Even before lining up for his first preseason practice rep, true freshman defensive tackle P.J. Mustipher was generating buzz among his teammates and coaches.

Described by head coach James Franklin as “further ahead” than the staff had thought, Mustipher having arrived early for the first summer session in May, his size and strength presented a potent combination. At a position already facing a shortage of depth and experience, the possibility proved too much to resist.

“He's unusual. I don't think there's any doubt about it,” said Franklin, proclaiming Mustipher an immediate contributor even before the end of preseason camp. “He's a high-energy, high-motor guy, which usually doesn't happen with guys that are 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds. I think that helps him. I think if you have a motor on the defensive line, that can solve a lot of issues for you, and he goes hard.”

Franklin wasn’t finished.

Relaying the accounts of teammates through the summer months, Franklin said that Mustipher was “crushing” all of it, workouts, conditioning tests and more. That Mustipher came from a football family, his brother an offensive lineman at Notre Dame and his father, Sam, an alumnus of West Virginia’s football program, helped establish a prepared mentality. And coming out of a four-year career at McDonogh School in which he helped win a state title helped that much more.

“I think it's all those things,” said Franklin. “I think he came in physically ready to play from a size and from a strength and from a movement standpoint, and then also just him being around football as much as he's been, he's learned stuff.”

Now a year into his career as a Nittany Lion, Mustipher believes that process to be still in its earliest stages.

Appearing in every game on the schedule last season, save for the Ohio State matchup in the fifth week of the 2018 campaign, Mustipher saw 196 defensive snaps on the year. In the process, he finished with 14 tackles, including 1.0 TFL, a forced fumble, and five hurries.

Even with his unique background, though, Mustipher described the baptism by fire of arriving at Penn State, having to memorize the playbook in a matter of weeks, and still be prepared to make an impact each week.

“The biggest transition was football I.Q., understanding the blocks, what you're going to get from down to down. Just being able to see what's going to come to you, because that makes you play faster,” said Mustipher. “Being able to do that just gets you a step ahead of the competition.”

To combat the challenges of picking it all up, Mustipher said he turned to veteran defensive linemen Shareef Miller, Kevin Givens, and Rob Windsor for help. Pushing him through the course of the season, both on the practice field as well as in games, Mustipher said he did his best to absorb the tough love and push through it to help the team as best as possible.

Still considering himself young, Mustipher understands that the immediate experience he gained a year ago will be expected to propel him to greater heights for the 2019 season.

So, he said, he buckled down to best accentuate that experience on the practice field through the course of Penn State’s spring session.

“Going into spring ball, that was one of the areas that I focused on… to showcase that to the coaches that I know what I'm seeing out there,” said Mustipher. “You're coming in young and you're just playing like you do in high school, but the further you go in football, you gotta know what you're doing out there and what you're seeing. So that's the biggest thing I worked on.

“The experience helps a lot. That's the biggest thing you can gain, and it really helped. Going into spring ball, knowing what I could do and knowing what would work in practice and what wouldn't translate to the field. That experience was huge for me and I'm glad that Coach Chaos gave me the opportunity.”

How that opportunity continues to manifest itself for Mustipher in the upcoming season remains to be seen. Windsor returns for a fifth and final season of eligibility, while Antonio Shelton appears poised to compete to fill the vacated role of Givens, who opted to forgo a final year to pursue an NFL career.

Playing within a position group that features heavy rotations to keep its participants fresh, as well as one that holds itself to consistently high standards, Mustipher said he simply hopes to contribute to its success.

“I just want to be the best unit in the country and I think we can achieve that with the hard work we put in over the summer and the passion we play with,” said Mustipher. “I think we have the opportunity to be the best unit in the country, and if we put it on the field come summer ball, then going into the fall, I think it's attainable.”