All 105 is a Nittany Sports Now series profiling each Penn State football player. This edition will look at sophomore defensive end Amin Vanover.
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 266 pounds
Hometown: Newark, New Jersey
Before Penn State: Vanover lettered three years at St. Joseph’s Regional High School, twice being named all-state. Vanover made his mark as a pass rusher, picking up eight sacks as a sophomore, eight more as a junior and 8.5 in his senior season. Rivals rated Vanover as a four-star recruit. 247Sports and ESPN each had him as a three-star. Both Rivals and New Jersey had him as the No. 9 player in New Jersey from his class. Vanover committed to Penn State in June 2019.
2020: Vanover played in two of Penn State’s nine games in a pandemic-shortened season, finishing the season with three tackles.
2021: Vanover played in six of Penn State’s 13 games, finishing the year with four tackles and a tackle for loss. He made three of those tackles in the Outback Bowl against Arkansas, where he received increased playing time due to ends Arnold Ebiketie and Jesse Luketa opting out of the game.
2022: Vanover played in all 13 games. He finished with 16 tackles (nine solo), a sack, 4.5 tackles for loss, three pass breakups and a pair of quarterback hurries.
Where he stands: Penn State has a deep defensive end corps. Veteran Adisa Isaac is back for his fifth year, and Chop Robinson will return for his second season in Manny Diaz’s defense after breaking out in 2022. A breakout candidate for 2023 is Dani Dennis-Sutton, a five-star ‘22 signee. Penn State’s also slated to return Vanover’s High School teammate, Smith Vilbert, who missed all of last season. Vanover might not start for Penn State, but he made the defense better in 2022 no should be able to do the same this season.
A quote by Vanover: “I want to be part of that. I knew I couldn’t make the wrong decision. At the end of the day, I had to pick the school I wanted to go and pick what was best for me. I like to play. I like to get after the quarterback. That’s why I picked Penn State.” — Vanover to NorthJersey.Com before his senior season at St. Joseph’s.
A quote about Vanover: “As a person, Amin is as genuine as it gets. I think one thing that people don’t know about him is that he’s a little bit of a goofball. He doesn’t show that much, but amongst his teammates and coaching staff, he adds a sense of levity to downtimes. But also, when all the pressure is on, he’ll be there. He’ll be ready to roll, but he’ll also have a big grin on his face. That’s a great player to have in any locker room.” — Vanover’s high school defensive coordinator, Danny Marangi, to Rivals.com.
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