2009 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ISSUE

Transcription

A U G U S T
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2009 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ISSUE
$3.00
DAT E D
M AT E R I A L
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B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M
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Contents
BWI STAFF
August 31, 2009 / Vol. 25, No. 3 / Next issue mails August 31, 2009
OWNER/PUBLISHER
Phil Grosz
EDITOR
Chris Morelli
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Andy Elder
W E B SITE EDITORS
Nate Bauer/Sean Fitz
OFFICE MANAGER
Christine McLellan
Defensive
Defensive linemen
linemen Chima
Chima Okoli,
Okoli,
left,
left, and
and Devon
Devon Still
Still try
try to
to beat
beat
the
the heat
heat during
during 2009
2009 Penn
Penn State
State
Football
Football Media
Media Day.
Day.
CONTRIBUTORS
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Logan Cramer III
Cyle Nunemaker
Mark Selders
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Ron Bracken
Beth Hudson
Tricia Lafferty
Lou Prato
Eric Thomas
ADVERTISING SALES
Fran Fisher and Associates
P.O. Box 178
State College, Pa. 16804
(814) 231-0505
[email protected]
LEGALESE
Logan Cramer III
Departments
Features
Letter from the Publisher
2009 Offense
2009 Defense
Season Predictions
PSU Media Day
Big Ten Media Day
Verbal Commitments
The Hot List!
Up Close and Personals
Top Five PSU Plays
2
B L U E
W H I T E
I L L U S T R A T E D
4
8-13
14-21
23-24
26
28
29
30-31
32-33
34-36
Phil’s Corner
Scorecard
The Tail End
5-6
38
39
Subscription questions?
E-mail us at [email protected]
or call us at 814.234.1177.
Cover Photo by Cyle Nunemaker
Printing by the Altoona Mirror
BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED
August 31, 2009/Vol. 25, No. 3
(USPS742550, periodicals postage paid at State
College, Pa. 16801, and additional mailing
offices) is a newspaper which covers Penn State
athletics and is published 26 times annually –
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Blue
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2009 BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED
All rights reserved
W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M
L e t t e r
F r o m
t h e
P u b l i s h e r
Important Letter From the Publisher
Important information about your subscription to Blue White Illustrated
elcome to Blue White Illustrated’s coverage of
the 2009 Penn State football season.
The reason for this Letter from the Publisher
is to inform subscribers that the publication is making some important changes to your subscriptions
that I believe will improve and expand upon our coverage of Penn State football and address many of the
concerns you have expressed to us regarding the
makeup and timely distribution of our publication.
First of all, this year BWI will be having two parts
to our preseason football coverage.
This edition of BWI that was printed and mailed to
you on Aug. 20, is the first of those two editions.
Our second 2009 preseason football edition will be
printed and mailed to our subscribers on Aug. 31 and will
include our pregame coverage of Penn State’s opening
contest for the 2009 season against Akron on Sept. 5.
The reason for this change was to secure better
delivery and distribution of our preseason publication because of the changes that have taken place
with the U.S. Post Office’s delivery system over the
past six months.
By having two preseason editions, instead of one
56-page preseason edition, not only will our publication be giving our subscribers more in-depth preseason coverage, but it will also enable us to take
advantage of the U.S. Post Office’s new mechanized
delivery system that seems to have dramatically
improved the timeliness in delivery of our publication over the past four or five months.
If we are able to limit our publication to 40 or fewer
pages we can avoid hand sorting of our publication,
which dramatically slows down the delivery process.
But more important than our solutions to the
delivery of our publication, it is extremely important
for our subscribers to take note of the changes we
have made to the bluewhiteonline.com portion of
your subscription.
Starting with our edition that will review Penn State’s
opening game of the 2009 season against Akron on
Sept. 5, the bluewhiteonline.com portion of your subscription will be expanded and become a much more
valuable portion of your BWI subscription.
From what I’ve been hearing from the Post Office, I
believe there is a strong possibility that Saturday
delivery will be eliminated in January of 2010, and
this fall the post office might be closing close to 700
offices, timely delivery for us is a major concern,
especially in major metropolitan areas.
In addition, it appears that the post office will only
guarantee seven-day delivery for the second class
mail of our publication this fall.
In order to address these issues, we have totally
re-designed the home page of bluewhiteonline.com,
the home of the digital format of our publication.
We believe these changes have made bluewhiteon-
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Blue White Illustrated
The new and improved re-designed homepage at www.bluewhiteonline.com.
line.com much more user-friendly.
Here are the important changes you’ll discover at
bluewhiteonline.com that are presently able to be
viewed with this edition of our publication:
1. No longer will you have to scroll through the
entire issue of BWI in PDF format. Each separate
article that appears in each issue of our publication
will be listed on the home page for you to click on
and view individually.
2. The entire game story from Saturday’s contest
will be posted along with some special stories from
each game on Saturday besides each entire issue by
early Monday morning following each game.
We have decided to have our game story posted at
bluewhiteonline.com along with some additional
game stories, besides the gameday coverage that will
still be part of the printed portion of our publication.
This will enable us to let our readers enjoy more
postgame coverage and allow us to add some very
special feature stories to the printed portion of our
publication.
We added some very special feature writers like
Ron Bracken, Eric Thomas, Beth Hudson, Tricia
Lafferty, Mary Jo Haverbeck and Lou Prato that will
enable us to highlight the past and present situations surrounding the Penn State football program
in a more dramatic fashion.
3. BWI will now become compatible with the iPhone
and Blackberry by accessing it at bluewhiteonline.com.
4. BWI will also have positioned on its home page
at bluewhiteonline.com a link to our Twitter and
Facebook pages that we have established.
By utilizing the present technology that allows us
to use iPhones and Blackberries, plus the use of our
new Twitter and Facebook pages, our subscribers
will have the capability this fall to view all of the content associated with BWI anywhere and at anytime.
It is an exciting new world for BWI and our publication. These changes are still a work-in-progress and
there might be some possible changes to the format
over the next couple of months, but we’re convinced
here at BWI these changes will result in the best service for our subscribers this fall and in the future.
A scr eenshot of the new home page of bluewhiteonline.com accompanies this Letter from the
Publisher.
F r o m
Phil’s Corner
PSU’s season could hinge on these six players
I
’m totally convinced Penn State
has a realistic opportunity to finish the 2009 football season with
an 11-1 record, win its third Big
Ten title in five years and play in a
BCS bowl game in January 2010.
In our 2008-09 Year In Review edition at the end of June, I listed in that
issue’s Phil’s Corner 10 specific reasons why I believe Penn State should
be considered the frontrunner for the
Big Ten Conference’s 2009 football
title. (If you want to re-read that article, along with the rest of the 20082009 Year in Review edition, it can be
read in its entirety at bluewhiteonline.com, which is a valuable part of
your subscription).
But that is not the focus of this edition’s Phil’s Corner. Despite the fact
I’m convinced the Nittany Lions
should be considered to be the frontrunner for the Big Ten Conference’s
2009 football title, I don’t want any of
our subscribers to get the impression
I believe it’s going to be easy.
Penn State has its share of problems it
has to solve in preseason practice to put
itself into the position where it can make
a legitimate run for the Big Ten title.
Twelve starters on offense and
defense have to be r eplaced. A.J.
Wallace has to displace himself from
Joe Paterno’s famed doghouse, and
the Nittany Lions are fortunate redshirt junior defensive tackle T om
McEowen has recovered from May’s
shoulder surgery to replace on the
roster the unexpected departure of
redshirt junior defensive tackle Abe
Koroma for the entire 2009 season.
Back at the beginning of this decade,
when Penn State was struggling
through four losing seasons in five
years, that feat would have been
labeled by college football analysts as
a mission impossible.
That isn’t the case any longer in
Happy Valley. Penn State has recruited
extremely well over the past four years,
won 41 of its last 52 games, has the
opportunity to win its third Big Ten
football title in the last five years and
Mark Selders
Jack Crawford (81) will be counted on to make an impact at defensive end.
play in its third BCS bowl game during
the second-half of this decade.
The No. 1 reason why that opportunity exists for Paterno and his team this
fall is because of Penn State’s recruiting success over the past four years.
That’s enabled the Nittany Lions’ football program to reload rather than
rebuild the last several years.
It’s the No. 1 reason why I believe
Penn State will find the necessary
replacements for the 12 starters it has
to replace on offense and defense to
make that run at its third Big Ten title
in five years.
I’m convinced the Nittany Lions’
recruiting has been that successful
over the past four years starting with
the Class of 2005 headed up by Justin
King and Derrick Williams.
Even if that analysis proves to be
correct this fall, I’m also convinced
T h e
P u b l i s h e r
Penn State can fall short of its goal of
winning the Big Ten title this fall and
playing in a BCS bowl game, if three
specific individuals on offense and
defense I’ve selected don’t play up to
expectations and utilize their full
potential this fall.
The success of Penn State’s Spread
HD offense is based on balance. It is not
a spread offense totally dominated by
either the passing or the running game.
It’s not Florida’s “Fun and Gun”
offense which is based on the success
of the passing game.
Neither is it a spread offense that
tries to exploit a running quarterback
like Pat White at West Virginia that
tries to set up the pass with its dominant running game.
All throughout the 2008 season the
success of Penn State’s Spread HD
offense was determined through the
balance of the inside running game
with Evan Royster and the passing
game between Daryll Clark to his
three wide receivers in Deon Butler,
Jordan Norwood and Williams.
Royster is the leading returning Big
Ten rusher. In 2008, he rushed for
1,236 yards, 12 touchdowns and averaged 6.5 yards per carry.
Clark complemented Royster’s inside
running ability completing 192 of 321
passes for 2,592 yards, 19 touchdowns with just six interceptions. His
143.44 passing efficiency rating was
the best in the Big Ten during the
2008 season.
Penn State finished the 2008 season
as the only Big Ten football program
to average more than 200 yards per
game both rushing (205.8 yards) and
passing (243.1 yards).
