NFL Draft Profile: PJ Mustipher, Defensive Lineman, Penn State Nittany Lions
PJ Mustipher
Penn State Nittany Lions
#97
Pos: iDL
Ht: 6036
Wt: 320
Hand: 0900
Arm: 3268
Wing: 7938
40: 5.41
DOB: 11/10/1999
Hometown: Owings Mills, MD
High School: McDonogh School
Eligibility: 2023
One-Liner:
An interior defensive lineman that can provide suffocating run support from various alignments.
Evaluation:
A big-bodied player with adequate height and weight to hold up inside. Mainly aligns as a three-technique with snaps as a 2i and true nose. Terrific get-off and snap anticipation allow him to penetrate the backfield quickly and disrupt plays, resulting in tackles for loss. Excellent hands that stack and shed, can control linemen like test dummies. Holds the point of attack and can peek and peel as a two-gapper. Brings out a swim move at appropriate times, deploying it with success. Mainly an early-down player. Doesn't offer much in pass rush, generating little to no pocket push or ability to collapse pocket depth. Gives his back up far too often, getting him finished or exposing his gap integrity. Mustipher can control the interior and provide gap integrity as a three-technique, 2i or true nose. He can and will do the dirty work as a two-gapper, allowing others around him to thrive. He offers little in terms of pass rush with few snaps in obvious down and distance situations and even less pocket push, limiting his evaluation to mainly a run stuffer.
Grade:
3rd Round
Quotes:
"Obviously everybody that covers Penn State closely and covers the Big Ten closely understands how important PJ Mustipher has been for our program over the last four years and specifically last year. A lot of people talk about the game of football. You want to be strong up the middle, very similar to baseball and having a nose guard like PJ Mustipher to set the tone is really, really important. He's back and excited and ready to go. He wished that he was ready for spring ball. He wasn't. But the most important thing is he's ready for camp. We went out to dinner last night. We went to have a steak at St. Elmo's, like a lot of people, owned by a Penn State grad, I want to say. One of the most impressive things that I've ever seen is PJ ate one of the biggest steaks I've ever seen in my life, biggest piles of mashed potatoes, ate the shrimp. I didn't tell him about the cocktail sauce beforehand. And then also ordered a full separate meal of two lobster tails that are massive. And he crushed it all." Penn State HC James Franklin on DT PJ Mustipher
Background:
Originally from Owings Mills, Maryland. Attended McDonogh High School and was a member of the first team USA Today’s All-USA Maryland Football Team during his senior year. Ranked as the eighty-fifth best recruit and a four-star prospect coming out of high school by 247Sports. Attended Penn State University. Played in twelve games during his freshman year. Played in thirteen games as a sophomore and started one. Improved drastically heading into junior season. During junior season, started all nine games and played defensive tackle making thirty-five tackles. During his senior season, started six games and made twenty-one tackles before getting injured and being ruled out for the season. Was an AP All-Big Ten Team first selection. Used his extra season of eligibility and started nine games making twenty-seven tackles. Declared for 2023 NFL Draft and projected as a third-round pick.
