Pwn The Portal: Cornell Grad Transfer OL Hunter Nourzad

Penn State Punctuates its Two-Week Binge on Offensive Lineman by Adding an Experienced ‘Plug-and-Play’ Contributor

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Ah, The Ivy League…or as it has come to be known inside the Lasch Building, Lackawanna College Northeast.

For the second straight season, a rather large student-athlete has used his time playing football within this coalition of safety schools as a springboard to tackle the athletic and academic rigors of Penn State.

Last year, it took two disjointed series vs. Wisconsin for Harvard grad transfer Eric Wilson to unseat Anthony Whigan as the Nittany Lions’ left guard, a post he didn’t relinquish for the remainder of the season. This year, it’s Cornell offensive tackle Hunter Nourzad whose recent decision to pick Penn State over offers from Iowa, Illinois, Auburn and Virginia Tech not only further fortifies the burgeoning Ivy League-to-Happy Valley pipeline but also provides Phil Trautwein a dependable and accomplished replacement to fill one of three holes on the Nittany Lions’ offensive line in 2022.

Listed at 6-foot-4 and a sandwich shy of 300 pounds, Nourzad was a flower that grew from a pot of dirt last year. Despite anchoring an offense that couldn’t get out of its own way on most downs (as you’ll soon see when you scroll to the clips portion of this blog) Nourzad still earned 1^st Team All-Ivy League honors, AFCA 2^nd team All-America (FCS) honors, and was Phil Steele’s Ivy League Offensive Lineman of the Year. Even though COVID shutdown the Ivy League’s 2020 season, Nourzad started every game of the 2021 and 2019 campaigns for the Fightin’ Andy Bernards, so, presumably, there should be a bountiful cornucopia of full-game footage for us to feast from, right?

Wrong.

We spent hours scouring the darkest corners of the World Wide Web certain we’d find some account with the entrepreneurial foresight to milk the cash cow that is pirating Cornell football games off the ESPN+ stream…but alas, no. Thankfully, Nourzad – or some plebe on Cornell’s football staff – pieced together a highlight All-22 cut-up from the first 5 or 6 games of the 2021 season, so at least we’re not working totally blind.

With that said, compared to our previous Transfer Portal evaluations, this particular scout kind of feels like being a tourist in North Korea – you’re only seeing the stuff Dear Leader wants you to see. We got 4 minutes and 48 seconds of Grade-A Nourzad here – no filler, no gristle – picked by the man himself. That’s it. So, as you read, if it feels like our sunshine pumping is cranked up to 11, well, there’s a valid reason why.

Blame the Internet. Not us.

Moments after Nourzad committed to Penn State on Monday and news spread to the On3/247/Rivals trident of Nittany Lions message boards, more than one poster inquired whether Nourzad was just another Eric Wilson — a comparison presumably made because both newbie Nittany Lions played in the same league prior to transferring. He’s not. In fact, Nourzad and Wilson couldn’t be any more different – not necessarily in a good way, not necessarily in a bad way. They’re just different.

Where Wilson’s teddy-bear physique was offset by his cerebral approach to blocking and his advanced technical acumen for playing the position, Nourzad looks like the Terminator and plays like the Tasmanian Devil – a total 180 from the Snuffleupagus Parade mentality that’s plagued Penn State’s offensive line throughout James Franklin’s tenure.

For the sake of convenience, we ‘Yellow Arrowed’ Nourzad (No. 64) in all four plays of this montage, below. In hindsight, we probably didn’t need to go to those lengths since Nourzad’s play-to-play aggression and violence (even in pass protection, as you’ll see at the end here) is impossible to miss. In the unlikely event that your eyes do lose track of Nourzad, search for the guy bullying defenders off the screen, driving opponents through the turf, and repeatedly snatching souls.

Now, were there reps where Nourzad’s all-gas-no-brakes temperament got him in trouble against a handful of Ivy League defenders capable of countering his hyper aggressiveness? Yeah, probably. But again, given our limited sample size for evaluation, we didn’t witness it.

What might be even more impressive than the constantly revved motor powering Nourzad’s play is the fact that it doesn’t hinder his ability to stay technically sound and avoid sloppy reps. For a guy with an FBS physique who had to block a mishmash of FCS bodies, Nourzad (in the clips we saw, anyway) managed to maintain leverage against smaller defenders.

We know it’s hard, but in the first play try to ignore the fact that the center snapped the ball off his own leg, causing a fumble Cornell recovered. Watch Nourzad instead. The VMI DE (No. 29) is four inches shorter than Nourzad. Doesn’t matter. Nourzad’s bend/flexibility coupled with a balanced base enables him use his strength and athleticism to drive the overmatched defender back on his heels and ultimately out of the camera’s view.

Same thing in the second play – the QB draw. Great bend and hand placement opens up a canyon-sized hole that the Cornell QB doesn’t take, for some reason.

Once Nourzad enrolls at Penn State in June, it’ll be interesting to see what testing numbers he puts up because within this 5-minute, Best-Of tape there were several snaps that showcased his elite short-area burst and agility.

For example:

Simple toss play out of shotgun that’s made incredibly difficult (at least for Nourzad) because of the defensive alignment. Nourzad’s responsibility on this play is to capture the edge by sealing off the playside DE, No. 89 for Brown University. One problem: the DE is lined up in a 7-tech, meaning Nourzad needs to execute a tough reach block by exploding off his inside foot, contacting the defender’s playside nipple, thus securing outside leverage. This is textbook…which is probably why it was included in Nourzad’s highlight tape.

That same tape also showcased Nourzad’s ability to square up second-level defenders – an aspect of the running game Penn State’s OL struggled mightily with in 2021.

Considering the smorgasbord of smashmouth we just crammed down your throat, it’s a bit surprising to learn that, according to PFF, Nourzad graded out as a substantially better pass blocker than run blocker in each of his two seasons at Cornell.

As you’ve probably guessed, Nourzad’s cut-up contains multiple examples of him thriving in various aspects of pass protection.

Here, Nourzad passes off the nearest DE to the RG enabling him to stay alert and pick up the opposite DE who twists from the weakside B-gap all the way to the strongside C-gap. Again, clear communication and understanding blocking assignments on exotic defensive pressures was a weak spot for Penn State last season.

On this next play, Nourzad fends off a bull rush despite not getting inside hand placement with a quick ‘hop-hop’ step that lowers his center of gravity and shifts his weight forward.

Finally, here’s Nourzad thwarting arguably the most lethargic, uninspired corner blitz you’ll ever see – a stark reminder of the level-up in competition that awaits him in the Big Ten.

CONCLUSION: Go ahead and pencil-in Nourzad as a Week 1 starter when the Nittany Lions — for the 482^nd season in a row — begin Big Ten play on the road, this time at Purdue. But where will he start? Initial consensus indicates that Nourzad will likely be pushed inside to play guard even though he only lined up at guard for 3 of his 632 total snaps last season. If that’s the case, then perhaps Nourzad fills in at right guard, Juice Scruggs becomes the full-time center, Olu Fashanu and Landon Tengwall man the left side of the line while Caedan Wallace returns at right tackle…OR…maybe Nourzad plays left guard, allowing Tengwall to replace Wallace at right tackle, thus kicking Wallace inside to right guard…OR…despite not having ideal NFL offensive tackle measurements (notably: arm length, wingspan and weight), Nourzad could stay on the edge and compete for Wallace’s right tackle spot…OR…Nourzad did take practice reps at center last season, too. So if the Penn State coaching staff wanted to slide Scruggs back to guard they could.