That’s why I believe it is essential
that senior tight end Andrew
Quarless, redshirt sophomore offensive guard Johnnie T routman and
redshirt junior offensive guard Lou
Eliades play up to their full potential
this fall.
The reason Royster had so much
success running between the tackles
throughout the entire 2008 season
was the superb play of Penn State’s
offensive line. Gerald Cadogan, A.Q.
Shipley and Richard Ohrnberger were
all either first- or second-team all-Big
Ten selections.
Shipley finished the 2008 season as
the winner of the Rimington Award, a
recognition given annually to the No. 1
rated center in the country.
See CORNER, Page 6
A U G U S T
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F r o m
T h e
P u b l i s h e r
CORNER
Continued from Page 5
Anyone who believes it won’t be difficult to replace offensive linemen like
Cadogan, Ohr nberger and Shipley
doesn’t understand the time and
patience it takes to develop talented
and consistent offensive linemen.
With Stefen Wisniewski expected to
be an adequate replacement for
Shipley at center, the performance of
Eliades and Troutman at both starting
guard positions could end up being
the final necessary ingredient for
Royster’s continued running success
between the tackles this fall.
That means Troutman has to maintain control of his weight, and Eliades
has to find a way to stay healthy
throughout the entire 2009 season.
At a press conference in mid-July
with Penn State’s two captains, Sean
Lee and Daryll Clark, Clark indicated
he believed Troutman has the talent
for a breakout 2009 season.
“He (Troutman) has the talent to get
the job done,” Clark said, “He needs to
understand how talented he is and get
himself motivated to get the job done.
He has the talent to surprise people
with his performance this fall.”
Eliades missed participating in the
Lift for Life event back on July 10
because of a reported pectoral muscle
strain during a weight lifting session
back in June.
It has been a series of nagging
injuries throughout his three-year
Penn State career that has kept
Eliades from realizing his true potential on the field.
W i t h t h e d e p a r t u r e o f B u t l e r,
Norwood and Williams and the inexperience that exists at wide receiver,
Penn State’s tight ends need to
become a more integral part of the
Nittany Lions’ passing game this fall
for Penn State’s Spread HD offense to
retain its balance between the run
and the pass.
That’s why Quarless needs to re-discover the success he had as a tight
end his freshman year back in 2006.
The second half of the 2006 season
Quarless actually became Penn
State’s go-to receiver. He finished that
season with 21 catches for 288 yards,
two touchdown receptions and averaged 13.7 yards per catch.
At 6-foot-5, 255 pounds and possessing 4.7 40-yard speed, Quarless
can bring an extra dimension to Penn
State’s passing game this fall. He can
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help Clark and Co. continue the balance on offense between the passing
and running game this fall that proved
to be so successful in the Nittany
Lions’ spread offense throughout the
entire 2008 season.
On defense you might be a little bit
surprised by my three selections. They
are sophomore Fritz outside linebacker Michael Mauti, sophomore defensive end Jack Crawford and, I’m sure
no one is shocked by my third selection, senior cornerback A.J. Wallace.
Of course, Mauti is now out of the
equation with a torn ACL. That makes
the progress of the other two even
more important.
On paper, that seems critical to me
for Penn State’s defense to dominate
this fall the way it dominated the Big
Ten during the entire 2008 season.
The Nittany Lions lost their entire
starting secondary to graduation following the 2008 season. That means
Penn State’s front seven on defense
needs to totally own the line of scrimmage early in the season in
September. That will allow the secondary to develop the confidence and
experience it needs to begin the Big
Ten season opener against Iowa at
Beaver Stadium on Sept. 26.
Maurice Evans, Josh Gaines and
Aaron Maybin have to be replaced and
it certainly won’t be easily accomplished.
Senior Jerome Hayes, redshirt
sophomore Kevion Latham and possibly redshirt junior Bani Gbadyu hope
to fill the shoes of Maybin at the
weakside defensive end position, but it
appears entirely up to Crawford to
provide Penn State’s defense with the
physical presence that is needed at
the strongside defensive end position,
replacing Evans and Gaines.
Crawford’s progress over the last 12
months at the strongside defensive
end position has been nothing short of
amazing.
Only having two years of organized
football experience at the high school
level before arriving at Penn State last
June, Crawford’s development has
exceeded everyone’s expectations.
It even caused Maybin to tell BWI at
Penn State’s Pro Day in mid-March
the following unbelievable statement.
“I don’t think Penn State is going to
miss me that much this fall,” Maybin
said, “I think (Jack) Crawford will be
the next All-American defensive end at
Penn State.”
Crawford certainly hasn’t reached
that level of performance yet, but he
definitely took several steps in that
direction with his dedication and level
of improvement this spring and summer.
Finally, Wallace needs to understand
the commitment it takes in every
aspect of his Penn State experience, if
he expects to become the leader of the
Nittany Lions’ secondary this fall.
“I feel as though I’ve found my
niche,” Wallace told BWI following
spring practice, “Corner is where I
need to be. It’s going to put me in the
best position to get to the next level.
I’m a senior. I understand my responsibilities. I have the game experience,
and I want to be the guy people come
to.”
Unfortunately, the displeasure
Pater no expressed with Wallace in
July makes one wonder if Wallace
really does understand his responsibilities.
Wallace and redshirt sophomore free
safety Drew Astorino are the only
members of the Nittany Lions’ project-
ed 2009 starting secondary that have
any real game experience.
That’s why Wallace’s senior leadership development in preseason practice will be one of the more important
storylines our publication and Web
site will closely monitor throughout
the entire month of August.
It will be inter esting to see how
September 2009’s schedule unfolds
and watch the impact Eliades,
Quarless and Troutman’s progress
have on Penn State’s offense, combined with the development of
C r a w f o r d a n d Wa l l a c e a n d t h e
impact they’ll have on the defense’s
success.
Personally, they are the individuals
that I believe could determine how
successful Penn State is in reaching
all of its goals for the 2009 football
season.
Phil Grosz is the publisher of Blue
White Illustrated.
2 0 0 9
F o o t b a l l
’09 Lions have a tough act to follow
T
here are high expectations in
Happy Valley.
After the Penn State football
team went 11-1 during the regular
season in 2008, you had to know that
media and fans would be high on the
2009 Nittany Lions, who have a solid
core of returning players.
But there’s good news and bad
news. Let’s start with the good.
When one looks at the 2009 version
of the Lions, you have to start with
the captains, Daryll Clark and Sean
Lee. This will arguably be the best
group of captains the Lions have had
since the 2005 season, when Michael
Robinson, Paul Posluszny and Alan
Zemaitis led the Lions to an 11-1
record and a victory in the Orange
Bowl. That team, of course, was a
couple of seconds away from an undefeated season.
With Clark, the Lions have one of the
best quarterbacks in the Big Ten and a
proven leader. He tossed 19 touchdowns and just six interceptions last
year. We’re thinking he’s only going to
be better now that he has an entire
season under his belt as a starter.
Lee returns from a torn ACL, and he
looks ready to go. He’s been talking
about playing again for a long time.
On Sept. 5, fans will welcome No. 45
back.
Elsewhere, there’s plenty to be excited about. Running backs Evan
Royster and Stephon Green should be
a great one-two punch in the backfield. Defensively, Jerome Hayes is
back after another unfortunate knee
injury and young Jack Crawford
should be fun to watch.
There’s also some bad news, though.
Coach Joe Paterno announced at Big
Ten Media Days that Abe Koroma will
not be on the team this year. Other
than that, the summer was relatively
quiet — a good sign.
Clark will be throwing the ball to a
new group of relatively inexperienced
group of wide receivers. And almost
the entire offensive line is new. They
will have a few games to jell, however,
before the Big Ten slate begins. Akron,
Syracuse and Temple should provide
good tune-ups.
The secondary will look new as well.
You can be sure that the conference’s
top QBs like Ricky Stanzi, Juice
Williams and Terrelle Pryor will be
eager to test it.
In the pages that follow, you will find
featur es on players, coaches and
breakdowns of the offense and
defense.
Enjoy Blue White Illustrated’s 2009
Football Season Preview issue.
And enjoy the season.
S e a s o n
P r e v i e w
INSIDE
Offense
8
Andrew Quarless
Chaz Powell
9-10
12-13
Defense
14
Linebackers
15-17
Tom Bradley
20-21
Season Predictions
23-24
PSU Media Day
26
Big Ten Media Days
28
— Chris Morelli
A U G U S T
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F o o t b a l l
S e a s o n
P r e v i e w
Offense has a new look
2009
PENN STATE
DEPTH CHART
OFFENSE
By Chris Morelli
Quarterback
[email protected]
he 2009 version of the Nittany Lion
offense will have a different look,
for sure. So different, in fact, fans
will need a roster just to keep up with
all the changes.
Sure, there are familiar faces in
Daryll Clark, Evan Royster and
Stephfon Green, but there are new
faces (and numbers) at wideout and
along the offensive line.
Replacing the wideouts appears to be
a daunting task. Deon Butler, Jordan
Norwood and Derrick Williams helped
the Nittany Lions win a combined 40
games, capture a pair of Big Ten titles
and go to two BCS bowl games.
However, the success of the 2009
Lions will start up front on the offensive line.
Let’s take a closer look at the
offense.
Quarterback: The Nittany Lions are
more than adequate at QB, as Clark
returns for his senior season. In his
first full season as a starter, Clark was
impressive, leading the Lions to an
11-2 record. With a new-look offensive
line in front of him, Clark may be
asked to scramble a little bit more.
However, that shouldn’t be a problem
for him, as he scored 10 rushing
touchdowns in 2008.
It is imperative to keep Clark healthy
because there isn’t much experience
behind him. Pat Devlin’s transfer to
Delaware means that Clark will have a
true freshman (Kevin Newsome) and a
walk-on (Matt McGloin) waiting in the
wings.
Running Back: There’s not much
mystery here. Junior Evan Royster
and sophomore Stephfon Green
should be a solid one-two punch for
the Lions. Penn State’s version of
slash-and-dash, the two combined to
rack up 1,814 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground last season.
With the Three Amigos gone at wideout, Royster and Green will need to
stay healthy and pile up the yards.
That shouldn’t be a problem.
Royster is on track to become the
school’s all-time leading rusher while
Green has lightning speed, which will
force offensive coordinators Galen Hall
and Jay Paterno to figure out ways to
T
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17
12
11
Daryll Clark
Kevin Newsome
Matt McGloin
6-2
6-2
6-1
232
220
204
Sr.
Fr.
Fr.
6-1
5-10
6-0
213
197
218
Jr.
So.
So.
6-1
236
So.
6-5
6-6
198
232
So.
Jr.
6-5
6-4
6-6
248
247
260
Sr.
Sr.
So.
6-4
6-5
306
279
Sr.
Sr.
6-3
6-4
292
309
Fr.
So.
6-3
6-3
297
290
Jr.
So.
6-4
6-3
310
303
Jr.
Fr.
6-5
6-6
300
298
So.
Fr.
6-1
6-4
195
173
So.
Fr.
6-2
5-10
178
185
Jr.
Sr.
Tailback
22 Evan Royster
21 Stephfon Green
3 Brandon Beachum
Fullback
37
Joe Suhey
Wide Receiver
6 Derek Moye
83 Brett Brackett
Tight End
10
82
80
Andrew Quarless
Mickey Shuler
Andrew Szczerba
Left Tackle
73
72
Dennis Landolt
Nerraw McCormack
Left Guard
54
74
Matt Stankiewitch
Johnnie Troutman
Center
61
67
Stefen Wisniewski
Quinn Barham
Logan Cramer III
Right Guard
Wide receiver Brett Brackett is hoping to dial up a big year.
get him the ball.
Coach Joe Pater no knows he has
two very good weapons.
W i d e R e c e i v e r : W i t h B u t l e r,
Norwood and Williams gone, there will
certainly be some mystery at wideout.
Brett Brackett and Graham Zug are
the most experienced of the new
batch of receivers. Combined, they
made 24 catches and scored three
touchdowns.
A lot is also being expected of Chaz
Powell. Paterno talked about his
potential at media day.
Tight end: Heading into his senior
season, Andrew Quarless appears to
be out of Pater no’s doghouse and
r e a d y f o r a b i g y e a r. B e h i n d h i m ,
Mickey Shuler and Andrew Szczerba
are solid reserves who will be expected
to contribute from time to time.
Offensive line: Without a doubt,
this is the biggest question mark of
the offense. Gone are A.Q. Shipley,
Rich Ohrnberger and Gerald Cadogan.
Stefen Wisniewski appears to be ready
to take over at center, and moving
Dennis Landolt to left tackle should
shore up a portion of the line. How
well the line fares will depend on players like DeOn’tae Pannell, Lou Eliades
BWI
and Matt Stankiewitch.
77 Lou Eliades
60 James Terry
Right Tackle
50 DeOn’tae Pannell
78 Mike Farrell
Wide Receiver
2 Chaz Powell
14 A.J. Price
Wide Receiver
5 Graham Zug
84 Patrick Mauti
2 0 0 9
F o o t b a l l
S e a s o n
P r e v i e w
Sense of
Urgency
Tight end Andrew Quarless
realizes that it’s now or never
By Tricia Lafferty
Blue White Contributor
enn State tight end Andrew
Quarless had enough of all the
talking.
Quarless was tired of hearing himself
and Penn State coach Joe Paterno speak
during a conversation with his coach.
The two were discussing Quarless’s
off-the-field troubles following the DUI
he was charged with in March of 2008.
Quarless knew there wasn’t much he
could say to justify his mistakes or
convince Paterno that it wouldn’t happen again. So Quarless — who has one
final season to live up to his potential
— ended the conversation, respectfully.
“He gave me a piece of his mind,”
Quarless said. “He yelled at me and
stuff. I heard everything. I wanted to
cut him of f. I said, ‘Coach, I don’t
want to talk no more. I want to show
you. That’s what I been showing him.”
Quarless was issued an underage
drinking citation in 2007. He was
slapped on the wrist with a two-game
suspension. He tripped up again the
next year with the DUI charge and
was suspended in the spring.
Entering his senior season, Quarless
will battle with tight end Mickey Shuler
for the starting job that was once his.
Regardless of who gets the nod, both
players will see significant playing time
provided Quarless doesn’t slip up.
“They’re both gonna play so even if
one starts, the other guy is going to
play a lot, but I think that’s a
P
strength,” quarterbacks coach Jay
Paterno said. “That’s a plus for us.”
Quarless has a lot to prove on and
off the field. He’s had more lows than
highs and his stellar play has come in
spurts throughout his career at Penn
State. If Quarless keeps his head on
straight, he can turn out to be the
high-profile tight end that everyone
expected him to be. He showed flashes
of it his freshman season.
The questions still linger, though.
Can keep he keep his word and stay
out of trouble? Can he fulfill the
potential that he showed signs of as a
true freshman? Can he consistently
be a threat in the Penn State offense?
Quarless wants more than anything
to quiet those concerns with his play.
“I definitely learned a lot of lessons,”
Quarless said. “I’ll never forget about
it, but I just keep progressing. I just
want to be able to bounce back. I just
want to prove to the country that I
was able to bounce back from my situations and keep striving.”
Quarless knows he’s fortunate to
still be on the team given his run-ins
with the law. Paterno doesn’t hand
out many second chances. Quarless
got a second and a third one and
Quarless thinks it has something to
do with his up-front, tell-all approach.
“Every situation that happened to
me, I never shied away from it,”
Quarless said. “One of the reasons
why I stayed here after everything is
because I wanted to be strong enough
Logan Cramer III
Tight end Andrew Quarless has been in and out of coach Joe Paterno’s doghouse.
to push through that stuff. I looked
(Paterno) in the face after the second
time and told him, ‘I know I told you
before but I’m looking at you today as
a changed man. Give me one more
chance and I won’t let you down.’”
The 20-year -old Quarless vowed to
himself that he would not drink alcohol since the DUI. He kept his promise
and as of the Lift For Life in July,
Quarless said he had not consumed
alcohol for 16 months. In an effort to
stay out of tr ouble, Quarless has
become a homebody. He’s taken more
of an interest in music and the production side of it. Quarless even went
out on a limb and took a piano class.
He’s set to graduate with a major in
telecommunications in December after
just three-and-a-half years. He hopes
by then he can look back on a solid
senior season of football.
There’s been a noticeable change in
not only Quarless’s mentality, but his
See QUARLESS, Page 10
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Mark Selders
Quarless’ skills were on display at the annual Blue-White Game, where he caught four balls for 52 yards. He will be expected to put up even bigger numbers in 2009.
QUARLESS
work ethic was evident during workouts this summer. He’s stayed out of
trouble and is focused on having
another breakout season after a few
troubled years.
“The weight room guys are pretty
tough judges,” Jay Paterno said.
“(strength and conditioning coach)
John Thomas is a pretty tough test.
He doesn’t compliment many people
very much but he said that from a
maturity level and a leadership level,
(Quarless) stepped it up and he’s pretty impressed with him this summer so
hopefully that carries over.”
It won’t take much for Quarless to
improve upon his performance last
year. He made 11 catches for 117
yards and a touchdown. As a sophomore, Quarless caught 14 passes for
205 yards and two touchdowns. He
flashed his big-play abilities when he
made five catches of 20 yards or more.
Quarless had his best season during
his freshman year in 2006. He made
an immediate impact catching 21 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns.
Quarless showed a ton of promise but
hasn’t progressed as many had hoped.
Even Quarless knows he could have
been more productive than he’s been
the past two seasons.
“I thought I’d be a little better going
in to senior year but at the same time,
I’ve been through things,” Quarless
said. “I’ve been in situations that
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taught me great lessons, which were
meant to be. I’m glad to overcome
these situations I’ve been through. I
stand today as a grown man because I
went through them.”
An older and wiser Quarless looks
back and insists he wouldn’t do anything differently. He can live with the
underage and the DUI. In fact, he
thinks those incidents and the repercussions opened his eyes.
“I feel like I had to make those stupid
decisions for me to be where I am,”
Quarless said. “Every situation I been
through and I learned from it. Everything
happens for a reason. I’m happy it happened early in my career and it wasn’t
too detrimental. With the DUI, I could
have crashed and gotten hurt.”
Quarless will always look back but
when he fast forwards at times, he
dreams of being in the NFL like most
college athletes. Quarless knows the
road to the NFL won’t be easy.
“I have a lot to do to get where I
want to be,” he said.
He is focused on short-term goals
right now. With Quarless being a candidate for the Mackey Award — given to
the nation’s top tight end — and Penn
State being ranked No. 8 by USA Today,
achieving them is a very real possibility.
“I just want to be the best in the
country at my position and I want my
team to be the best in the country and
go to the national championship,”
Quarless said.
Then, Quarless and Paterno will have
a lot to talk about and you can be sure
Quarless will be all ears then.
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Game Changer
That’s the impact Penn State
hopes wide receiver/return man
Chaz Powell will have on the 2009
edition of the Nittany Lions
By Beth Hudson
ormer Susquehannock High School coach Tom
Waranavage recalled the reaction he received when he
told about 130 youth football players that Chaz Powell
was planning to attend their camp the following day.
Yes, there was something of a buzz in the air, to put it
mildly.
“They brought every single thing under the sun for him to
sign, and he signed every single thing they br ought,”
Waranavage said. “He did it, and I think he enjoyed it. He
enjoyed doing that with the little kids.”
Powell graduated from Susquehannock in 2007, and he
remains a very big deal in that section of southern York
County. Part of it, of course, is what Powell accomplished at
Susquehannock, where he was named the 2006 York/Adams
Interscholastic Athletic Association Player of the Year after
rushing for 1,190 yards and 16 touchdowns and tormenting
opposing teams with interceptions, blocked field goals and
blocked punts. And players of Powell’s caliber have been a
rarity at the high school in Glen Rock.
“Susquehannock, in particular, there have been two Division
I football players who came out of that school,” Waranavage
said. “One is Randy Edsall, the coach at UConn. The other is
Chaz Powell. I think it’s a source of pride.”
Now Powell wants to engender those same warm feelings at
Penn State, where he’s a redshirt sophomore wide receiver.
He played in all 13 games in 2008 and made his greatest contribution on kick returns with nine for 259 yards (second only
to Derrick Williams). This season, he’s part of a young group
charged with the daunting task of replacing Williams, Deon
Butler and Jordan Norwood — arguably the top trio of
receivers in Penn State history.
“The leadership they brought, their work ethic, their ability to
make big plays,” Powell said. “They never really got down on
themselves when the coaches yelled at them. They were always
helping us. They would always help us with routes, tell us to stay
positive. Their leadership was pretty big. It rubbed off on me.”
To hear Waranavage explain it, Powell’s always had a knack for
leading others. In fact, when the Susquehannock football team lost
18 seniors to graduation following Powell’s junior year, Waranavage
talked to Powell specifically about filling the leadership void.
Powell embraced the task.
“He can talk a little bit,” Waranavage said. “I don’t doubt
that he can motivate with his words. I also think it’s his work
ethic. I can’t emphasize how hard that kid has worked to get
to where he is. He has a great personality. You meet the kid,
you like the kid. He’s that kind of kid — in my mind, at least
when I coached him — that other kids would gravitate to.”
“At first, I might seem a little shy,” Powell said. “I like to feed
off (other people’s) vibes. I’m a very friendly person. You’ve just
got to get to know me, but it doesn’t take long for people to see
F
See CHAZ POWELL, Page 13
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Chaz Powell showed glimpses of the
kind of impact he could have this year
during the 2008 season.
Mark Selders
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CHAZ POWELL
how outgoing and friendly I am.”
That charisma has served him well.
He grew up in Baltimore, and that’s
where his maternal grandfather introduced him to football by taking him to
sign up for a youth league. Powell
played quarterback back then and
still remembers the sound of his
grandfather’s voice cheering him on
from the sidelines.
“I can hear him telling me to keep
running, keep running,” Powell said.
“He was my big influence.”
Powell moved to York County when
he was in fifth grade and eventually
enrolled at Susquehannock. His
grandfather saw his fledgling high
school career but died before Powell
became one of the top prospects in
Pennsylvania. Nonetheless, Powell said
he carries his grandparents with him
all the time in the form of a tattoo on
his left arm — a set of praying hands.
“Every time I look at my arm, they’re
always in my heart,” Powell said. “The big
thing with my grandmother was school.
She asked how I was doing and said, ‘Stay
focused. If you need help, let us know.’”
Years later, Powell appears to be taking her advice to heart.
He talks about doing his best for his
mom, Chevon Miller, and his younger
twin sisters, Chelsea and Chavon.
Because they live just a couple of
hours away from State College, all
three are able to attend Penn State
games and visit him. Powell would like
to help them financially and maybe
even put his sisters through college.
“I want to graduate with a degree,”
Powell said. “Hopefully, I get the
opportunity to play at the next level.”
All those goals begin with this season and a likely spot in Penn State’s
starting lineup.
Powell, who’s listed at 6-1 and 195
pounds, eased into the Penn State
offense in 2008 after the coaches asked
him to move from defensive back to
receiver last summer. On just his second collegiate carry, against Coastal
Carolina, Powell ran around the right
end and broke away for a 55-yard
touchdown in the third quarter. He
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added his second career touchdown on
a 7-yard carry against Temple.
Serving in a role similar to that of
Williams, Powell gained 370 all-purpose
yards last year, the second-highest total
among non-starters. He was particularly impressive on kickoff returns, including a 69-yarder at Syracuse and a 43yarder against Michigan.
In the meantime, he watched the
seniors closely.
“The leadership is probably the
biggest challenge for us,” Powell said.
“Those three guys are all gone now.
It’s time for us to step up. Who’s going
to be the leader?
“We have Daryll Clark. We have Sean
Lee. It has to start with everybody
individually. That’s a big thing with
me. I’m just trying to establish myself.
… I’m speaking up a little bit more,
showing the guys that I care a lot.
They say a lot of people look up to me,
so I try to lead our team in a way that
I can now, not being a captain.”
Powell missed several days of practice after sustaining a high ankle
sprain in April, but said he was
almost back to “100 percent” midway
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through the summer. He wasn’t sure
what to expect this fall, but said he’d
be happy to return kicks as needed.
“We have a new freshman, Devon
Smith,” Powell said. “He was one of the
fastest kids in the nation. I’ve been
working with him. I’ve taken him under
my wing to see what I can do with him.
“Maybe I’ll see myself back there (on
returns). You never know what the
coaches want. Whatever’s best for the
team. I never put myself first.”
Waranavage, who’s now the head
coach at Cedar Crest High School, had
several powerful memories from Powell’s
high school days. Two of his favorites
involved the player intercepting passes
in precarious situations and returning
them for touchdowns. Powell’s team
went on to win both times.
Can he have a similar impact for the
Nittany Lions?
“I expect him to play well,” Waranavage
said. “He’s worked hard for this. He’s
worked for this for a very long time. To
me, I know it’s big-time Division I football.
I’ve seen the kid do some pretty unique
things with the pads on. In my mind, he
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has the ability to change a game.”
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Remodeling Project
2009
PENN STATE
DEPTH CHART
DEFENSE
Two top notch defensive tackles and a standout linebacking corps
figures to give a brand-new secondary time to grow up on the job
Left End
44 Kevion Latham
6-2
254
So.
5
6-2
240
Sr.
Jerome Hayes
Left Tackle
By Andy Elder
91 Jared Odrick
6-5
296
Sr.
[email protected]
71 Devon Still
6-5
294
So.
or a coach who has to replace every single starter in his
defensive backfield, Joe Paterno wasn’t exactly sounding
alarm bells when he addressed that unit at media day.
Instead, the coach delivered a measured, reasoned
response to one reporter’s query about the front seven of
the defense allowing the rebuilt secondary to engage in
some on-the-job training.
“Well, I think the front people are going to have to do
some things, like most of the linebackers we have. Jared
Odrick is an outstanding football player. I think (Jack)
Crawford is going to be a really good football player. We
have some depth behind them. So I think we can put more
pressure on those people up front. We can do some things
with the linebackers. We can be a little bit more sophisticated in some coverages using the linebackers in there to
cover up for the secondary. There are things we can do,”
Paterno said.
“But obviously you hate — maybe gimmick isn’t the word
I want — but you hate to be kind of too cute. You like to be
solid at every position. We’ll be close. We’ll be close in the
secondary. We’re not that far off.”
Defensive line: The strength of this unit is in the middle
and, with some game experience, perhaps radiate out. AllBig Ten defensive tackle Jared Odrick will team with Ollie
Ogbu at the tackles to give the Nittany Lions two big,
strong bodies to anchor the line. But with the departure of
Josh Gaines, Aaron Maybin and Maurice Evans, developing
ends is crucial. Jack Crawford is penciled in at one spot. At
the other, Kevion Latham and Jerome Hayes, who is recovering from his second torn ACL in as many years, figure to
split time.
Linebacker: Yet again, this unit is the true strength of
the defense, maybe never more so than this year. Three
starters return with several rising stars waiting in the
wings. Early in preseason camp, it looked like Navorro
Bowman and Sean Lee, returning from a torn ACL, would
start outside. Initially, it looks like Josh Hull will once
again be the starter in the middle. But, things could be
shuffled by the Sept. 5 opener.
Secondary: No starter returns, but that doesn’t mean the
unit is devoid of experience. Drew Astorino, who figures to
earn the starting job at free safety, and A.J. Wallace, who
most think will start at cornerback after he serves his time
in Paterno’s doghouse for academic indiscretions, have
some experience.
Finally healthy, Nick Sukay is the leading candidate to
nail down the Hero, or strong safety, position. D’Anton
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Right Tackle
85 Ollie Ogbu
6-1
285
Jr.
92 Chima Okoli
6-4
293
So.
Right End
81 Jack Crawford
6-5
256
So.
56 Eric Latimore
6-6
270
So.
45 Sean Lee
6-2
236
Sr.
34 Nathan Stupar
6-1
236
So.
Outside Linebacker
Inside Linebacker
43 Josh Hull
6-3
240
Sr.
9
6-1
225
Fr.
Michael Zordich
Outside Linebacker
11 Navorro Bowman
6-1
232
Jr.
15 Bani Gbadyu
6-1
231
Jr.
Left Cornerback
8
D’Anton Lynn
6-1
198
So.
6-0
174
Fr.
28 Drew Astorino
5-10
194
So.
7
6-2
205
Jr.
10 Nick Sukay
6-1
213
So.
13 Andrew Dailey
6-2
217
So.
25 Derrick Thomas
Free Safety
Cedric Jeffries
Hero
Logan Cramer III
Right Cornerback
Finally healthy, Nick Sukay could start in the secondary.
4
L ynn seems to be the favorite to earn the other starting
cornerback position.
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Knowledge Timmons
16 Shelton McCullough
5-10
182
Sr.
6-0
193
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Quality and Quantity
While comparing groups at the constantly evolving linebacker position is nearly impossible,
it’s safe to say Linebacker U has never had as deep a talent pool as the 2009 corps boasts
By Ron Bracken
uring the course of a r ecent
conversation Penn State
linebackers coach Ron
Vanderlinden made the observation that the current group of
linebackers might be the deepest in
terms of quality athletes of any he’s
had since he’s been coaching at Penn
State.
There’s no question that the corps,
consisting of Sean Lee, Navorro
Bowman, Josh Hull, Bani Gbadyu,
Michael Mauti and Nate Stupar, is
made up of exceptional football players but is that the same as being
exceptional athletes?
