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DETROIT &#8212; In practice, Penn State can simply slap a red cap on the top of a scout-teamer&#8217;s white helmet. In the game, it&#8217;s going to be a little tougher to track Jabrill Peppers.Of the many challenges the Nittany Lions face in Saturday&#8217;s trip to the Big House, keeping tabs on Michigan&#8217;s do-it-all star will be one of the toughest.The No. 4 Wolverines have plenty of senior talent on both sides of the ball, but it&#8217;s the redshirt sophomore Peppers &#8212; sometimes a linebacker, sometimes a safety, frequently a punt and kick returner and even a change-of-pace threat on offense &#8212; who stands out the most.Peppers has the unique distinction of leading his team in both tackles and all-purpose yards thanks to his work on special teams, even taking a punt back for a score in last week&#8217;s win over Colorado. It&#8217;s been enough for him to draw passing comparisons to Michigan legend Charles Woodson, the only predominately defensive player to ever win the Heisman.&#8220;Can he play every play? He might,&#8221; Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh said this week on a Detroit radio show. &#8220;He might be able to play every play, especially with all the TV timeouts. Maybe it&#8217;s possible. We do try to have a bit of a pitch count with him. But he elevates and he finds another rung every single time he goes out there.&#8220;Common sense tells you you (rest him). Experience says that you do and should. But he&#8217;s special and he defies common sense.&#8221;That&#8217;s a heck of a way to put it.Tasked with playing the role of Peppers in practice this week for Penn State has been safety Ayron Monroe. Monroe made a push to play last season as a true freshman, but he ultimately took a redshirt and has dealt with injuries in 2016.&#8220;It&#8217;s hard to replicate a guy who&#8217;s one of the more dynamic players in college football right now, but Ayron&#8217;s a really good athlete,&#8221; Lions coach James Franklin said in the middle of the week. &#8220;We&#8217;re excited to get him back into the rotation hopefully soon. He&#8217;s done a nice job.&#8221;Though Michigan is listing Peppers as a strong-side linebacker this season, Franklin said his build and speed makes him most like a third safety.With that in mind, Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki figures to see a lot of Peppers on plays when he stays back in coverage.&#8220;Ayron&#8217;s been doing a phenomenal job,&#8221; Gesicki said. &#8220;Obviously (Peppers) is a phenomenal player, so to come out here and give us a look like that is going to be challenging. But I think he&#8217;s done a great job and accepted his role.&#8221;THREE AND OUTSpecial concernsPeppers may be on top of the Lions&#8217; radar in the return game, but true freshman punter Blake Gillikin has been excellent in his first three weeks with only three of his kicks returned by opponents for 3 total yards.The Lions won&#8217;t be able to afford a mistake there or on a kickoff by Joey Julius. Though Julius has a solid touchback rate thus far, one poorly placed kick against Pitt turned into an 84-yard runback that set up the Panthers&#8217; winning touchdown.Franklin said the key is to maintain consistency on kicks rather than try anything fancy. And to make sure the kicks are getting off in a timely fashion. Michigan has already blocked three field goals and a punt in three games.Familiar faceThe man who works with Peppers the most would be new defensive coordinator Don Brown, who has been especially aggressive this season because of his unit&#8217;s experience and athleticism.Franklin knows him well, having coached with him on Ralph Friedgen&#8217;s staff at Maryland and also against him, most recently in Penn State&#8217;s 2014 Pinstripe Bowl win over Boston College.&#8220;He&#8217;s bringing pressure on 45 percent of first and second downs, which is a lot,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;And then it&#8217;s up around 70 percent on third down. A big story in this game will be our ability to have success on third down.&#8221;Harbaugh hired Brown away from the Eagles this past winter after his first coordinator, D.J. Durkin, took the head coaching job at, yup, Maryland.Brown wasn&#8217;t happy about his defense&#8217;s performance in the first quarter last week against the Buffaloes as Michigan fell into an early 21-7 hole while giving up some big plays in the passing game.He told reporters in Ann Arbor this week that he doesn&#8217;t want spread offenses like Penn State and Colorado to dictate his own game plan.&#8220;They want you to line up in &#8230; a static front and kick your you-know-what,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;We&#8217;re not doing that. If it is, it&#8217;ll be over my dead body. We&#8217;re going to stay aggressive, we&#8217;re going to stay focused, and we&#8217;re going to stay multiple.&#8221;Sharks circlingAs an 18-point underdog on the road against a top-five team, Penn State would have to be pretty close to perfect to have a shot at an upset.One thing the Lions certainly can&#8217;t do is hand over easy points. As it stands, Penn State has been charged with 12 fumbles so far, the second most in the nation. The Lions have lost six of them, ranking them 124th out of 128 FBS teams in ball security.The Wolverines have undoubtedly taken notice.&#8220;There&#8217;s blood in the water,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;They&#8217;re going to say this team will fumble, so they&#8217;ll be more motivated to strip the ball. That&#8217;ll obviously be an emphasis for them, and they&#8217;ll look at it as an opportunity in this game.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Michigan&#8217;s Jabrill Peppers (5) is listed as a linebacker, but he also plays safety, takes snaps on offense and, last week, returned a punt for a touchdown. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_UM-peppers2016923142341991-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Michigan&#8217;s Jabrill Peppers (5) is listed as a linebacker, but he also plays safety, takes snaps on offense and, last week, returned a punt for a touchdown. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tony Ding | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>PSU GAMEDAYPenn State (2-1, 0-0) atNo. 4 Michigan (3-0, 0-0)3:30 p.m., ABCMichigan StadiumLine: Michigan by 18</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State faces tough task in Peppers