ALTOONA, Pa. -- In the long and successful history of Penn State football, the program has never had a defensive back selected in the first round of the NFL draft.
That's almost certainly going to change in five months.
Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. announced Wednesday night that he is declaring for the draft, and it would be shocking if he is not taken in the first round. Porter, a redshirt junior, is considered a top-15 pick by many, according to NFL Mock Draft Database.
Thank You Penn State 💙 pic.twitter.com/0Yxx8hE7s2
— Joey Porter Jr. (@jjporter_1) November 30, 2022
"After careful thought, I have decided to forego our bowl game and declare for the 2023 NFL Draft. From one dream to the next, I am excited to continue this next chapter," Porter wrote.
Porter is the son of former Steelers standout linebacker Joey Porter, who played in the NFL from 1999-2011. The elder Porter was a member of the Steelers' Super Bowl XL championship team.
"To my dad, thank you for introducing me to the game I love and for always pushing me to be my best," Porter Jr. wrote.
Earlier this year, Porter Jr. told this story about his earliest memory:
"I'll say the earliest I remember to this day was when I went to the Super Bowl and they won over Seattle," said Joey Jr., who was 5 years old at the time when the Steelers beat the Seahawks, 21-10, in Super Bowl XL on Feb. 5, 2006. "So that was a big thing.
"I remember going on the field with the confetti and all that. ... I just kind of remember being there. I remember the halftime show. I know that we had all the lights and stuff. I remember being on the field and going in the locker room afterwards. Not too much of the game, but just the celebration and stuff."
Porter has been able to do a lot of celebrating on his own this season for Penn State, emerging as a shutdown cornerback and drawing praise from college football and NFL scouts for his skill set.
Porter was named first-team all-Big Ten on Tuesday. He has 11 pass breakups this season, six coming in one game against Purdue in the opener. Teams have not thrown his way much since then out of respect, so he hasn't had many opportunities to pile up a lot of statistics.
He did miss two late-season games with appendicitis before returning in the Lions' regular-season finale against Michigan State.
The 6-foot-2, 194-pounder, who played at North Allegheny High School, has the size, length, and speed to be an outstanding cornerback in the NFL.
Here's what Kyle Crabbs of The Draft Network wrote about him in his scouting report:
"Joey Porter Jr. might be the longest cornerback in the country. He’s got incredible reach and influence inside the contact window and at the line of scrimmage. For someone who is still so inexperienced at the college level, it is exciting to think about what additional untapped potential awaits Porter Jr. as he collects more experience and adds more tools to his toolbox to pair with his athletic potential.
"There will be some advocates of moving Porter Jr. to safety at the next level, and while I’d personally advocate for him in a scheme-specific environment to stay in press-man on the outside, you’d certainly raise his floor as a prospect by kicking him inside to play safety. Porter Jr. offers effective tackling and a massive tackling radius for such opportunities and has plenty of juice as a striker in run support.
"But the ceiling to play on the outside is undeniable, particularly when watching him flip his hips and carry routes while engaged on the frame of receivers to go stride for stride and squeeze his man outside the red line. Top-flight physical tools, untapped potential, and bright flashes of physical dominance (and effort) are reasons to buy in."
