Safety Jaquan Brisker (1) was one of Penn State’s best defenders in the fall, and the senior will be using his extra year of eligibility to return to the Nittany Lions for 2021.
                                 Adam Hunger | AP file photo

Safety Jaquan Brisker (1) was one of Penn State’s best defenders in the fall, and the senior will be using his extra year of eligibility to return to the Nittany Lions for 2021.

Adam Hunger | AP file photo

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The first-team All-Big Ten honors went to Penn State’s defensive ends. To be sure, Shaka Toney and Jayson Oweh were both standouts for the Nittany Lions en route to declaring for the NFL draft.

By the end of the season, though, the Penn State defender playing at the highest level may have been in the secondary.

Senior safety Jaquan Brisker earned a first-team All-America nod from Pro Football Focus. And after taking a long look at the NFL himself, the former Lackawanna College standout has opted to return to Penn State for 2021.

“Had a talk with his pops and it healed him,” Brisker wrote on Twitter Monday. “He said, ‘You’ll go out like a coward if you end it. You came too far, you can’t look back, you got to finish!’ “

Brisker, a Pittsburgh native, played his first two years at Lackawanna before transferring to Penn State in 2019 and moving into a starting role in 2020. He finished with 33 tackles, six pass break-ups and an interception in nine games.

All NCAA players did not lose any eligibility this season because of the coronavirus pandemic, allowing Brisker to return for a fifth season of play. He follows fellow defensive back Tariq Castro-Fields, who has also decided to play a fifth season for the Lions after missing much of 2020 with an injury.

Penn State is projected to have much of its secondary back for next season with cornerbacks Joey Porter Jr., Keaton Ellis and Marquis Wilson all playing extensively this past fall.

Another senior, safety Lamont Wade, has not publicly announced his plans for next season.

Brisker was playing at the highest level of the group by the end of the season. But it took some time for him to settle into his new role.

“I think Brisker these last few weeks looks like the guy I hoped he’d be,” defensive coordinator Brent Pry said in December. “(By the Rutgers game he was) running the alley, sure tackling and confident and fast — that’s who I think he is. He was playing a new position, playing in a boundary. … It was an adjustment for him. And I think he went through some growing pains early in the year.

“I think he’s starting to feel more and more comfortable. What happens with all guys, the more experience and the more snaps, the more comfortable you get, and knowledgeable and fast.”

Brisker and Castro-Fields appear to be the exceptions so far on using their extra year of eligibility. All of Penn State’s fifth-year players so far don’t appear to be returning for a sixth season, a group that includes Toney and offensive linemen Michal Menet and Will Fries. Defensive tackle Antonio Shelton has transferred to Florida and defensive end Shane Simmons is moving on from football.

But the offense got a major boost last week when breakout receiver Jahan Dotson turned down a chance to enter the draft after three seasons.