STATE COLLEGE — When someone asked Saturday why he was tremendous in three College Football Playoff games last season, Dani Dennis-Sutton shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I really don’t know. I just trusted the process, I guess. I did the same things in the playoffs that I did in the regular season. The plays just sort of came.”
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Six tackles for loss. Four and a half sacks. One forced fumble. One spectacular interception. They didn’t happen by accident. They happened because Dennis-Sutton is very good.
He enters his senior season as one of the best defensive ends in the country, a preseason All-American and one of Penn State’s best playmakers.
“He was dominant and took over games (in the CFP),” defensive line coach Deion Barnes said. “He has a good feel for the game. Anybody who has played this position knows it’s a rhythm thing. I think he caught the rhythm in the playoffs.
“He could feel plays coming. He’s starting to trust what he sees.”
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The Nittany Lions have expected great things from the 6-5, 265-pound Dennis-Sutton since he was one of the highest-rated recruits in their vaunted 2022 recruiting class.
He considered turning pro after last season when he was projected as a mid-round pick. But he decided to return to Penn State, along with classmates Drew Allar, Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Drew Shelton, Vega Ioane and Zane Durant.
They all feel they have unfinished business after Penn State’s 27-24 loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, a CFP semifinal.
Dennis-Sutton was everywhere, it seemed, that night at Hard Rock Stadium, making six tackles and two sacks, forcing a fumble and wowing the sellout crowd with a ridiculous interception in the fourth quarter, which set up a go-ahead touchdown.
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He showed off his freakish athleticism on that play, but Saturday at Media Day he made it sound like it was ordinary.
“We ran that play quite a bit,” Dennis-Sutton said. “We probably dropped (into pass coverage) two or three times a game. A lot of times they don’t throw it there. He (Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard) just happened to throw it. I happened to be in the right position and made the play.
“You never know when those plays are going to come.”
Dennis-Sutton was off to a great start last season and made six tackles, including one for loss in overtime, in Penn State’s 33-30 comeback win over USC.
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Two weeks later, though, he suffered a leg injury at Wisconsin and did not return. His time was limited the following week against Ohio State in a 20-13 loss. He finally returned to form for the playoff games in December.
Despite his injury, he tied for fifth in the Big Ten last season with 13 tackles for loss and for sixth with 8.5 sacks.
“Some games I was the best player,” Dennis-Sutton said. “Some games I was just a player out there. If I’m consistently the best version of me, I think I can go where I want to go. For me to go where I want to go, I have to be consistently great.”
It helps that he faces offensive tackles Anthony Donkoh, Nolan Rucci, J’ven Williams and Shelton in practice.
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“Practice to me is fun because we’re going against a great offensive line,” Dennis-Sutton said. “They’re not scared and they have great players, too. Every day in practice is a battle. That’s what I love.”
He has goals that he keeps to himself, but earning All-American recognition and helping the Lions win their first national championship since 1986 are probably high on his list.
He also would like to duplicate former Penn State teammates Abdul Carter and Chop Robinson, defensive ends who were first-round picks in the last two NFL drafts.
“He’s a big, powerful dude,” Barnes said about Dennis-Sutton. “When he initiates and he goes straight to guys, as far as the attack point, it’s hard for guys to block him. Knowing who he is and playing to his strengths, it’s going to be hard for anyone to block him.”