Do you have to be an exceptional
athlete to be an exceptional linebacker
or can you get by with some of the
immeasurables like work ethic and
football instincts?
At one time, maybe you could, as
you’ll see. But in today’s game it’s
almost a prerequisite.
“These days you look at everyone
being able to play strong safety,’’ said
defensive coordinator Tom Bradley.
“You have to be able to play in space.
It used to be you had one true middle
linebacker and then you’d have other
guys who could do this or that. Now
they have to be almost interchangeable parts, guys who can do everything.
“The passing game has evolved to
where it’s much more sophisticated
now. It used to be a matter of getting
the matchups you wanted but now
linebackers really are strong safeties
but bigger and stronger. Even the
middle linebacker has to be able to
play in space. You can’t substitute by
personnel groupings anymore because
the offense can run so many different
sets out of a personnel grouping. You
D
Penn State Sports Information
LaVar Arrington teamed with Brandon Short and Mac Morrison to form a potent linebacking corps in the late 1990s.
see empty backfields with the tailback
lined up in the slot. They can run anything so you can’t protect the
linebackers as much. You can’t take
the middle linebacker out based on
down and distance like you used to be
able to do.’’
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do better than this one which had a
pair of Hall of Famers in Onkotz and
Ham, but that’s not the purpose here.
“Those guys probably wouldn’t clock
as well in the 40 as today’s kids,’’ he
said. “But they were certainly outstanding athletes. Ham would have
run a 4.7 or 4.8 (in the 40), Onkotz
was maybe a 4.8, or a little faster than
that — he
returned
punts. But
those linebackers were as
fast as anyone
had back then.
And they were
certainly athletic compared
to the competition they faced.
Ham had
tremendous
instincts. ’’
A group that
is often overlooked when
discussing the
great linebacking units is the
1971 group
made up primarily of
Charlie Zapiec,
John
Skorupan and
Gary Gray
along with
Tommy Hull.
Zapiec, a converted guard,
and Skorupan
went on to
become AllAmericans.
“That was the
same sort of
group as the
’69 group,’’
Sandusky said,
“at least in
terms of
instinct and
production.
Skorupan
would have
run a 4.7,
Zapiec probably a 4.9 and Gray about
a 5 flat. But Gray led the team in
almost every defensive category one
year so he must have had something.
And Skorupan would have thrived
today. We used him as about a half a
defensive back; we had him playing on
the tight end.’’
“
Jack Ham was part of a standout four-linebacker group in the 1969 season.
LINEBACKERS
Which brings to mind the inevitable
question: How would the great groups
of linebackers in Penn State’s storied
past stack up to the current group in
terms of athletic ability? How would
Dennis Onkotz and Jack Ham compare to Shane Conlan or John
S k o r u p a n , E d O ’ N e i l o r L a Va r
Arrington, Paul Poszluszny or Dan
Connor?
The answer is, you can’t make those
comparisons. T imes have changed,
people have changed, games have
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changed. The truly great ones can
transcend eras. But we’re talking
about groups, whose common denominator is that each has at least one
great linebacker as its linchpin.
Jerry Sandusky coached most of the
great linebacker quartets, or trios as
the defenses changed, he saw the evolution of both the players and the
game.
So he was the natural sour ce to
assess the athletic abilities of several
of the groups presented to him, beginning with the 1969 unit of Onkotz,
Ham, Jim Kates and Pete Johnson. If
you were looking to select the all-time
best group you’d be hard pressed to
The 1973 combo of O’Neil, Chris
Devlin, Hull and Doug Allen is another
that gets overlooked, primarily
because of the of fensive unit that
included John Cappelletti. But O’Neil
was an All-American and first-round
draft choice while Allen, Devlin and
Hull all went on to have NFL careers
of varying lengths.
“Eddie O’Neil
was a big man
who could really run,’’ said
Sandusky.
“Devlin had
that same kind
of speed. O’Neil
was hurt his
senior year, he
broke his
hand, and
missed a lot of
games. But he
was an AllAmerican and
a great football
player.’’
In 1978
much of the
attention was
focused on the
defensive tackle tandem of
Bruce Clark
and Matt
Millen but
working behind
them was a
unit that contained another
All-American
and future NFL
standout
(Lance Mehl)
and a one of
the great
Cinderella stories in Rich
Milot. Paul
Suhey
anchored the
group in the
middle.
“Lance Mehl
is probably as
overlooked as
anyone in
terms of being a great linebacker at
Penn State,’’ Sandusky noted. “He was
so instinctive. He may not have had a
great 40 time but he was a lot like
Onkotz only maybe a little bigger.’’
Then there was Milot, a rangy for-
It’s hard to look
at Shaw, Paul,
Connor and Lee and
say we will be better
than that group. They
were all tough and
athletic and to say
this group is better
than that one is hard
to do. But this is the
most depth we’ve
had of really quality
guys who are capable
of going in and
playing at a high level
since I’ve been
here.
”
— Ron Vanderlinden,
linebackers coach
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mer running back and high school
hurdler, who was looking for some
way to get on the field since the backfield was clogged by Matt Suhey, Mike
Guman, Bob Torrey and Booker
Moore.
“Rich came to me one day in preseason and asked about playing linebacker,’’ Sandusky recalled. “He was frustrated by his running back career. I
told him I’d talk to Joe (Paterno). I
wasn’t that excited about it but we
needed a backup to Donaldson so we
figured we had nothing to lose.
“He went over there and did well and
we decided he’d be the backup. I can
remember coming off the practice field
one day and saying to Joe ‘Rich Milot
is really good.’ And wouldn’t you know
it, the next game Donaldson got hurt
and Rich was in there.
“He was amazing. He took us to
another level. He was an athletic
linebacker who probably ran a 4.6,
maybe faster. He had the speed to
cover the receivers and allowed us to
do some different things.’’
Milot wound up playing for the
Washington Redskins in Super Bowls
XVII and XVIII.
And while the 1982 group of
linebackers made up of Scott Radecic,
Dave Paffenroth, Ken Kelley and Harry
Hamilton anchored the defense that
won the national championship in
1982, the next really outstanding
linebacker unit came together in
1985-86, featuring Michael Zordich,
Rogers Alexander, Shane Conlan, Trey
B a u e r, D o n G r a h a m a n d P e t e
Giftopolous. The latter four were on
the field against Miami in the 1987
Fiesta Bowl.
“Now we’re getting into more speed,’’
Sandusky said. “Alexander was a 4.7
guy and Shane could really run — he
was about a 4.5. I think Trey might
have tricked us and tur ned in the
wrong time (in the 40) in camp but he
had those great instincts that you
can’t really measure.’’
Bauer’s missed interception near
midfield late in the Fiesta Bowl still
stands out in Bradley’s mind.
“That game could have been over if
he had made that interception. That’s
the one that aged Jerry, right there,’’
laughed Bradley. “Shane could play
anywhere, with any group. Gifto was a
good athlete for his size and Donnie
Graham was sort of a hybrid; we used
him a lot like we used Tim Shaw.’’
Sandusky’s last linebacker group
was the 1999 unit made up of
Arrington, Brandon Short and Mac
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tion. You wanted to run right at him,
you didn’t try to run away from him.
We asked so much of him — rushing
the passer, covering receivers. I never
Dennis Onkotz (above) and Jack Ham were two All-Americans in the 1969 season.
Morrison. By then the speed of the
game had ramped up even more.
“LaVar was pr obably the fastest
linebcker I ever coached,’’ Sandusky
said. “He had tremendous accelera-
had anyone go 10 yards faster than
him. And Brandon and Mac were both
4.7 guys. Brandon might not have
been as athletic as Greg Buttle or
Mehl or some of those guys in terms
S e a s o n
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of changing direction but in a straight
line, 40-yard sprint, he could run.’’
Since then Sandusky has been an
interested observer who has been
impressed by the Poszluszny-ConnorLee grouping.
“Paul was a throwback,’’ he said. “He
might not have been the super, super
athlete but he made so many plays
because he played so hard, with so
much effort, and he was smart. He
was always full speed to the ball.
Connor had great technique. He wasn’t as big as he was able to play
because he got off blockers extremely
well. And Lee might be a better athlete
than Paul. I wouldn’t say they were
super athletes but they had great
instincts and great work ethic. They
were all coach’s dreams.’’
Now Bradley and Vanderlinden are
working with the next unit in the evolution of linebackers at Penn State.
Are they better than their predecessors? Again, an unanswerable question.
“We’re talking about the most athletic group, not the best group, right?”
asked Bradley. “I don’t want to start
getting phone calls from some of the
guys.
“But if you’re talking about some of
the great groups we’ve had, some of
them might not have been able to play
in space if you asked them to play the
whole field. They weren’t necessarily
interchangeable.
“The great ones like Ham, Onkotz,
Conlan, LaVar could have played any
time, with any group.
“And if you look at the Connor-PozLee-Shaw group, that’s a pretty athletic group right there that makes you
say ‘Wow.’ ’’
Who knows what adjectives will be
used to describe the current linebackers? Wow might not be strong enough.
“It’s hard to look at Shaw, Paul,
Connor and Lee and say we will be
better than that group,’’ Vanderlinden
said. “They were all tough and athletic
and to say this group is better than
that one is hard to do. But this is the
most depth we’ve had of really quality
guys who are capable of going in and
playing at a high level since I‘ve been
here.’’
No less an authority than Ham himself, can see the potential of this latest
litter of linebackers.
“This corps of linebackers could be
outstanding,’’ he said. “They haven’t
done it on the field yet but the potential is there for them to be one of the
best groups ever.’’
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Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley has to replace the
entire secondary and both defensive ends. So, are the Nittany Lions ...
Reloading or rebuilding?
By Eric Thomas
s Tom Bradley looks up and down the list of
names that will fill out his defense this coming
season, the Penn State defensive coordinator,
entering his 31st season as a member of Joe
Paterno’s staff, sees a plethora of depth.
But he’s quick to offer a word of caution.
“I think our depth is going to get tested this year
because we do have some guys that are going to
have to step it up,” Bradley said.
