Penn State football has played well on both sides of the ball during its current two-game winning streak.

Defensively, the Nittany Lions have been without starting cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields for weeks, and their younger corners have needed to step up in his absence. The cornerbacks have been critical to the defense’s improvement over the last few weeks.

Brent Pry’s defense allowed just 112 and 122 passing yards to Michigan and Rutgers, respectively, in the last two games. Despite not having Castro-Fields, the Nittany Lions had some other guys back healthy, and it has paid dividends.

“You gotta remember, there was a couple of weeks there that we played with only three corners,” head coach James Franklin said. “Getting some guys back healthy, I think that factored into it. Having a good plan factored into it. Getting a couple of wins and getting some good mojo, that going factored into it.”

Franklin mentioned some of the younger guys in the cornerback room that have needed to step up.

“A lot of those guys that kinda that were kind of inexperienced guys, Joey Porter and [Daequan Hardy] were inexperienced guys, they’ve gotten to play a lot of football and you get better,” Franklin continued.

Joey Porter Jr. started every game for the Nittany Lions so far this season as a redshirt freshman. He’s been a bright spot for Penn State, totaling 30 tackles, two for a loss, four passes defended, and one sack in seven starts.

After receiving minimal playing time last season, Porter has stood out to some of his teammates this year, especially safety Jaquan Brisker.

“He looks phenomenal,” Brisker said. “And he’s going to continue to get better. Joey Porter, that’s a name people will hear in a couple of years.”

While Porter has been impressive, he’s not the only corner to step up this season. Marquis Wilson, who started in Castro-Fields’ absence, has totaled 10 tackles and one pass defended this season. Daequan Hardy (one sack, one pass defended) and Keaton Ellis (nine tackles and one pass defended) have also seen more playing time over the past few weeks.

“At Penn State, it’s a next man mentality,” Brisker said. “Those guys have stepped up a lot. They came in, Daequan Hardy, he’s been having a great year to me. Marquis Wilson and those guys, they’ve been coming in, making plays, doing what the coaches ask.”

One of Penn State’s biggest problems in the first few weeks of the season was giving up big plays. Time and time again, the Nittany Lions would fall victim to a breakdown in coverage or simply poor tackling. That problem appears to be solved for now, as the longest pass play given up over the past two weeks was just 28 yards.

Safety Lamont Wade, one of the leaders in the secondary, has seen the improvements in the secondary and credits the work the team has put in during the week.

“We’ve been able to hone into a, I guess you can say, base approach from the secondary,” Wade said. “We kinda know more of what we’re going to line up with going into the game. Also, getting a nod on tendencies, getting a nod on digging into the film even deeper.”

Wade continued, mentioning the loss of Donovan Johnson at the start of the season and how the younger guys have had to step up from the very beginning. Wade raved about the play of the younger corners and expressed his excitement for them moving forward.

“Joey [Porter Jr.] got that opportunity and took advantage of it early. The other guys have constantly been working, constantly been competing, constantly grinding with each other. You know, they’re so competitive, they have so much potential, and they could be so great because I feel like it’s a special group of young guys.”

Despite a slow start, Penn State ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten with only 191.7 passing yards allowed per game. It’s taken a group effort at the back end of the defense to make the improvements the Nittany Lions have made, and they’ll attempt to ride the momentum into another dominant performance Saturday afternoon against Michigan State.