On a Penn State defense that hasn’t lacked for starpower the past couple seasons, Kevin Winston, Jr. was a standout.
The safety appeared in 25 games in his first two seasons in Happy Valley, earning honorable mention all-conference honors as a true sophomore when he had a team-high 60 tackles, intercepted a pass, and had two fumble recoveries as he started all 13 games. He saw the field plenty his freshman year back in 2022, too. He played in 12 games and even had a pair of tackles in Penn State’s Rose Bowl win against Utah.
In 2024, Winston entered the year with plenty of hype and his play in the season-opening win at West Virginia matched it.