Parker Cothren: DT · Penn State · #41.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Parker Cothren
Controls the point of attack and doesn't move. Second year in the Penn State defensive front. On tape: 4 tackles and 1 sack against Michigan, Week 8, 2017.
Play style
The heaviest frame on the interior. Sack production is intentionally not the point of this profile.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
23 tackles. 1 pass defended. 0 interceptions. 2.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Penn State | 23 | 6 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1 |
| 2016 | Penn State | 26 | 9 | 5.5 | 2.0 | -- |
| Career | 49 | 15 | 8.0 | 3.5 | 1 |
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2017 season · 13 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 52-0vs Akron | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 33-14vs Pittsburgh | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 56-0vs Georgia State | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 21-19@ Iowa | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 45-14vs Indiana | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Wk 6 | W 31-7@ Northwestern | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 42-13vs No. 19 Michigan | 4 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 4 tackles |
| Wk 9 | L 38-39@ No. 6 Ohio State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 24-27@ No. 24 Michigan State | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 35-6vs Rutgers | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 56-44vs Nebraska | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 66-3@ Maryland | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
 Bowl | W 35-28vs No. 12 Washington | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 23 | 6 | 2.5 | 1.5 | — | 1 |
Week 8 · 2017
W 42-13
vs Michigan
1 sack · 1 tackle for loss · 4 tackles
Dominant 29-point win at home against Michigan.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
11%2 TFLSack rate
7%2 sacksHurry rate
4%1 hurry23 tackles · 2.5 for loss · 1.5 sacks.
2 seasons under James Franklin — 22-5 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2017 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 1.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 2.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
James Franklin
Pass share
51.1%
458 pass / 439 run
Plays / game
69.0
13 games
Team sack rate
5.9%
511 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2017
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive linemen who play every week.
How it ended
Two seasons at Penn State, 49 tackles — the college career is complete.
Coaching lineage · 2013–2017
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Bill O'Brien → James Franklin. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
