Penn State’s Adisa Isaac showcasing his pass-rushing skills at the Senior Bowl

MOBILE, Ala. — Before the first competitive reps of Tuesday’s first Senior Bowl practice, each positional group spent time honing the fundamentals. Whether it was players’ footwork, blocking technique, or hand placement, the time during the early periods of National team practice was spent on perfecting their craft.

In the far end zone, pass rushers were attempting to stay as tight as they could working around the goalpost, allowing team edge rushers to showcase their athleticism. As the drills began to separate the degree of athleticism within the group, it was Penn State’s Adisa Isaac, one of four Nittany Lions participating in this year’s Senior Bowl, who looked physically different than the rest of the group after measuring 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds this week.

Every single rep of individual drills, Isaac went full-tilt, perfectly executing the specific technique instructed by his position coach. The intentionality with each movement, each drill, and each rep allows the Nittany Lions pass rusher, who finished the 2023 season with career highs in tackles for loss (16) and sacks (7½), to play freely on the field.

“You’re just constantly drilling the same thing over and over, and [it] comes to a point where you just do it without even thinking about it, and that’s kind of where I’m trying to get to with all my moves,” Isaac told The Inquirer after practice Tuesday. “And all my techniques where I’m not really thinking much, it’s a natural movement for me. So I just try to be very intentional with my drills and make sure that I’m very detailed about it and that I get the most out of it.”

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In a stacked group of tackles, this year’s Senior Bowl allows Isaac to show just how explosive and disruptive he can be as a pass rusher. Isaac is in a group with Oregon State potential first-round tackle Taliese Fuaga, who was a standout on the first day of practice, and BYU’s Kingsley Suamataia, and this week’s practices will serve as a measuring stick for the Nittany Lions edge rusher.

Isaac got off to a slow start during practice once the one-on-one sessions between the offensive and defensive line began. Losing his footing on two of the pass-rushing reps, Isaac wasn’t able to finish cleanly, but once the team sessions began, Isaac began to thrive, using his athleticism and first-step quickness to disrupt plays both as a pass rusher and as a run defender.

His first eye-popping moment came on an outside zone run play, matched up with Fuaga. Using his 33-inch arms and 81-inch wingspan, Isaac overpowered the Oregon State star and made a tackle in the backfield.

One of the areas Isaac improved most as a player this season was as a run defender, and he showcased that ability in the 11-on-11 run period.

“I just got off and played upfield,” Isaac said of the play. “I played vertical, and I just read the block and I saw that he was trying to overreach me, and I just kept going straight. I didn’t try to go with him, I just kept my track, and then the ball was right there.”

During the 11-on-11 session that featured mostly passes, Isaac again used his athleticism to disrupt a downfield completion to Penn State tight end Theo Johnson. Matched up against Michigan’s LaDarius Henderson, Isaac controlled the rep at the point of attack, pressuring Oregon’s Bo Nix in a likely sack if it was a full-contact play.

Before pass-rush reps, Isaac says he focuses on a few keys that allow him to quickly decipher which moves he can maneuver to win against offensive tackles.

“Reading my keys on the tackle, reading his shoulders, reading his hips and knees and just all the little pinpoint keys, that helps tell me to know where I should go and how I should rush,” Isaac said. “But [the] main thing I’m just trying to get off [the ball]; God gifted me with speed, so sometimes speed kills.”

The physical tools were evident on both his college tape and on the field at Hancock Whitney Stadium. If Isaac can string together consistent, disruptive reps like he did in the latter part of Tuesday’s practice, he could finish the week as one of the big winners at the Senior Bowl.