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ESPN NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. questions Penn State DE Jayson Oweh for declaring for NFL Draft
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Jayson Oweh is a player who has always been described as a freak athlete at Penn State. But ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. doesn’t believe that’s enough to warrant the defensive end’s decision to declare for the 2021 NFL Draft.
During a recent episode of ESPN’s First Draft podcast, Kiper spoke about Oweh’s decision to declare for the draft following the 2020 college football season. Clearly, the NFL Draft expert doesn’t believe it was the right decision for the Penn State DE.
“I understand it’s not all about sacks, it’s about pressures and hurries and all of that, but Shaka Toney had five sacks on the other side. Jayson Oweh didn’t have a sack,” Kiper said. “He had some tackles for loss and all that. But look at last year with five sacks in 13.5 games. This year, 6.5 tackles for loss, fourth on the team in tackles, 10 tackles against Maryland, nine against Nebraska. He was active and making plays. But when you come out with no sacks and no forced fumbles and you’re an edge guy, only a third-year sophomore and you haven’t really put it together yet with that impressive sack production.”
Oweh ended the 2020 season with 38 stops and 6.5 tackles for loss. He didn’t register any sacks, forced fumbles or interceptions during Penn State’s 9-game season. But there’s still some confidence that Oweh’s size and athleticism will translate to the next level without much issue.
In his career with the Nittany Lions, Oweh tallied 63 tackles, 7 sacks and forced 2 fumbles. Now, he’ll start training to make an impact at the next level.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB