New captain Keaton Ellis brings versatility, experience to Penn State’s safety room

PENNLIVE.COM
Wednesday, July 26, 2023 10:11 p.m.
INDIANAPOLIS – Penn State’s safety room once again will be led by a veteran player.
But the Nittany Lions have needed to move on from Jaquan Brisker and Ji’Ayir Brown in recent years, and it will be difficult to replace that kind of production.
Brisker became a key player in Chicago’s secondary as a rookie 2022.
Brown, the Lions’ leader tackler last fall, is already drawing buzz in San Francisco after the 49ers picked him in the third round of the April draft.
Now the leadership role at safety falls to fifth-year player Keaton Ellis, a State College Area High grad who began his college career as a corner.
The 5-foot-11, 192-pound Ellis, whose father Bruce played for Penn State in the mid-1970s, made 13 starts at safety — next to Brown — a year ago.
Ellis enters 2023 as a team captain, and James Franklin believes he could be one of the most improved players on the team.
“The thing with Keaton, I would say, Keaton’s played a ton of football at Penn State,” Franklin said Wednesday during Big Ten Media Days at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“He really started out as a playmaker who could play wide receiver or defensive back, and although he’s had a ton of success and played a lot of games, that playmaking is not what we thought it was gonna be the first couple years.
“This spring, I saw that (playmaking) from him. Those skills that he had as a wide receiver in high school, I saw that coming back. I saw him playing fast and making plays.”
Ellis, who produced 24 tackles and was credited with seven pass breakups in 2022, said being named captain meant as much to his father as it did to him.
“That’s something I don’t take lightly,” Ellis said Wednesday.
“To be a leader and earn the trust and respect of the team, it means a lot. I’m not taking it for granted.”
“(My father) talking about what it really means to be a Penn State football player, and a captain, when he got the news it was a very emotional time for him and myself.”
Ellis said his experience playing corner early in his Penn State career made for an easier transition to the safety spot.
“Learning that (corner) position just helped me so much,” Ellis said.
“Just playing ‘man’ defense, being able to cover is a huge component of safety. So to already have that skill set going into it really helped make the transition a lot easier for me, made it more mental than physical.”