As the spring football practice session ended,
Bradley knew he and fellow assistant, defensive line
coach Larry Johnson Sr., would have their work cut
out for them entering the summer months.
As the summer months change over to the fall
practice session, Bradley still has questions and
he’s still searching for answers.
Know this about the Nittany Lions’ defense:
There’s plenty of potential.
Bradley has the luxury of a loaded linebacking corps
but must replace his secondary and his defensive
ends.
Then there’s the bit of bad news as defensive tackle
Abe Koroma won’t return for the 2009 season for
what has been deemed a “personal issue” by Paterno.
Bradley will miss the benefit of having returning
defensive ends Aaron Maybin and Maurice Evans,
who bolted early for greener pastures in the NFL.
With Josh Gaines graduating after last season and
now Koroma’s dismissal it will be a different look
across the front.
That doesn’t mean the pieces aren’t in place though.
“Obviously, we lost two pretty good defensive ends
who could have been back. If we could have had
Maybin and Evans back we’d have been a little different,” Bradley said.
Instead he must turn to the green Jack Crawford,
who by all accounts has every piece of ability needed
to succeed. Eric Latimore and Kevion Latham will
slug it out in preseason drills for the other end spot.
Jerome Hayes, returning from a second ACL tear,
will be in the mix at the end spot, and it’s possible
that Bradley could tinker with putting outside
linebacker Bani Gbadyu at the stand up end spot
too.
A
Matt O’Haren
See BRADLEY, Page 21
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Despite the challenges facing his defense, Tom Bradley still sounds optimistic about his charges in 2009.
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BRADLEY
“Jack and Eric are going to get their
chance. I think Jared Odrick is one of
the top defensive tackles in the country.
He’s one of the guys that makes our
defense go, he’s such a force,” Bradley
said. “Having Jerome back, we’ve got to
keep him healthy. He’s a guy that not
only has a strong presence on the field
but also in our locker room. Plus, we
have young guys coming up and maybe
they get a chance to play. Hey, these
things happen and they need to be
ready if their time comes.”
A season ago, Penn State’s defense
was among the best in the country,
allowing only 100 yards or more on the
ground four times. It sacked opposing
quarterbacks 33 times and held a
plus-seven in turnover differential.
But the lingering affects of a poor
performance in the Rose Bowl loss to
USC have carried over to this preseason.
Bradley, also in charge of the secondary, must rebuild the beleaguered
unit brick by brick.
No starters return in the secondary,
though safety Drew Astorino and cornerback A.J. Wallace have the most
playing experience. Wallace’s status is
in doubt after Paterno told reporters
at Big Ten media day in Chicago that
Wallace had cut some classes.
What could rise from the ashes in
time is a secondary that’s bigger and
more physical. For the time being it’s
a unit that must come into its own.
“We’re going to be bigger back there,
that can have an affect sometimes,”
Bradley said. “You know last year we
only had nine runs over 11 yards and
one was a quarterback scramble.
There wasn’t a lot of runs getting
through there for those guys to be
physical on. Guys up front did a good
job of keeping things so tight.
“With our scheme in the past we
haven’t needed a guy to make those
kind of tackles.”
But Mark Sanchez’s knifing ability
might have given the longtime assistant nightmares, even now.
Then there’s the presence of dual
threat quarterbacks like Ohio
State’s Terrelle Pryor and Illinois’
J u i c e Wi l l i a m s t h a t c o u l d c a u s e
problems.
Bradley isn’t afraid to admit that he
may have to turn to true freshmen
like 6-2, 223-pound specimen Gerald
Hodges. Or perhaps 6-1 cor ner
Mark Selders
Navorro Bowman (18), Sean Lee (in headset) and Josh Hull (43) all figure to see plenty of time at linebacker this season.
Derrick Thomas, who might be the
most game-r eady of the incoming
freshman at cornerback.
“We’r e in a situation back ther e
where there’s a lot of things, as you
know. We’re really going to have to
crawl before we can start to walk.
We’ve got to keep everyone on the
same page and realize we’ve got to be
ready to possibly play some freshmen,” Bradley said.
“That’s the one area you really can’t
make a mistake. You have the word
defensive line, the word linebacker,
there’s no word ‘line’ in secondary.
The last line is the goal line. That’s a
spot you’ve got to be confident, know
what you’re doing and be able to play
fast.”
The secondary should get a boost
from safety Nick Sukay, who Bradley
said finally made it through an offseason program without any nagging
injuries. Andrew Dailey has made the
move from linebacker to safety and
could be in the mix as well.
Where the defense doesn’t have a
concern, right now, is at linebacker.
Penn State r etur ns perhaps the
deepest and most talented crop of
linebackers in the conference, if not
country. Already stacked with
Navorro Bowman, Josh Hull and Nate
Stupar, the unit becomes that much
better because All-American and captain Sean Lee retur ns off an ACL
injury.
“I like him (more) in front of me than
beside me,” Bradley joked of Lee.
But even at that position there are
some unsettled areas.
Between the group of Hull, Lee,
Bowman, Stupar and if Bani Gbadyu
stays put, someone will have to sit.
It’s a good problem to have.
“There’s nothing wrong with some
good competition,” Bradley said.
“I’m going to have some good fights
across the front and back in the secondary we’ve got some young guys, a
group a guys that we’re going to have
to go a little slower with that group.
We’ve got a linebacking group with a
lot of experience and a secondary with
hardly any experience. We’ve got a
front four with a few guys that have
experience.
“Our scheme isn’t going to be based
on one guy, it’s going to be based on
who is the best. We’re not going to
build it around anybody. Once we figure out our best 11 we’ll go from
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‘Expert’ Opinions
BWI polls writers and broadcasters from across the state and nation to get their takes on Penn State
Nate Bauer, Blue White Illustrated
New players in key positions will
ultimately determine this year’s success for Penn State. Seasoned leaders
like Daryll Clark, Evan Royster, Jared
Odrick, Sean Lee and Navorro
Bowman will hold up their end of the
bargain but it’s the inexperience on
the offensive line, at wide receiver and
in the secondary, that could prevent
this team from fulfilling its potential.
The good news for these Nits, however, is that a comically easy non-conference schedule provides a threegame cushion for all of the elements
to jell before an opponent of any real
consequence appears on the schedule.
That said, once Iowa visits Happy
Va l l e y , t h e L i o n s m u s t n a v i g a t e
through a Big Ten conference that is
very much up for grabs this year. At
Illinois, Ohio State and at Michigan
State present the toughest remaining
challenges but the Lions have the talent to match all of them.
Even if the Lions get tripped up
somewhere along the line, they should
find themselves in another BCS bowl
at the end of the season.
Record: 12-1
Todd Brown, Magnum Broadcasting
With the graduation of several key
positions including wide receiver,
of fensive line and secondary, you
wouldn’t be surprised if the Nittany
Lions took a step back this season.
But with a soft non-conference schedule, expect Penn State to jump out of
the gate early, allowing a lot of its
younger players to get the valuable
game experience that they need. The
Nits should have little trouble until
their showdown with Iowa under the
lights at Beaver Stadium. Both the
team and fans will be looking for
revenge after their heartbreaking loss
to the Hawkeyes, which cost Penn
State an undefeated regular season.
Penn State has a chance to run the
table with the schedule being favorable during the conference season,
but expect the Lions to stumble once
or twice, especially on the road. There
could be more on the line than just
the Land Grant T rophy when the
Nittany Lions travel to East Lansing
for the regular season finale, including
a New Year’s Day Bowl bid and a possible Big Ten championship.
Record: 11-2
Phil Cmor, Altoona Mirror
Yes, having four new starters in the
secondary is a concern, but I’m not
sure there are enough consistent,
quality passers in the conference to
exploit it, especially with what the
Nittany Lion defense boasts on the
line and at linebacker.
I’d be more worried about developing
a cohesive offensive line and playmakers at receiver. That’s what I think
will end up being the dif ference in
potentially close games at Illinois and
Michigan State and at home versus
Ohio State.
This team has the talent to head into
a BCS bowl unbeaten, but there are
enough question marks for me to
think they stumble once along the
way. I think the Illinois game, the first
road contest after what should be a
huge night game at Beaver Stadium
with Iowa, will be pivotal.
Record: 11-2
Gene Collier,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
With a new secondary and new
receivers, they’re not able to improve
on 11-1, but early schedule should
allow younger players to develop in
time for conference play.
Record: 11-2
Colin Cowherd, ESPN Radio
Amanda Gifford, ESPN Radio
I like Penn State to go to the Rose
Bowl against USC — not good news if
you’re a Nittany Lion fan to play USC
... again.
Record: 11-2
Given the national popularity of
PSU, I wouldn’t be surprised if they
found themselves in BCS bowl. A BCS
bowl would be a loss, but if they end
up in a New Year’s Day Bowl, the Nits
end the season on a high note.
Record: 11-2
Andy Elder, Blue White Illustrated
A three-cupcake platter of non-conference games to start the season sets
up nicely for the Nittany Lions to help
a new secondary, new receiving corps
and three new starters on the offensive line get acclimated before Iowa
rolls into town in Week 4. If Penn
State can survive a trap game at
Illinois it could be undefeated when
Ohio State visits in Week 10 in what
might amount to a Big Ten championship game. If the secondary jells,
the receivers prove they are capable of
making clutch catches and stretching
the defense and the offensive line can
give Daryll Clark time to survey the
field, an undefeated regular -season
record isn’t out of the question. If
that’s the case, will the Nittany Lions
be good enough to compete with a top
level BCS bowl opponent? We’ll see.
Record: 12-1
Sean Fitz, Blue White Illustrated
A return to roses should be the
theme of the 2009 Nittany Lions. With
one of the most favorable schedules in
the country, the Nittany Lions should
be on the fast track to Pasadena once
again. The Lions don’t face a legitimate challenge until the end of
September, which should give the
offensive line and defensive backfield
a chance to jell in time for Big Ten
play. Even with a revamped offensive
line, expect big numbers from Evan
Royster and another stellar year for
the defense, with Jared Odrick having
an All-America caliber season.
