ALTOONA, Pa. -- Penn State went just 7-6, so it wasn't a very good year for the team. But the Nittany Lions did have a number of very good individual players who racked up awards and have high draft stock.
How's that for a mixed bag? And a huge reason why we can only look back on the season as an incredible disappointment. Because in a lot of ways, the whole of the team was never as good as the individual parts.
Following are my rankings of the 10 best players on this season's Nittany Lion team, followed by the five most disappointing players. You'll notice that one guy appears on both lists, and it probably shouldn't be too difficult figuring out who and why.
I used varied criteria for all of these guys, leaning heavily on statistics -- as I usually do -- along with impact to the team and, yes, some eye test.
See if you agree with my rankings.
10 BEST PLAYERS
1. WR Jahan Dotson
I have so much respect for what Dotson accomplished during his career. And as I've said before, I can make a strong case that he is the best wide receiver in Penn State history based solely on his college career.
Dotson was as reliable as it gets. He pretty much never dropped a pass, making great grabs look easy and always locking in to not let any routine catches slip away.
Dotson finished with 91 catches for 1,182 yards and 12 TDs and was a third-team AP All-American. He came up six shy of matching Allen Robinson's record for catches in a season (97), and he may have broken that mark had he not opted out of the Outback Bowl.
But Dotson had nothing left to play for, really, as he's already considered a potential first-round NFL draft pick.
2. S Jaquan Brisker
Yes, a case can be made that Brisker deserves to be No. 1 over Dotson. But I personally prefer offense over defense and generally will default to an offensive player in these kinds of rankings.
Brisker was a second-team All-American and the best player on Penn State's strong defense. He was fourth on the team with 64 tackles (38 solo), had two interceptions, five pass breakups and one fumble recovery. He opted out of the Outback Bowl, a wise move given he plays a position where he actually could have gotten injured in that exhibition game.
I'll never forget following last season when Brisker was stunningly named a first-team All-American by Pro Football Focus. It was stunning because he had been only third-team all-Big Ten, but the PFF metrics showed he had a much stronger season than anyone else realized. Now, I don't always trust PFF metrics because, frankly, I don't always know what they're looking at and everything seems extremely subjective.
Regardless, what the PFF All-America honor did for Brisker was give him a lot more name recognition entering this season. He lived up to the billing, had a strong year and is now considered a potential late first-round draft pick.
3. DE Arnold Ebiketie
We heard good things about "AK" entering the year, then the Temple transfer went out and made an immediate impact in the opener at Wisconsin. He was all over the place in that game and all season, proving to be an outstanding defensive end and catalyst to the strong defense.
He was a first-team all-Big Ten selection and finished with 62 tackles (34 solo), 9.5 sacks, 18 tackles for loss, seven QB hurries, two forced fumbles and two blocked kicks. Like I said, he was all over the place as a menacing force on the defense.
Ebiketie opted out of the Outback Bowl and is projected to be a third-round draft pick.
4. P Jordan Stout
This is solely for Stout the punter, not as place-kicker or kickoff specialist. Stout the punter was a second-team All-American and a major weapon for the Lions all season with his booming kicks and ability to pin teams deep.
Stout averaged 46.01 yards on 67 kicks, with 25 going for more than 50 yards. He had 35 punts inside the 20 and a long of 76 yards.
Stout likely will kick in the NFL for a long time. Tremendous leg.
5. QB Sean Clifford
He gave the team a chance to win most games and played very well at times. There's no question Penn State would have beaten Iowa had he not gotten injured, and also Illinois a couple of weeks later had he not still been banged up.
Clifford cut down on his turnovers this season and was always a threat to run the ball. He's a tough dude who can take a hit, get back up and still make some good throws.
Clifford finished with 3,107 yards, 21 TDs and eight interceptions while completing 61 percent.
6. S Ji'Ayir Brown
He made a bunch of big plays this season and always seemed to be around the ball. He finished with six interceptions, five pass breakups, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble. He also was third on the team with 73 tackles (61 solo).
Brown was a third-team all-Big Ten selection, but I felt he was even better than that. He wrapped up the season with two picks in the Outback Bowl, so he actually was the kind of player who helped his stock by playing in the bowl game.
7. WR Parker Washington
He was very good in the bowl game, serving as the No. 1 receiver with Dotson sitting out, and made a spectacular one-handed grab. He had seven catches for 98 yards in the game.
Washington caught 64 passes for 820 yards and four TDs this season, all while serving as an excellent complementary receiver to Dotson. Next year he'll be the No. 1 target, so look for his numbers to go up big time.
