the time and then is able to have the success that he has, that sends a great message for our whole team in terms of what work ethic and motor can do.”

For Gross-Matos to take the next steps in his career, be it at Penn State or with an NFL future whenever that might occur, Franklin and Spencer are looking for an assertiveness in game action that only comes with experience. It's experience that, through two full seasons and two years' worth of practices, Gross-Matos now has.

Outlining that the defensive end position requires more than just rushing the passer, including “how to play the run, how to friction the tackle, when to box, when to spill, and all of the things that we ask our defense to do,” said Franklin, Gross-Matos is well on his way to becoming that player as the 2019 season approaches.

“I think last year obviously he did some really good things, but he still is a somewhat young and inexperienced player, so all of that experience he gained last year, he's going to come into this season with just so much more confidence in what he can do,” said Franklin. “He's gotten stronger, he's gotten bigger. He's about 265 pounds now and still can run and change direction and bend. He's just one of those guys that when you have a list of all the characteristics that you're looking for at the defensive end, he's gotten most of those boxes checked.

"And usually you'll have a guy that has seven of the 10, but they're not big enough yet or they just don't have a whole lot of length to them, or they're missing something, experience or whatever. But now at this point in year two of having a significant role for us, he's got most of the boxes checked and I think he's going to come into the season with a lot of confidence.”