Any time two projected top-10 overall picks face off, it’s a college game that merits serious scouting attention. Illinois hosted Penn State on Saturday with Fighting Illini DT Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton and Nittany Lions OT Olu Fashanu both in action.
Fashanu and his Nittany Lions team won the scoreboard war, 30-13, but Newton handily captured the battle of the best prospect on the field. It’s not that Fashanu was bad, either; No. 74 didn’t have his best game, but Newton had one of the most dominant performances by a defensive tackle we’ll see all season.
The box score doesn’t do justice to how well Newton played. He finished with five tackles, one TFL, one PD and (unofficially per the ESPN broadcast) five QB pressures. The 295-pound Newton also blocked a kick.
He was in the Penn State backfield and disrupting QB Drew Allar all afternoon. It was a performance that reminded me of Gerald McCoy at Oklahoma, the kind that led McCoy to be the No. 3 overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft. The compact build and explosive power off the snap are very similar.
This two-play sequence is a great example of how impactful Newton was. No. 4 was not credited with the tackle on either play here, but he’s absolutely the reason those red zone plays failed for Penn State.
Illinois DT Jer'Zhan Newton.
Hard to handle. (not sure why Penn State went at him twice like this down here😬) pic.twitter.com/HJnWNkMMt2
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) September 16, 2023
Unfortunately, one of the rare mano-a-mano matchups between Fashanu and Newton ended with the Illinois standout leaving the field with an apparent injury during the onset of garbage time.
Fashanu had some issues with being too upright in his stance on outside rushes. Normally he’s strong enough with his punch to negate being a little stiff-kneed, but the Illini defense gave Fashanu problems with inside/outside looks and off-snap quickness that made his initial set a beat more tentative. He was beaten cleanly for two pressures and had another where he was a half-count late to react to a move that led to a deflected pass.
Fashanu did better in run blocking. Again, the box score shows Illinois bottling up the ground attack (40 carries for only 164 yards), but Fashanu did well in sealing the outside holes against a well-heeled and disciplined Illini defense. He’s still not great at engaging in space, but the PSU offense didn’t ask him to do that very often. In heads-up run blocking, Fashanu looks very impressive for a left tackle prospect.
