Penn State Football: King Confident Heading into Key Season at Corner

Somewhere in the beginning there is always a bit of doubt. Great players might be born with certain traits and physical abilities, but they all start out on the wrong end of the long odds, at the same square one as everyone else. Being good at a sport is an unlikely endeavor, being good enough to play at Penn State even harder, being good enough to make it to the NFL is even harder still.

Sometimes that doubt creeps in early on. Other times it waits until you get even closer to your goals. But the doubt arrives all the same.

“I used to have days where I thought ‘”‘was I making the right decision by even playing football?'” Penn State sophomore cornerback Kalen King said of some of his first practices in State College. “Because like, I don’t know, man, I’m very hard on myself. I used to hate getting beat, and that still annoys me even though I know I can get beat. But even when I get beat, I’m still aggravated about it.”

That is an inherent challenge plenty of players face as they jump to the next level. For those that will go on to high-level college ball, it’s not that hard to be the best player on the field in a high school game. If nothing else, it’s not hard to make plays when most of the guys on the field are going to end up doing something else with their lives.

But then make the trip to a major college football program and suddenly you’re just one of many players who used to be the best player on the field. Now you’ve really got to earn those plays, really turn the things that might have come easily earlier in your career into the things you have to work on, no longer the big fish in the little pond.

“Coming from high school, I wasn’t really used to getting beat at all,” King said. “So when I came to college, just being in those practices with the other guys and just taking all their reps and understanding and realizing that you can get beat by anybody on the roster… it just changed my mentality, because when I was first coming in, I used to be mad almost every practice because I would get beat. But I just grew to learn that you’re gonna get beat. That’s the name of the game. We play a very hard position at cornerback. Nobody’s gonna be perfect. So I just had to accept that.”

Whatever it took, King certainly made good on the learning moments his freshman season at Penn State. He finished the season with three interceptions, 30 tackles and 15 passes defended on one of the best pass defense teams in the nation. Penn State will look to King in 2023 to anchor a coverage unit that will be without both corner Joey Porter Jr. and safety Ji’Ayir Brown, who are each off to the NFL Draft process.

He has yet to play without Brown, but with Porter sidelined for the Rose Bowl against Utah, King made good on the opportunity with three tackles and an interception. It marked the sixth time that season King had made three or more tackles and third time in six games with an interception. The key? Well, putting the good and the bad behind you.

“It’s the next play mentality because you could get beat at any moment in the game,” King said. “But once you get beat there’s nothing you can do about it but line up the next play and try to try to make a play. That’s one thing I feel like I have at corner. I’ve got a short term memory, so if something goes wrong on one play where I’m not where I’m supposed to be or something, now my focus is the next play and doing what I can to be in position this time and making a play.”

It’s hard to argue with the process, or the results as King looks to go from Porter’s sidekick to the main hero in his own right. And it’s safe to say King has come to learn that football is exactly what he’s supposed to be doing. No more doubt here.