{"id":72817,"date":"2025-03-08T15:00:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T20:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=72817"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:32:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:32:58","slug":"looking-for-a-dom-inant-season-at-linebacker-for-penn-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/03\/08\/looking-for-a-dom-inant-season-at-linebacker-for-penn-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking for a Dom-inant Season at Linebacker for Penn State"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the tight ends have stolen the show<\/a> in recent seasons at Penn State, there will always be the Linebacker U reputation on defense.\u00a0 Following in the footsteps of players like Greg Buttle, Dan Connor, Jack Ham, LaVar Arrington, and Micah Parsons brings great recognition and even greater responsibility.\u00a0 Starting with Arrington, many of the Penn State stars that have donned the heralded #11 jersey<\/a> were linebackers.\u00a0 Above all, the linebackers have been leaders of the defense.\u00a0 This season, one player in particular will be looking to have a dom-inant season at linebacker for Penn State.<\/p>\n

Who is Looking to Have a Dom-inant Season?<\/h2>\n

Entering his redshirt senior season, linebacker Dom DeLuca<\/a> is the embodiment of what makes college football great.\u00a0 A former walk-on, he has worked very hard to not only make the team but also become a leader.\u00a0 Heading into next season, DeLuca will have ample opportunities to make an impact on the defense.<\/p>\n

DeLuca has consistently worked hard to improve his stock on the team.\u00a0 Despite entering this offseason as a presumptive starter at linebacker, he is not taking anything for granted.\u00a0 For instance, he was recently recognized by his position coach for his efforts during winter workouts.\u00a0 For those in and around the program, this is not a surprise.\u00a0 DeLuca was named a team captain in each of the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

A Special Player Early On<\/h3>\n

There are no walk-ons in James Franklin’s program at Penn State.\u00a0 In Happy Valley, such players are known as run-ons.\u00a0 These players have made an impact through the years at Penn State.\u00a0 Some of the most notable run-ons include quarterback Matt McGloin<\/a>, defensive end Carl Nassib<\/a>, and kicker Robbie Gould<\/a>, not to mention Chad Powers.\u00a0 Dom DeLuca is continuing the tradition very well for the Nittany Lions.<\/p>\n

In high school, DeLuca led his team to a state title in Pennsylvania.\u00a0 While this is impressive, it is even more so since he did it on a torn ACL.\u00a0 In 2021, DeLuca ran on at Penn State.\u00a0 He redshirted his freshman year, but did get a bit of a taste of the game at the Big Ten level.\u00a0 In 2022, he really began to hit his stride. For his efforts, DeLuca earned the Outstanding Run-On Award.\u00a0 Additionally, in 2023 he was recognized as Penn State\u2019s outstanding special teams player.\u00a0 He was also presented with the #0 jersey.\u00a0 While not as famous as the St1x C1ty #11 on defense, the #0 is given to the leader of the special teams.<\/p>\n

A Dom-inant Playoff Performance<\/h3>\n

DeLuca\u2019s play, and corresponding stats, have improved each season.\u00a0 In 2024, he appeared in 15 games, starting five of them.\u00a0 DeLuca finished with 40 tackles, including four tackles for loss, in addition to a half-sack, three interceptions and a pass defended.\u00a0 He also added a touchdown.<\/p>\n

Penn State hosted their first playoff game at Beaver Stadium this past season.\u00a0 It was a victory over SMU<\/a>.\u00a0 That playoff showdown ended up being a statement game for DeLuca.\u00a0 In the contest, he finished with five tackles and had a half-sack.\u00a0 He also started the game\u2019s scoring, from a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown.\u00a0 It was the first-ever Penn State playoff touchdown.\u00a0 DeLuca would finish the game with two interceptions.\u00a0 He added five more tackles in the win against Boise State<\/a>, and two in the College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinal loss to Notre Dame<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Riding the momentum of his strong playoff performance, DeLuca is poised to continue to take steps forward in the upcoming season.\u00a0 He will be playing for a new defensive coordinator<\/a> in Jim Knowles.\u00a0 Additionally, gone are some of the stalwarts of last year\u2019s defense, like Abdul Carter, Jaylen Reed, and fellow linebacker Kobe King.\u00a0 While the changes bring uncertainty, they also lead to opportunities for players like DeLuca.\u00a0 While his ultimate impact will unfold over the season, what is certain is Penn State will get his best effort.\u00a0 He is looking for a dominant season at linebacker for Penn State.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the tight ends have stolen the show in recent seasons at Penn State, there will always be the Linebacker U reputation on defense.\u00a0 Following in the footsteps of players like Greg Buttle, Dan Connor, Jack Ham, LaVar Arrington, and Micah Parsons brings great recognition and even greater responsibility.\u00a0 Starting with Arrington, many of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5172,"featured_media":72834,"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":[34942,5230,6609,837,3406,4428,4223,3187,3440,309],"class_list":["post-72817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","category-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-chad-powers","tag-dan-connor","tag-greg-buttle","tag-james-franklin","tag-jim-knowles","tag-lavar-arrington","tag-linebacker-u","tag-micah-parsons","tag-penn-state-defense","tag-penn-state-nittany-lions"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72817","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=72817"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72836,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72817\/revisions\/72836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}