Why Penn State football's Jonathan Sutherland feels move to linebacker plays to his strengths
Entering his sixth season at Penn State, Jonathan Sutherland has been through the spring ball motions before.
This time around, though, he’s confronted by a new challenge.
The longtime safety is transitioning to linebacker, and is expected to take over the Nittany Lions’ SAM linebacker role. The move allows Curtis Jacobs, who played that position last season, to slide over to WILL.
“A lot of my reps are gonna be coming close to the line of scrimmage,” Sutherland said Wednesday night. “I’m quite OK with that, honestly. I love blitzing, you know, playing in the box. I feel like when I’m put in those kinds of situations I’m playing to my strengths.”
The numbers bear that out.
According to Pro Football Focus data, Sutherland’s best asset has always been his tackling since arriving at Penn State.
He finished with a sparkling 87.2 tackling grade back in 2020, when he didn’t miss a single tackle in 12 attempts.
Last season, that mark slid down to 70.1 — but was still his best PFF grade by a significant margin.
James Franklin compared Sutherland’s skillset at safety to what the Nittany Lions did with Marcus Allen during his career with the Nittany Lions.
Allen just concluded his fourth season at the NFL level with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“When we kind of looked at Sutherland and kind of looked at his career, he has played his best football when he’s been closest to the ball,” Franklin said. “…A lot of times when he was playing safety, we were dropping him down into the box, very similar to what we did with Marcus Allen.”
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To prepare for his move, Sutherland added weight over the winter. Playing around 205 pounds for the majority of last season, Sutherland is listed at 210 pounds on Penn State’s roster.
That puts him up nine pounds from his listed weight heading into last season’s Outback Bowl, and he says he’s about where he wants to be.
“I put on some lean mass,” he said. “So I’ve been feeling good.”
How Jonathan Sutherland’s move impacts Penn State’s defense
For Franklin, moving Sutherland to that SAM linebacker role enables the Nittany Lions to put their best foot forward personnel-wise.
It also allows them to align themselves in a way that matches up well with modern offenses, Franklin said.
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“I think it’s going to be a combination of two things,” Franklin said. “I think right now Sutherland gives us the best ability to get our best 11 guys on the field, but it also allows us to play with what I think in 2022 more times than not you want to be playing with, which is more of a DB with linebacker traits than the opposite, if that makes sense.”