8. LB Brandon Smith
I'm giving Smith the nod here over fellow LB Ellis Brooks because Smith was more impactful in different ways.
Brooks led the team in tackles with 100, while Smith had only 81, which isn't a great number for an experienced linebacker. But Smith had nine tackles for loss, two sacks, three QB hurries, five pass breakups and one forced fumble.
Smith was a third-team all-Big Ten selection.
I never thought Smith lived up to his 5-star recruiting ranking in college, but he did have a nice career. He's turning pro early and will impress scouts with his measurables and athletic ability, which is why he's considered a potential second-round draft pick.
9. LB Ellis Brooks
Brooks was second-team all-Big Ten -- better than Smith -- and I gave him a lot of thought to be ranked higher than Smith. In fact, as I started typing this story, I actually had Brooks at No. 8 and Smith at No. 9.
But remember what I said earlier about basing a lot of things on stats? Aside from having more overall tackles, Brooks didn't have the other numbers that Smith had. Brooks had one sack, 3.5 tackles for loss and one pass breakup.
Brooks was always around the ball, which is why he had 100 tackles. But all in all, neither he nor Smith proved to be anywhere near the kind of game-changing linebackers we've seen at Penn State over the years.
10. DE/LB Jesse Luketa
He impacted games and was important to the team because of his versatilty, playing a hybrid role. He finished with 61 tackles (34 solo), half a sack, 8.5 tackles for loss, five QB hurries and one interception.
He was third-team all-Big Ten.
NOTE: Defensive tackle PJ Mustipher definitely would have been on this list had he not gotten injured. He played six games and suffered a season-ending injury at Iowa. I went back and forth on whether or not to include him, since he was a second-team all-Big Ten selection. He probably would have been fifth or sixth on my list had he played the entire season, but I made the decision not to include him since he didn't play half the season.
5 MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYERS
1. OT Rasheed Walker
This one was pretty easy, since Walker really was one of the most disappointing players in the entire country. He went from being considered a potential first-round draft pick to possibly falling as far as the sixth round. It takes a pretty bad season for that to happen to a player.
Penn State's entire offensive line was bad all season, and Walker certainly was no exception. He seemed OK in pass protection but never really made a big impact with run blocking. He missed the final three games with an injury and was on crutches at the bowl game.
Walker declared for the draft and will need to do big things at pro day or the NFL combine to improve his damaged stock.
2. RB Noah Cain
We had hoped to see a healthy running back do what he did in limited action in 2019. Instead, coming off missing all but a few plays of the 2020 season because of injury, Cain never seemed comfortable and looked like a completely different running back than what we saw two years ago.
It's hard to blame a whole lot on any of the running backs because the O-line was so terrible at run blocking. But Cain just never showed any explosiveness, determination or decisiveness. He finished second on the team in rushing to Keyvone Lee with 350 yards on 106 carries (3.3 per attempt) and scored four touchdowns. He also caught 19 passes for 114 yards.
3. QB Ta'Quan Roberson
He got in the game at Iowa after Clifford was injured and played about as poorly as any quarterback in Penn State history. The offense couldn't even function with him for much of his time on the field, drawing eight false start penalties that apparently were a result of him not having a strong cadence.
The Lions would have won that game and perhaps not had their season collapse as badly with any level of competent play by a backup quarterback. Instead, Roberson was 7-of-21 for only 34 yards and threw two interceptions in the loss.
It's just hard to believe a former 4-star recruit who had been in the program for three years would look that bad when he finally got his opportunity.
We never saw Roberson play again after that day, and he is transferring to UConn.
4. CB Joey Porter Jr.
He's definitely one of the most talented players on the team, and he very well could end up playing in the NFL for a long time. But this season, Porter had a lot of problems and was heavily penalized the second half of the year, drawing numerous big pass interference and holding flags because of poor discipline and technique.
It got to the point late in the year where you almost expected a flag to be thrown any time the ball went Porter's way on a close play.
5. QB Sean Clifford
I mentioned earlier that one player made both my top 10 list and this five most disappointing list, and that player is Clifford.
You just expect a whole lot more from the guy. More consistency. Better passes. Fewer mistakes. He's played so much and has been through so many situations that you just figure he would be a whole lot better.
He could look really good at times -- like early on at Iowa -- but ultimately the issues he displayed in the bowl loss to Arkansas are the issues that hampered Penn State's offense too often with a third-year starting quarterback.
