Player Spotlight: Antonio Shelton

Story posted November 15, 2018 in CommRadio, Sports by Rhea Jha

Penn State defensive tackle Antonio Shelton, known for pumping up the defensive line, has only
improved from his freshman year, growing as an individual on and off the field.

This season, Shelton has helped the Nittany Lions by making tackles in seven out of the 10
games Penn State has had this year. Coming out to a total of ten tackles so far, Shelton has been
high on energy and an aggressive player this year.

Due to older teammates leaving last May, Shelton’s new energy might be explained by his
assumed responsibility to fill those roles. Shelton said he looked up to them and knew one day he
would have to take a position as one of the leaders of the team.

The ohio native came to Penn State with quite the record. In his senior year alone, he recorded 54 tackles,
10.5 sacks and two forced fumbles along with being selectred to The Associated
Press All-Ohio Division II second team, The 2015 American Family Insurance ALL-
USA Ohio Football second team and while earning first-team All-Central honors from The Associated
Press.

Shelton was also rated a three-star recruit by all four major recruiting services as a senior in high school – ESPN, Rivals,
Scout and 247Sports. Other rankings from his home state of Ohio include being the 52nd-ranked player in the state by Rivals, third-ranked defensive tackle in the state, 11th-ranked defensive tackle in the midwest by Scout, the 60th-ranked player in Ohio by ESPN and 69th by 247Sports.

During his freshman year as a collegiate athlete, he didn’t fall short on academics either, as he
was named to the Academic All-Big Ten team, meaning that he kept above a 3.0 GPA.

One of the main roles Shelton took on as a team leader is motivating the defense line before
games. The way he sees it is if he can motivate his players, the rest of the team can play better.

In the interview, he says he can’t explicitly say exactly what he says, but the basis of it is, “We
have to play like we’re capable of playing."

He will look to motivate the Nittany Lions this weekend at this Saturday’s game at Rutgers at
2:00 p.m.

 


Rhea Jha is sophomore majoring in telecommunications. To contact her, email
rkjha5111@psu.edu.