Penn State Football lost cornerback Joey Porter Jr. to the NFL, but junior Kalen King will be back and ready to dominate.

Last year, King had a strong season which earned him Third-Team All-American honors from Pro Football Focus. Also, King made the AP All-Big Ten Second-Team.

The Nittany Lions‘ defense finished among the top 16 in the nation last season, in multiple major categories, and they return seven starters this season.

King is now arguably the Big Ten’s best cornerback, and will be tasked to go up against the opposing team’s best receivers every game. King broke up 21 passes last season and had three interceptions.

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Kalen King got challenged a lot with Porter on the other side last season, and he answered the challenge nicely.

But, when Porter was out with appendicitis last year, King stepped in, took over the CB1 role, and filled in amazingly.

With another season playing in coordinator Manny Diaz‘s defense King is ready to take his game to an even higher level.

King is now ready to become a leader of the Penn State secondary and the team.

“With me being in a position to where like I’m looked at as one of the top guys on his team, I feel like I have to work on that, and I have to become more of a leader, just for the young guys,” King recently told reporters. “They’re looking for somebody to look to, they’re looking for a standard, and I feel like I have to be the standard for everybody in the cornerback room.”

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Kalen King: Penn State Football Best Defender?

King is 5-foot-11 and 188 pounds, the average size for a cornerback, but he is athletic and has outstanding ball skills.

The junior is a physical playmaker looking to dominate the cornerback position for the Nittany Lions.

Opposing quarterbacks will probably not challenge King much, but when guarding the best receivers in college football, quarterbacks will try to get the ball into their playmakers’ hands giving King a chance to make plays.

With King’s skill set, a defense led by Diaz, and 10 of 12 defensive linemen coming back — pressuring the quarterback helps the secondary — King will be the next lockdown cornerback in the Penn State Football secondary.

 

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