Kalen King explains pride he takes in tackling

Kalen King is known for his pass coverage, but he isn’t scared to lay a hit on somebody. In a conversation with On3’s Andy Staples, the Penn State cornerback revealed how much pride he takes in his physical style.

“A lot, man,” King said. “The way I grew up and the way I was brought up with football, I tried to be like as as complete as possible. I tried not to be good at one thing and not good [at another]. I tried to make my game as complete as possible because growing up in Detroit, man, it’s a very tough area. I feel like I have that natural competitive toughness of just from me being where I’m from.”

King’s toughness is obvious on the field. The junior DB boasts 11 tackles this season and one pass defended. Of course, the ball is rarely thrown his way. King was listed as a 2023 preseason All-American by the Associated Press.

Kalen King’s early lesson in toughness

King isn’t the only physical player in his family. King’s brother, Kobe, is a 6-foot-1, 242-pound linebacker for the Nittany Lions. The redshirt sophomore has already tallied 14 tackles (11 solo), three tackles for loss, one sack and a fumble recovery.

With Kobe’s size, Kalen had no choice but to develop toughness when he was young.

“[Kobe] was a competitor,” Kalen said. “I competed with him in everything. When we first started working out, when I first started playing football, my dad used to take me and Kobe to the field. I always had to go against him. He was always much bigger than me, much stronger than me.

“I definitely had to bring it every time since I was a little kid. I feel like just having him on this journey with me and just us doing this thing together, it’s paying off and I definitely credit a lot of that competitive nature to Kobe, because it was a lot of times where I was losing and I was getting mad because I just couldn’t do nothing with him.”

Kalen will need his competitive nature on Saturday. The Nittany Lions will face off against the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes. King will have his hands full with projected first-round pick wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka.

With the fate of Penn State’s season on the line, don’t be surprised to see King’s tackling prowess. The Big Ten rivals will square off at noon ET. The game will be broadcast on FOX.