Dani Dennis-Sutton’s Coach at Penn State Sees ‘Urgency to Being Great’

With Dani Dennis-Sutton, the Green Bay Packers drafted an all-around player to improve their edge-defending group.

“There’s nothing that my guys don’t know how to do,” Dennis-Sutton’s position coach at Penn State, Deion Barnes, told Packers On SI this week. “They’ll know how to play the run, they’ll know how to drop, they’ll know how to pass rush. It’s no part of the game that we can’t do.”

Barnes, who’s now the defensive ends/outside linebackers coach at South Carolina, isn’t just tooting his own horn. During his six seasons at Penn State, he helped mentor 21 all-conference selections, including three All-Americans and five first-round picks.

Dennis-Sutton was one of the steals of the draft as a fourth-round pick. A two-year starter who played in 55 career games, he finished with 23.5 sacks, 34.5 tackles for losses, seven forced fumbles, two interceptions and 10 passes defensed.

“You drafted a hard-working and driven guy that’s going to be a self-starter,” Barnes said. “He’s going to be curious, so he’s going to ask a bunch of questions. He’s going to try to figure out how to be one of the best in the room.”

Barnes’ tenure at Penn State didn’t quite overlap with that of Micah Parsons. Parsons, of course, was sensational for the Packers before suffering a torn ACL. More than just a force of nature on the field, he’s a driving force in the locker room.

“People can’t outwork (you),” Parsons said at the end of the season. “When your effort matches what you’re trying to say in the locker room, then it carries over more, man. I dare people to beat me to the ball. You know what I mean? I’m running to the ball like my life depends on it. And it do! My life depends on the outcome of how this team plays.”

Dani Dennis-Sutton Has Work Ethic and Talent

Penn State defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton (33) celebrates a sack on Michigan State quarterback Alessio Milivojevic. | Brendan Mullin-Imagn Images

Working hard and playing hard will be anything but a foreign concept to Dennis-Sutton.

“I’m glad Micah said that because I think that’s somebody for him to learn from,” Barnes said. “When I watched Micah at the Green Bay practices when he first got there, first thing the dudes were saying was he was at full-tilt at all times. You could see from the videos and stuff like that the work he was putting in.

“So, I think that’s going to be good for Dani to see. It’s going to be even another level that he didn’t even think of going hard would be, and I think it’ll push him to another level that he didn’t think he could get to.”

After two seasons as a productive backup, Dennis-Sutton started 27 games the past two seasons and collected 17 sacks, 25 tackles for losses, five forced fumbles and seven passes defensed. He also blocked three punts as a senior.

“I think his knowledge of the game, it grew the last two years,” Barnes said. “He understood what he was getting, understood how to play against it and understood how to use his technique to win. I think the knowledge of the game really got him to make even more plays and be even more productive, especially toward the end of both seasons.”

Dani Dennis-Sutton All-Around Impact

He had 8.5 sacks during each of his final two seasons. Of the 46 edge defenders in the draft class ranked by Sports Info Solutions, he finished eighth in pressures and 12th in pressure percentage in 2025.

“I think he’s learned his identity,” Barnes said. “He’s a powerful guy that knows how to use his body. He’s got a dense body where once he does hit somebody, they’re going to go backwards. And he knows how to be able to use their leverage as far as if they sit too far inside, he’ll win outside. If they sit too far outside, he’ll win inside. He knows how to use that type of leverage to be able to win and then go get to the quarterback.

“The dude’s strong. I’m not going to compare him to anybody, but if you think of a strong, powerful guy, you’re going to think of a Michael Strahan, one of those big type of dudes. He’s more complimented to those type of guys. So, I think as a pass rusher, he can win with speed but he also can go through you.”

Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore (5) is tackled by Penn State Nittany Lions defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton. | James Lang-Imagn Images

His size (6-foot-5 5/8 and 256 pounds with 33 1/2-inch arms) and power show up in his run defense, too.

“I think that’s a part of it,” Barnes said of his strength, “but he knows how to use his hands. If you watch his film, he does a great job getting his hands inside and he’s got better at his pad level. That’s something that the coach is probably going to have him be even more consistent with on the next level, but he knows how to get his hands inside and he knows how to maintain pad level.”

In four seasons, he dropped into coverage 97 times, so he could be an asset for defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon in that role, too.

Barnes is one of the top position coaches in the collegiate ranks. He knows what it takes to get to the NFL and be successful in the NFL.

Now that Dennis-Sutton is in the NFL, why will he be a success?

“He’s going to make a successful career because he’s going to learn the way to work on that next level,” he said. “He’s going to learn quickly how to win as far as you got a guy that you can’t even teach the things that he’s doing as far as his work ethic and the stuff that’s in front of him with Micah. I think you’re going to learn a lot from being in that room with him. He’s more of a sponge. He ain’t going to be no, ‘I’m going to do it my way’ type of thing. ‘I’m going to learn from what the vets been doing.’

“And he’s in a perfect situation where the vet is a guy that’s familiar and been through what he’s been through, and he’ll be able to flourish from just soaking in that knowledge. Talking to him the other day, he’s more excited to talk with the coaches, learn the playbook, figure out ways to get on the field as fast as possible. So, I think his urgency to being great is the reason why he’ll be successful.”

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