Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

It may have taken an injury to fully appreciate what Carl Nassib accomplished this season.

Despite playing a total of just six snaps over the last two games, the Penn State defensive end still finished the regular season as the nation’s sack leader with 15.5. He also topped the country in forced fumbles (six) and fell one spot to second in tackles for loss (19.5).

That type of production in just 10 games was enough to earn him one of the Big Ten’s highest honors.

Nassib was named the Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year by the conference on Monday, making him the sixth Nittany Lions defender to win the award.

“It’s incredible to have this honor,” Nassib said in an interview with the Big Ten Network during its awards show. “Really proud to represent Penn State and represent my team. A great honor like this is pretty cool.”

Now he is linked to Penn State’s modern defensive greats. He joins LaVar Arrington (1998), Courtney Brown (1999), Michael Haynes (2002), Jared Odrick (2009) and Devon Still (2011) as the previous winners of the award.

Nassib was the lone first-team All-Big Ten pick for the Nittany Lions on defense, earning the nod on both the coaches and media ballots. Tackle Austin Johnson was named to the second team by the media and third team by the coaches while tackle Anthony Zettel was a third-team selection by both.

“Congratulations to Carl Nassib,” Lions defensive coordinator Bob Shoop wrote on Twitter. “(In my opinion) Austin Johnson was worthy of 1st team status as well.”

“So proud of this guy,” defensive line coach Sean Spencer chimed in. “Hard work and dedication pays off.”

The conference will announce the offensive teams and awards on Tuesday. Running back Saquon Barkley was already edged out for the league’s Freshman of the Year award by Michigan’s do-it-all man, Jabrill Peppers.

As for Nassib, Monday seemed like it might be a disappointing evening as well. Especially after Ohio State’s Joey Bosa was named the Big Ten’s Defensive Lineman of the Year earlier in the show.

But the conference evidently wanted to find a way to honor both players — Bosa is considered one of the top prospects for this spring’s NFL draft — so they split the two awards, with Nassib bringing home the bigger hardware.

No one could have seen any of this coming.

“To be honest, neither could I,” Nassib said. “I just took a lot of hard work over a long period of time. When my opportunity came knocking, I was ready for it.”

His story has been well-chronicled. A former walk-on rising up to the top of the depth chart as a fifth-year senior before drawing the attention of coaches, fans and pundits nationwide.

Nassib came up with at least one sack in each of Penn State’s first 10 games, with the last one giving him 15.5 in the fourth quarter against Northwestern, pushing him just past Haynes and Larry Kubin for the school’s single-season record.

Since hitting that milestone, a hamstring injury has kept him sidelined. He started the past two games against Michigan and Michigan State but had to come out on the first series each time, unable to return.

“These past two weeks were probably the most frustrating two weeks in a long time,” Nassib said. “All I’ve wanted to do is get out and help my team win. I was limited and couldn’t do that.

“It was really rough. But everything happens for a reason. So hopefully it’ll get better soon.”

In the meantime, Nassib was named a finalist for two national defensive player of the year awards (Bednarik and Nagurski), as well as top lineman or linebacker (Lombardi) and top former walk-on (Burlsworth).

He will get to attend banquets for all of those honors over the next two weeks. But that isn’t what he’s anxious about right now.

“Going a month without playing football is going to be tough,” Nassib said. “So I just can’t wait to get back out there and, you know, hit somebody.”

More awards

• Rounding out Penn State’s defensive laurels for the season, safety Marcus Allen (coaches, media), linebacker Jason Cabinda (coaches, media), cornerback Grant Haley (media) and cornerback Trevor Williams (coaches) were All-Big Ten honorable mentions.

Senior linebacker Ben Kline was the team’s sportsmanship honoree.

• Aside from Nassib, Bosa and Peppers, five others won awards on Monday — Wisconsin’s Joe Schobert (top linebacker), Iowa’s Desmond King (top defensive back), Indiana’s Griffin Oakes (top kicker), Nebraska’s Sam Foltz (top punter) and Maryland’s William Likely (top return specialist).

Penn State defensive end Carl Nassib (left) was named the Big Ten’s best defensive player as well as the league’s top defensive lineman on Monday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_nassib-awards2015113020104446.jpg.optimal.jpgPenn State defensive end Carl Nassib (left) was named the Big Ten’s best defensive player as well as the league’s top defensive lineman on Monday. Abby Drey | AP photo, Centre Daily Times

By Derek Levarse

[email protected]

Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse