What Do NFL Scouts See in Penn State Players? A Former Coach Explains

Jim Mora said he expected Penn State players to be tough and well-coached but occasionally asked whether they had peaked in college.

Jim Mora, the former NFL and college head coach, has scouted Penn State players for years. In doing so, he noticed some trends that current coaches might look for as well as they prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft.

"You knew they were going to be well-coached," Mora said in a recent interview. "You knew that defensively, they were going to be fundamentally sound and they were going to understand the game of football. [Former Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley] and those guys did a tremendous job of preparing players. ...

"I don't think they went into any practice thinking they were going to prepare them for the NFL. They were going to prepare them to be the best Penn State they could be, but in turn they became great NFL players because they were so fundamentally sound."

Mora, the former NFL and college head coach who now serves as an analyst, developed a relationship with Penn State football. He got to know former linebacker LaVar Arrington, drafted receiver Deon Butler in Seattle in 2009 and hired Bradley as defensive coordinator at UCLA in 2015.

He cited some common threads among Penn State players he scouted over the years.

"You know that you were going to get discipline," Mora said. "You know that you were going to get toughness, you knew that you were going to get effort. The one concern that you would have was, had they peaked, or were they really close to their ceiling? Or was there still room to become even greater than they were at Penn State."

The "peaked" comment was curious, so we asked Mora to expand on it.

"Because they were so well-coached at Penn State and they were so fundamentally sound, you often wondered whether they were near their peak, or was there more for them to do," Mora said. "Was there more growth to be seen? You didn't ask if they were maxed out in the sense that they were overworked overplayed, but, 'Can he take it to the next level? Does he have the innate physical ability, the innate athleticism, or is this the best he's going to be?' I'm not saying it was a valid concern, but it was a concern."

Penn State has had 17 first-round draft picks since joining the Big Ten in 1993. This could be the program's first year with multiple first-round picks since 2003.

The traits he saw then have carried into the James Franklin era, Mora said.

"You know you were going to get hard-asses," Mora said. "You knew you were going to get tough guys, guys who loved football."

Check out the video above for more from Mora.