Penn State Player Spotlight: Miles Dieffenbach
The Penn States Nittany Lions (4-3, 1-2 B1G) have now lost three straight games, two of which were coming off of a bye week while the other was a loss to a struggling Northwestern team. They have fallen from the top of the Big Ten to a team satisfied with just a bowl birth.
One of the keys to Penn State’s struggles has been its offensive line, which has surrendered 25 sacks this season, more than they surrendered all of last season. They have also failed to create running room for the backs and to give Christian Hackenberg sufficient time to throw.
Although it’s been a bad start, the offensive line for the Nittany Lions could be looking up. They survived a scare from Donavan Smith on Saturday night, but according to Franklin, he is looking to return this week. In addition to Smith, redshirt senior Miles Dieffenbach has a chance of being in the lineup this week against the Terrapins.
He is very unlikely to return this week after tearing his ACL in the spring, but is looking to make an impact in the upcoming games.
“I’m dying to be out there knowing these are the last couple games I’ll ever be able to put on a Penn State uniform,” said Dieffenbach this week. “I want to be out there with my guys more than anything else.”
One could simply hear in his voice that he does not want to sit on the sideline the rest of the season, but Miles has already been making an impact on the practice field and in the locker room.
“It’s hard trying to really lead by example when you’re not out there on the field and you’re not out there having tough practices with the guys and not going out there on game day,” said the senior. “But they know what I’ve done in the past and what kind of guy I am so I’m doing my best to have my knowledge and to help lead them that way.”
This is coming off of a devastating injury to the senior guard’s knee in the spring. He elaborated on the feeling of finding out about the injury.
“I’d lie to you if initially you’re not pretty upset, but there was no other option than to put your head down and start going to work.”
He put in his work and now it’s been six months and Penn State needs a lineman with experience.
“I’ll know when it’s ready and I’m not going to put my leg at risk and I won’t let the doctors put me out there until it’s 100%.”
Clearly, the offensive line of Penn State has struggled mightily, even with Dieffenbach layering them with wisdom and encouragement from the sideline. However, it’s just not the same as having him out there on the field for game day.
Miles finished his press conference saying, “After practice I kind of pick a defensive lineman like Anthony Zettel who’s probably one of the best defensive linemen in the country, definitely tops in the Big Ten and we do some one-on-one’s. I tell him, ‘this is a game rep, go as hard as you physically can against me’ because when I get into a game, nobody is going to take it easy on me.”
From his press conference this week, Miles Dieffenbach sounds like he will be ready to return at some point this season. The sooner the better for the Nittany Lions who are not only fighting for bowl eligibility, but for pride as a part of the Big Ten conference.
Photo Credit: (AP Photo/PennLive.com, Joe Hermitt)
Mike Carnuccio is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. You can contact him by emailing mikeyc48@gmail.com.
