{"id":72430,"date":"2025-02-15T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T17:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=72430"},"modified":"2025-11-07T09:25:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:25:07","slug":"keeping-the-st1x-in-the-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/02\/15\/keeping-the-st1x-in-the-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping the St1x in the Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the greatest honors of the Penn State football tradition is wearing the number 11 jersey on the defense.\u00a0 It recognizes the past legacy of those who have worn it before.\u00a0 Additionally, 11 is the present team\u2019s top defensive player.\u00a0 Lastly, it is also an acknowledgment of the future.\u00a0 Those who wore the jersey have gone on to successful NFL careers.\u00a0 Important for Penn State\u2019s future, those who have had the honor of wearing number 11 have raised the bar.\u00a0 With a recent post to X, Abdul Carter<\/a> has now passed the torch, keeping the St1x in the family.\u00a0 LaVar Arrington II, you\u2019re up.<\/p>\n

Keeping the St1x in the Family: Establishing St1x C1ty<\/strong><\/h2>\n

LaVar Arrington<\/a> was a force for the Penn State defense.\u00a0 Playing for the Nittany Lions from 1997-1999, Arrington would go on to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.\u00a0 He produced 173 tackles, 19 sacks, and three interceptions over that time.<\/p>\n

Arrington left Happy Valley as an award-winning linebacker.\u00a0 He was a back-to-back All-America selection, unanimous in 1999.\u00a0 Arrington also won the Butkus Award (top linebacker), the Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year), and was ninth in Heisman voting.\u00a0 With an impressive body of work, ironically Arrington may best be remembered for one play, coined the \u201cLaVar Leap.\u201d\u00a0 On the play, Arrington perfectly timed the Illinois snap, jumped over the offensive line, and stopped Elmer Hickman behind the line of scrimmage on fourth and inches.<\/p>\n

In addition to his greatness on the field, Arrington left another legacy at Penn State. His number 11 jersey became a sign of excellence.\u00a0 It build on the tradition of Linebacker U at Penn State.\u00a0 With his statement \u201cSt1x C1ty is about greatness,\u201d St1x C1ty was established by its inaugural resident.<\/p>\n

Building the Tradition of St1x C1ty<\/h3>\n

After Arrington left Penn State and was drafted by the Washington Commanders in 2000, the number 11 jersey did not get assigned for eight years.\u00a0 However, in 2007 St1x City was back, and four Nittany Lions defenders have worn the number since Arrington.<\/p>\n

NaVorro Bowman<\/a> played for Penn State from 2007-2009.\u00a0 Over that time, he amassed 215 tackles, eight sacks, three interceptions, and forced three fumbles.\u00a0 He would go on to be a third-round draft pick of the 49ers and had a productive eight-year NFL career.<\/p>\n

After four years, Brandon Bell<\/a> would reignite St1x C1ty in 2013.\u00a0 Playing for Penn State from 2013-2016, Bell had 224 tackles, 11.5 sacks, and four interceptions.\u00a0 While Bell would go undrafted, he did spend time with both the Cincinnati Bengals and the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n

Micah Parsons<\/a> reestablished St1x C1ty from 2018-2019.\u00a0 He had 192 tackles, with 6.5 sacks, and six forced fumbles.\u00a0 Parsons would go on to be named a consensus All-American in 2019, as well as Big Ten Linebacker of the Year, and first-team All-Big Ten. Parsons has been true to the St1x C1ty legacy in the NFL, becoming a first-round draft pick and star for the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n

Most recently, the number 11 has been worn by Abdul Carter between 2022-2024.\u00a0 Starting at linebacker before moving to defensive end, Carter is one of the highest-ranked prospects in this year\u2019s NFL Draft and is essentially a lock to go in the top 10.\u00a0 For his Nittany Lions career, Carter had 172 tackles, 23 sacks, an interception, and five forced fumbles.\u00a0 He hit his stride after moving to defensive end in 2024, where he led the nation with 24 tackles for loss and won awards as a unanimous All-American including the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

Keeping the St1x in the Family<\/h3>\n

The 2025 season will be a defining one for Penn State.\u00a0 Coming off a College Football Playoffs semifinal loss to Notre Dame<\/a>, expectations are sky-high for the Nittany Lions.\u00a0 Key returning players<\/a> on offense, like quarterback Drew Allar<\/a> and running backs Nick Singleton<\/a> and Kaytron Allen<\/a>, will be joined by transfers-in at wide receiver<\/a> in Kyron Hudson<\/a> and Devonte Ross<\/a>.\u00a0 On the defensive side of the ball, new coordinator<\/a> Jim Knowles will lead the likes of returning defensive linemen Zane Durant<\/a> and Dani Dennis-Sutton<\/a>.\u00a0 Along with the high expectations, there is a new dynamic for number 11 on the defense.<\/p>\n

For the first time since Arrington established St1x C1ty, there will be no time off for the jersey between defensive stars.\u00a0 Additionally, for the first time, the St1x will stay in the family.\u00a0 With a post to X, Carter took the St1x C1ty tradition and made it a legacy.<\/p>\n

LaVar Arrington II followed in his father\u2019s footsteps when he committed to Penn State in the summer of 2024.\u00a0 He selected Penn State over the likes of Oregon, Tennessee, and UCLA.\u00a0 He will also be the sixth player to wear number 11 since the establishment of St1x C1ty.\u00a0 The Arringtons become the first family with multiple generations in its lineage.\u00a0 Within the post, Carter said \u201cLavar started this tradition now it\u2019s HIS SON TURN! [\u2026] It\u2019s your turn now young ST1X.\u00a0 What will you leave behind??\u201d<\/p>\n

Main Image: Dan Rainville \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the greatest honors of the Penn State football tradition is wearing the number 11 jersey on the defense.\u00a0 It recognizes the past legacy of those who have worn it before.\u00a0 Additionally, 11 is the present team\u2019s top defensive player.\u00a0 Lastly, it is also an acknowledgment of the future.\u00a0 Those who wore the jersey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5172,"featured_media":72445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,35610],"tags":[493,7983,1353,32925,3406,34871,4223,3440,309,34870],"class_list":["post-72430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","category-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-awards","tag-big-ten-football","tag-chuck-bednarik-award","tag-dick-butkus-award","tag-jim-knowles","tag-lavar-arrington-ii","tag-linebacker-u","tag-penn-state-defense","tag-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-st1x-c1ty"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72430"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72447,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72430\/revisions\/72447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}