Record: 11-2
Phil Grosz, Blue White Illustrated
That’s right, I’m predicting Penn
State finishes the 2009 season with
an 11-1 regular season record, winning its third Big Ten title in five years
and ends up playing in the Rose Bowl
on Jan. 1, 2010.
I’m fully aware of the fact Penn State
must replace Deon Butler, Jordan
Norwood and Derrick Williams at wide
receiver, along with three offensive
linemen (Gerald Cadogan, Rich
Ohr nberger and A.Q. Shipley) on
offense, plus its entire secondary on
defense and defensive ends Maurice
Evans, Josh Gaines and Aaron
Maybin. But Penn State has recruited
exceptionally well the past three years
and now it’s time for the Nittany Lions
2009 team to reload and not rebuild.
Plus, Navorro Bowman, Sean Lee
and Josh Hull give Penn State one of
the top three starting linebacker units
in the country, Daryll Clark is the Big
Ten’s top returning quarterback and
Evan Royster is the Big T en’s top
returning rusher.
No fewer than six Penn State players
were named to the first team All-Big
Ten team by Athlon’s preseason Big
T en preview magazine. Maybe the
Nittany Lions will get their chance on
Jan. 1, 2010 to beat USC in the Rose
Bowl in a rematch of what took place
on Jan. 1, 2009.
Record: 12-1
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David Glass, gantdaily.com
The 2009 season will be defined in
large part by how quickly the youthful
offensive line jells. Daryll Clark has
proven he’s a good QB and a great
leader, but no QB looks good planted
into the turf. Only slightly less important are the new starters at WR and in
the secondary — yes, the 2008 secondary got roasted in the Rose Bowl,
but prior to that they had been a very
solid squad and I think there will be
some early struggles. There seems to
be a widespr ead assumption that
Clark will be fine with the new set of
wideouts, but I can’t help but wonder
if he made last year’s WRs better, or if
their talent made him look better than
he was. I’d say probably a bit of both,
and expect Clark’s overall numbers to
suffer early in the Big Ten portion of
the schedule as the newbies get acclimated to this level.
If Sean Lee is fully recovered, if the
secondary proves ready to play at this
level, if the O-line keeps Clark upright
(and if Clark stays healthy), this team
could win the Big Ten. A few too many
‘ifs’ for me — I see the OSU, MSU and
a resurgent Michigan team all finishing ahead of the Lions this season.
Still, with their cupcake schedule, 910 wins seems easily within reach.
Call it 10-3, with a late-season surge
culminating with a win in the Outback
Bowl. Given the amount of turnover,
I’d consider a 10-3 season with a bowl
win a success — and a good foundation for the next great Penn State
team in 2010 or 2011.
Record: 10-3
Tricia Lafferty,
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Penn State will fall to Ohio State and
suffer an unexpected loss. Although
this could be the Nittany Lions’ best
shot at a perfect season in a long time
— thanks to the weak schedule and
likely Top-10 preseason ranking — the
Lions don’t have what it takes. Sure
stud quarterback Daryll Clark
returns, but most of his blockers and
receivers are untested. The defense
will be strong as usual and the run
game will be unstoppable, but is that
enough?
Record: 11-2
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Derek Levarse,
Wilkes-Barre Times Leader
Ron Musselman,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Joe Paterno is most concerned with
his secondary, as he should be.
Plugging in four new starters is far
from an ideal situation. Fortunately
for the Nittany Lions, they have
arguably the best front seven in the
conference as support, and the Big
Ten isn’t exactly brimming with AllAmerica quarterbacks.
Right now, Penn State looks ticketed
for a date with an SEC squad on Jan.
1 in Florida, assuming the Lions win
one of the following three games: at
Illinois, Ohio State and at Michigan
State. Take two of those three, and
they can upgrade to Pasadena.
Record: 11-2
I think Daryll Clark and Evan
Royster are two of the top offensive
players in the Big Ten, but the lack of
experience at wide receiver and on the
offensive line is a concern.
Defensively, Sean Lee and Navorro
Bowman are a dynamic duo, but the
secondary is a major issue, as is the
non-conference schedule.
Record: 10-3
Walt Moody, Centre Daily Times
Although this team has many question marks (offensive line, wide
receivers, secondary), it has the potential to do some big things. Horrible
non-conference schedule means the
Nittany Lions likely will have to run
the table to be in BCS consideration.
They have that potential, but history
says they’ll lose a toss-up game and
one road game they shouldn’t.
Watching linebackers Sean Lee and
Navorro Bowman will be a pleasure.
Record: 11-2
Chris Morelli, Blue White Illustrated
The Nittany Lions will have little
trouble with their preseason schedule,
which includes the likes of Akron,
Syracuse and Temple.
However, those tasty cupcakes will
not prepare the youngsters for a Big
T en slate which includes trips to
Illinois, Michigan and Michigan
State. As much as I like co-captains
Daryll Clark and Sean Lee, there are
just too many holes along the offensive line and in the secondary to predict the type of season we witnessed
last year. The Nittany Lions will stub
their toes a couple of times during
the regular season. It could happen
against Iowa, Illinois, Ohio State or
Michigan State.
Unlike last year, they won’t find
themselves in a BCS bowl game, but
they’ll be pretty darn close. Looks like
these Lions are primed to spend New
Year’s in Florida at either the Capital
One or Outback Bowl.
Record: 10-3
David Pencek,
Town & Gown Football Annual
Normally, when a team has some
of the significant holes to fill as
Penn State has this season, you
could forget about competing for the
conference title and a trip to a BCS
game. But with the schedule they
have and the state of the Big Ten,
the Lions have to be considered one
of the favorites to win the conference
again.
Running the table seems unlikely
with uncertainty along the offensive
line and in the secondary, but with
Daryll Clark and Sean Lee pushing
this team, anything is possible. Figure
the Lions will win their home games,
including a victory over the Buckeyes,
but get tripped up at Illinois and then
lose at the end to Michigan State.
Unless some other Big Ten team beats
Ohio State (the Buckeyes haven’t lost
more than one conference game in a
season since 2004), the Lions could be
looking at spending New Year’s in
Orlando.
Prediction: 11-2
Vinny Pezzimenti,
Centre Daily Times
Questions, questions, questions.
Penn State has plenty of them, but
will it matter?
The non-conference schedule is filled
with cream puffs and cupcakes and
the Big Ten isn’t exactly on an up tick.
What’s more, projected Big Ten champion Ohio State visits Beaver Stadium
and the Nittany Lions’ conference road
schedule — Michigan, Michigan State,
Illinois, Northwestern — isn’t exactly
daunting.
And although Penn State has its
share of holes to fill on both sides of
the ball it also has plenty of returning
stars in Sean Lee, Daryll Clark,
Narvorr o Bowman, Evan Royster,
Jared Odrick and Stefen Wisniewski.
It all adds up to another one-loss
regular season, another conference
title and another trip to the Rose
Bowl.
Prediction: 11-2
Jeff Rice, Centre Daily Times
Few teams in “rebuilding mode,” as
these Nittany Lions appear to be in,
boast as much star power as Penn
State. Sean Lee, Navorro Bowman,
Jared Odrick, Daryll Clark and Evan
Royster should provide dynamic play
as well as steady leadership.
Breakout seasons by Jack Crawford
and Derek Moye wouldn’t hurt,
either. But the Nittany Lions could
be shaky in the secondary and along
the offensive line, which will likely
cost them a couple of games (Illinois
and Michigan State, perhaps?) on
the always-tough Big Ten road and
the chance to defend their conference title.
Prediction: 11-2
Eric Thomas,
I go back and forth on this one. The
eight-game home schedule is cozy
enough early that the offensive line
can jell before the primetime game
against now arch nemesis Iowa. The
road schedule concerns me because
Illinois will have the best offense in
the conference and Michigan State is
never an easy trip. Northwester n
could be ranked by the time PSU travels there too. There will be a lingering
concern hovering over the O-line all
season. I don’t see major problems in
the secondary yet because there is a
ton of potential there with the incoming crop.
If the offensive line can stay healthy
and protect Daryll Clark, this team
will go 11-1 and make it to the Rose
Bowl as Big Ten champion again. I see
a loss at Illinois, but I see a home win
over Ohio State. I’ll say this, too, I
think the only team in the conference
that has a chance to play for the
national championship is Penn State,
but the call is a second straight trip to
Pasadena, this time with a win over
Oregon.
Record: 12-1
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Another media blitz for Paterno
Coach addresses a myriad of topics at Penn State’s annual media day
By Andy Elder and Chris Morelli
“The wideout situation and offensive
line, I think, is better than you project it
would be at this time. I think we need
another defensive back, maybe two.”
t ’ s a r i t e o f s u m m e r. U n d e r t h e
blistering August sun, Penn State
held its annual Media Day on Aug.
13.
Before the players were trotted out
for interviews, coach Joe Paterno met
with the media and addressed several
topics. Here are some highlights from
the session:
I
The best ever
Changing the Line
Paterno announced that offensive
linemen Dennis Landolt and DeOn’tae
Pannell will swap positions. Landolt, a
senior, will now play left tackle, while
Pannell, a sophomore, will move to
right tackle.
According to Paterno, the move was
a no-brainer.
“Landolt is a better tackle now,”
Paterno said. “Pannell was just a true
freshman last year. I mean, it would
be foolish to put Pannell over there.
We had him there last year, but we
had him there because we didn’t
have anybody behind (Gerald)
Cadogan.”
Landolt started all 13 games at right
tackle last season. The move means
that he will be responsible for protecting quarterback Daryll Clark’s blindside.
Penn State enters the season ranked
No. 8 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll.
Once again, though, Paterno said that
he doesn’t pay attention to those sorts
of things.
“Is that where we’re ranked?”
Paterno said. “What does it mean?
Does it guarantee us anything? You
know, it’s good for the fans. Maybe it
will sell some tickets. I don’t know.
