When Pat Narduzzi walked into Charlie Partridge’s office one day at 6 a.m., he expected to see his defensive line coach already at work.
What surprised him was the fact that Partridge had company.
“I go in to see coach Partridge and I think it’s him behind the computer,” Narduzzi said.
Wrong.
“I see this big guy look up at me, and it’s Jaylen (Twyman) sitting back there,” he said of his sophomore defensive tackle. “He’s worse than (quarterback) Kenny (Pickett, for spending time watching video).
“The guy watches tape a ton. He knows what an offensive lineman is going to do. He has a plan going into a game. He studies the game. He gives himself a chance.”
Twyman is trying to find a little twitch in an offensive lineman’s technique or what the quarterback might do with the football when he senses pressure — anything he might be able to exploit. As a result, he leads the team in tackIes for a loss (five).
Narduzzi included Twyman into an elite group of defensive tackles.
“Like Aaron Donald, there are only a few of those guys out there,” he said. “(Twyman) is better than a guy we had (at Michigan State), Jerel Worthy, who I thought did a great job of knowing what was going on up front.”
Worthy turned out to be a second-round draft choice of the Green Bay Packers.
“This guy (Twyman) is talented and works at it,” Narduzzi said. “He’s not just a guy who likes to go out and play the game. He studies the game. He gives himself a chance.”
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