How good can Penn State’s Curtis Jacobs be in 2023? Some in the NFL believe he is elite now

When you take a close look at the challenges presented by Penn State’s defense, it can be easy to overlook one of the most gifted linebackers in the nation.

James Franklin’s Nittany Lions again have top-10 potential heading into the fall. Manny Diaz’s defense will go a long way toward deciding how far the team can go.

Edge rushers? Chop Robinson, Adisa Isaac and second-year Lion Dani Dennis-Sutton are major matchup problems.

Abdul Carter, entering his second season at linebacker, was named second-team All-Big Ten in 2022 after logging 10 1/2 tackles for loss, 6 1/2 sacks, five quarterback hurries, four pass breakups and two forced fumbles.

Third-year corner Kalen King is already in the 2024 first-round pick discussion, and despite losing Ji’Ayir Brown, Penn State is deep at safety.

Do not forget about fourth-year outside linebacker Curtis Jacobs, who is one of the Lions’ most complete players.

Jacobs, the speedster from McDonogh School in Maryland has added some weight to his 6-foot-1 frame — he is listed at 238 pounds after playing at 227 last season — and he made the successful conversion to the weak side after beginning his career on the strong side.

The question isn’t how good Jacobs can be in 2023. It is: How good has he been?

“I know where I can be as a player,” Jacobs said Thursday after participating in Penn State’s annual Lift for Life inside Holuba Hall. “I’m up there with the best guys in the country. It’s just about showing it every day.”

Another year in Diaz’s defense should allow Jacobs’ game to expand even more, much the way Brown’s did in his final season in State College.

Brown entered 2022 with a well-earned reputation as a ballhawk, and Diaz put Brown in more optimum positions to succeed as a blitzer. He was also a force against the run, leading the Lions in tackles (74) and adding 4 1/2 sacks.

The NFL knows how valuable Jacobs is after the linebacker made 23 starts the last two seasons and produced 113 tackles, 14 1/2 tackles for loss and seven sacks. Jacobs also intercepted a pair of passes — returning one for a touchdown against Michigan last year — and was credited with four passes defensed.

Jacobs starred in Penn State’s 45-17 thumping of Minnesota at Beaver Stadium last October, collecting 14 tackles, two of them for losses. He closed 2022 with a stellar effort in the Lions’ Rose Bowl win over Utah, finishing with five tackles and two sacks.

ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller recently spoke with a couple of NFL people about Jacobs’ potential at the next level, and one told him the PSU linebacker could be the most underrated player in the country.

Asked about Jacobs, one AFC national scout told Miller: “He can absolutely fly, and he has production on three downs. … Watching him play in space, I don’t think you’d ever have to take him off the field.”

An AFC general manager who spoke with Miller said Penn State left tackle Olu Fashanu is deserving of the first-round praise he is receiving, but said Jacobs “might be a top-five player in the class when it’s all said and done.”

When informed about Miller’s ESPN article, Jacobs said, “I try not to have an opinion about it. That’s one of those things for me where you’re never getting too high, you’re never getting too low.

“I just want to play my game and let that be decided when it’s draft time. But that’s a great thing to hear, a great compliment but I have to put the work in for that to be a reality.”

Robinson, a transfer from Maryland, made an immediate impact for Penn State at the defensive end position last year, finishing with 10 1/2 tackles for loss, 5 1/2 sacks and three quarterback hurries.

He knows how valuable Jacobs is to the Lions defense and how much better he can be.

“Having those guys behind (us), it’s a great feeling,” Robinson said of PSU’s linebacker group led by Jacobs and Carter.

“It’s not the O-linemen or the offense now focusing on you or the D-line. Because when you have many different weapons on defense, it’s a lot to process. So having Curtis and all those guys behind us, it’s great.”