Newest Penn State Football Big Man On Campus: Five Stars, Five Positions
Did someone say Beast Mode? Well then let me be the first because “IT” is coming to a Beaver Stadium and a Penn State Football game near you
He is Cooper Cousins, the only 2024 five-star interior offensive lineman in his class in the country last year. Cousins weighs in at a svelte 323 pounds and stands at a towering six feet, six inches tall, and is all beast!
He’s from Erie, Pa and played for McDowell High amassing one hundred pancakes and zero sacks through this junior season.
Scouts call him a bully at the point of attack, and he is a serious finisher. Folks, that’s not hyperbole either. I watched a lot of tape on this kid in preparation for this story and the kid does not hold back.
Penn State Head Coach James Franklin calls him “nasty” and I think that description is soft.
“I think he can play all five spots and there’s tremendous value in guys like that,” Franklin recently told reporters. “He’s got a nasty streak and does not look like a high school kid. He’s a lean six foot six, 320 some pounds …. He was a high-production, highly-rated guy who was low maintenance.
“We offered him (a scholarship) and his family was all there and he literally left, walked around the corner, came back like four minutes later and said ‘we’re coming’. And that was the end of it. He’s a high-profile guy that knew this is where he wanted to be. He’s coming in early and he’s going to have a chance to compete. I love him. I really do.”
And so will his 110,000 fellow classmates when they show up to watch him put on a show that will make Willie Roaf stop what he’s doing on Saturdays next Fall.
24/7 Sports calls Cousins’ drive-blocking strength and field demeanor “tone setting”. They went on to describe the big fella as a gifted athlete with
“[Cousins is] a simultaneously high-floor and high-potential offensive lineman thanks to physical tools,” Brian Dohn writes. “layered athletic profile, varied on-field experience, and live evaluations. Frame and snapping experience combine to create a versatile, ultra-valuable piece for an O-line room. Projects as a high-major prospect who could start multiple years before becoming an NFL Draft candidate, possibly in the first three rounds.”
Kudos to the Nits’ Scouting Department.
The Lions have now signed at least one five-star player for three consecutive years. Cooper Cousins very well may be the best of the three.
MORE: Penn State Trending for Elite 2025 Prospect
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It was at PRISM where Staszak produced live games and began his career as an on-air reporter.
After a couple of brief stints with CBS-3, WB-17 and WGAL-8 in Lancaster, PA, Staszak began a 12 year stretch at FOX 29 where he became the lead sportscaster in 2007. It was there that Staszak found himself in the middle of Philadelphia Phillies World Series Championship coverage that earned him an Emmy nomination for best sports reporter in 2008.It was one of five Emmy nominations that Staszak earned over the course of his career.
All told Staszak covered three World Series, two Stanley Cup Finals, an NBA Finals and one Super Bowl during his television run.
Staszak left the TV business for 97.5 The Fanatic in 2013, where he enjoyed eight years bloviating his beliefs on how a professional football team should be run.In 2018 when he fortunate enough to be the first sports talk host in the city, along with cohort Zach Gelb, to provide post-game coverage of the first Super Bowl Championship for the city’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles.
Staszak was also a writer for 97.5 The Fanatic along with 4 Philly Sports and now covers Penn State athletics for NittanyCentral.com.
