Justin Neff ‘Likely Redshirt’ this Season
UNIVERSITY PARK – Justin Neff, the preferred walk-on out of Central Mountain High School, is a member of the Penn State football team this fall, but likely will take a redshirt this season.
A Penn State spokesperson, in response to a query from therecord-online, said Monday Neff “will likely redshirt, but that can also change.” She said he was in uniform for the Nittany Lions’ season-opening win over Akron last Saturday but will not make road trips this season and said he practices regularly with the team. He is listed as a safety on the PSU roster.
Neff graduated from Central Mountain High School in June and joined the Penn State team when classes recently started.
Coming off its 52-0 win against Akron in its opener, No. 6 Penn State will look to keep its momentum rolling, hosting Pittsburgh (1-0) Saturday at Beaver Stadium.
Having officially turned its attention toward the Panthers, Penn State is set for its 98th meeting against, historically, one of its most frequent opponents, with an all-time series that dates back to 1893.
In the second of a four-game series spanning 2016-19, Pittsburgh will make its first trip to Happy Valley since 1999. In its most-played all-time series, Penn State has played just 23 games at home against Pitt, owning a 17-6 advantage. Pitt held on for a 42-39 win in the renewal of the series at Heinz Field last year.
The Nittany Lions met yearly from 1997-00 prior to a 16-year break that ended with last year’s matchup. Within the four-year span Penn State played two games at home against the Panthers, winning both, including a 20-17 win in a back-and-forth battle in Beaver Stadium Sept. 11, 1999. It was Lock Haven High grad Travis Forney’s 24-yard field goal that put Penn State ahead with less than 1:30 to play, but a stout defensive effort and a blocked Pitt 52-yard field goal attempt by former All-American LaVar Arrington with less than five seconds remaining secured the win.
Although not the ending the Nittany Lions had anticipated last year, this week’s All-Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week, Saquon Barkley put on a resilient performance in last season’s Pitt meeting, finishing with his first career five touchdown outing. With four rushing touchdowns and one receiving, Barkley’s 30 points marked the most since Ki-Jana Carter’s 30-point outing in 1994.
Penn State’s consistent success throughout last Saturday’s opener meant more opportunities for the Nittany Lion staff to call on some newcomers for their first experiences in a game setting.
In total, 13 Nittany Lion freshmen made their collegiate debuts, including 10 redshirts and three true freshmen. By position, that’s nine on defense, three on offense and one specialist, with redshirt freshman kicker Alex Barbir entering for a pair of kickoffs.
Defensively, Penn State rotated in defensive ends Shane Simmons and Shaka Toney, as well as true freshman Yetur Gross-Matos. Defensive tackles Ellison Jordan, Daniel Joseph and Antonio Shelton also made appearances. Toney and Gross-Matos both registered a pair of tackles, with Toney adding a TFL and Gross-Matos adding a quarterback hurry late in the fourth quarter, forcing a Zips punt. In the secondary, Penn State saw true freshmen corners Tariq Castro-Fields and Lamont Wade as well as redshirt freshman Zech McPhearson.
Among all the new faces Franklin noted postgame that having the opportunity to rotate in Nittany Lions who have earned playing time as much as possible builds confidence in the locker room, alongside experience too.
“We want to play as many guys as we possibly can,” Franklin said. “That’s kind of our game plan. We want to be able to create depth and develop depth and the only way you do that is being able to play guys in the first half of games where it’s legitimate plays, not end of the game garbage time.”
On the offensive side, Penn State saw redshirt freshmen offensive linemen Will Fries, Alex Gellerstedt and Michal Menet rotate in. All together, Penn State’s offensive line did not allow a single sack in Saturday’s opener – something the Nittany Lions did twice last year. Not only as it relates to the defensive line though, Franklin also mentioned postgame that the offensive line has seen just as dramatic of an increase in improvement since he and the staff have arrived in Happy Valley.