But I don’t really pay any attention to
it.”
While the Nittany Lions are ranked
eighth in the coaches’ poll, they’re
ranked No. 14 in Sports Illustrated’s
preseason edition.
B L U E
With his team ranked No. 8 in the preseason polls, Paterno was all smiles.
Kickin’ It
We’re No. 8?
26
Cyle Nunemaker
W H I T E
With Penn State all-time leading
scorer Kevin Kelly gone to graduation,
the Nittany Lions face the daunting
task of replacing their former placekicker.
According to Paterno, the kicking job
belongs to State College Area High
School product Collin Wagner.
“He was very close to Kevin last year.
He may have a little stronger leg. I
don’t think he’s as consistent as Kevin
was. We’ll have to see, but I think he’s
got a chance,” Paterno said.
The other placekicker on the roster is
true freshman Anthony Fera, who was
one of the nation’s top prep kickers.
While he’s competing with Wagner,
it’s likely Fera will begin the year as
Wagner’s backup.
“He has a strong leg, but he’s all
over the place right now. If we get his
footwork down, I think he’ll be pretty
good,” Paterno said.
‘I’m concerned with everything’
As is usually the case at media day,
Paterno expressed concerns about his
team’s deficiencies. Of course, things
aren’t nearly as dire as the 82-year old coach made them out to be. But,
there are legitimate concerns.
“If you said the biggest ones, obviously I think the offensive line. We’ve
got to find a couple of kids that can
play,” Paterno said.
In answering a question about former Nittany Lion and current
Tennessee Titans quarterback Kerry
Collins, Paterno gave two interesting
responses.
Initially his response was, “The only
thing I really remember of Kerry Collins
is he had a super spring, great BlueWhite Game and came back to preseason practice with a broken hand. He
said he got it in a volleyball game. I
said, “yeah, and I’m Knute Rockne.”
The media, of course, broke up in
laughter.
Then, when he expanded his answer,
he made an assertion that most
Nittany Lion fans would wholeheartedly agree with.
“That ’94 team was as good an offensive team that ever played college football,” he said. “We averaged over 500
yards a ballgame in a pretty good
league. We could have averaged 600
yards if we had done what some people like to do.”
That team, of course, finished No. 2
in the final polls behind Nebraska.
‘I’m excited to be alive’
In one of the funnier moments of
Paterno’s media day news conference,
he was asked what excites him about
this year’s team. In customary JoePa
style, his answer brought down the
house.
“What excites me? Nothing excites
me yet (laughter). I’ll be honest with
you. We’re lousy. I have nothing to be
excited about right now as a team.
I’m serious about that,” he said.
“We’ve got too many things we’ve got
to get accomplished. I mean, we’ve got
a lot of work ahead of us, I mean, to
be a good football team. So I’m excited
to be alive. That’s about it (smiles,
BWI
laughter).”
B i g
T e n
F o o t b a l l
M e d i a
D a y s
No respect, as usual, for Lions
Pryor picked as preseason Offensive Player of the Year, OSU tabbed as champ
By Nate Bauer
[email protected]
HICAGO — Penn State senior
captain Daryll Clark is the Big
Ten’s reigning first-team all-conference quarterback.
In his first season at the helm of the
Nittany Lions’ offense, Clark put on a
show, throwing for 2,592 yards and
19 touchdowns while giving up only
six interceptions. On the ground, he
added 282 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The result was a Penn State offense that
was among the nation’s best last year.
Yet, for as impressive as Clark’s performance was to Penn State fans, it
doesn’t seem to have been enough to
make believers out of the Big Ten’s
media members.
Announced on the first morning of
Big Ten Media Days in Chicago on
July 27-28, Ohio State sophomore
T err elle Pryor was named the Big
Ten’s Preseason Offensive Player of
the Year by the assembled media.
Additionally, the Buckeyes were predicted to be the Big Ten’s champ by
the end of the season, edging out
Clark’s Nittany Lions.
In typical fashion, Clark was gracious when commenting about the
news about Pryor while revealing he
has larger goals in mind than preseason accolades.
“I mean, everyone has their opinion
on who’s going to be the guy to be the
best. It didn’t bother me when I heard
about it,” Clark said. “Congratulations
to him.
“But I really can’t feed into any of
that stuff. That’s just opinions and
what’s written down on paper. I have
some things that have to be done this
year in order for us to be back in
California for the national championship. I really can’t focus on those
types of things. Once you get into that,
that’s when everything starts to go
bad.”
For Clark and his teammates in
Chicago, the questions would simply
continue for the next day and a half.
Did Clark feel snubbed by the
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28
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Preseason Offensive MVP award being
given to Pryor? Would he use it as
motivation?
Furthermore, did the team consider
being picked to finish second as a slap
in the face after winning in Columbus
the year before? Would that provide
even more motivation for the squad
heading into the preseason?
It quickly became apparent that a
general sentiment between Clark, cocaptain Sean Lee and defensive tackle
Jared Odrick had been established:
Very simply, even after winning a Big
Ten title in 2008, Clark and the
Nittany Lions were being overlooked at
this year’s Big Ten Media Days.
“He’s under-evaluated, underestimated, under -appreciated ... but I don’t
think that’s anything new for Daryll,
for Penn State, and we’re willing to deal
with that and prove people wrong like
we did last year,” Odrick said. “I see his
work ethic. I see how much desire and
passion he has for the game and it
can’t be denied. He played great year
last year and he was undeniably the
best leader and the best quarterback in
the league last year.
“For the people that get accolades
that they did this preseason, that’s
great ... that’s all great. But the thing
is is that it’s just about playing the
season and being productive throughout the season.”
Of course, when given the chance to
talk about who he’d pick as the best
quarterback in the conference, Lee’s
choice was a no-brainer.
“Generally, for me it would be Daryll,
of course, especially with the season
he had last year as the first-team AllBig Ten,” Lee said. “Now, the guy who
everybody has talked about, Terrelle
P r y o r, m a k e s s e n s e b e c a u s e h e ’ s
extremely talented and I’m for sure
he’s going to be a good one, so I would
go with him after Daryll.
“But, I think if you watched who
played better last year, who I think is
one of the best players in the country
is Daryll Clark.”
For a Penn State team hoping for a
return trip to California for this year’s
national championship game, the
slight, perceived or real, to its starting
quarterback will likely end up being a
good thing.
Both Lee and Odrick said that
although Clark manages to shrug off
the talk, it usually works as a motivator for the captain.
“I think if anything, he just gets a
little chip on his shoulder about it and
goes harder,” Lee said. “He usually
always has a chip on his shoulder but
I think it motivates him a little bit. I
think especially after the season he
had last year, it’s just the motivation
that, ‘I gotta keep proving myself.’
“But, I think he likes that.”
As for the selection of Ohio State to
finish the season atop the conference
standings?
According to Clark, it’s a road he
and his teammates have been down
before.
“I mean, it’s nothing new. It’s been
like that for a while. Us proving people
wrong and us proving the conference
wrong has been kind of our thing in
previous years,” he said. “It’s just a lot
of opinion. They feel that (Ohio State
has) a lot more talent, a lot more going
for them going into the season. We
really don’t play into that as much.
Preseason camp has to be very, very
good each practice for us to be men-
tioned toward the end of the season
for a Big Ten championship.
“Can we do it? Absolutely. But we
have to get some things done first.
Pryor and Ohio State, it’s going to be
mentioned but you really can’t feed
into it too much because it’s just written down on paper.
“You have to go out and play the
game first.”
Koroma Out
Beyond the talk about preseason
selections, the biggest news coming
out of Chicago was head coach Joe
Pater no’s revelation that redshirt
junior defensive tackle Abe Koroma
wouldn’t be with the team for the
2009 season.
Citing that Koroma has ‘personal
problems’ he needs to work out,
Paterno said he doubted the 6-foot-3,
317 pounder would be back with the
team this season.
That said, Paterno did not rule out
the possibility of Koroma returning to
the team for the 2010 season, similar
to a situation in recent years when Ed
Johnson spent a year away before
returning.
In addition, Paterno showed his displeasure with senior cornerback A.J.
Wallace’s academic malfeasance, but
indicated he’d be back with the team
BWI
for preseason camp.
F o o t b a l l
R e c r u i t i n g
Lucky Number Seven
Nittany Lions land seven more verbals as Class of 2010 begins to fill out
By Sean Fitz
Penn State Verbal Commitments for Class of 2010
he summer is typically a slow time
for recruiting. Prospects usually
spend their time working out with
their team, going on unofficial visits
that they otherwise not be able to make
during the school year or participating
in camps to try to earn more offers.
But since the beginning of June, the
Penn State coaching staff has certainly
kept itself busy, earning the verbal commitments of seven future Nittany Lions.
The summer seven have vaulted the
Lions up the national recruiting rankings, with Rivals.com’s latest set placing them at No. 8 in the national
rankings. With 15 commitments on
board, Penn State will head into its
regular season nearly finished with its
Class of 2010, which is projected to
number somewhere around 19.
Defensive line coach Larry Johnson
started the commitment flurry on the
weekend of June 26, when the Lions
added two big defensive tackles to
solidify the future of their defensive
line. Four -star tackle Evan Hailes
from Oscar Smith High School in
Chesapeake, Va., was the first to come
on board, as the 6-foot-1, 305-pound
prospect committed to the Nittany
Lions while on an unofficial visit.
“I had a ton of options because my
grades and SAT scores were so high,
and I think that was a reason as to
why I had so many offers,” said
Hailes, who picked the Nittany Lions
over Tennessee and Virginia Tech,
among others. “I always thought
about Penn State, and they were the
only school for me that emphasized
academics as well as football.”
Just a day later, three-star defensive
tackle DaQuan Jones from Johnson City
High School in suburban Binghamton,
N.Y., follow Hailes’ lead. The 6-foot-4,
302-pound prospect was also visiting
that weekend for camp. Playing for
Johnson is what sealed the deal.
“Just being on the field with coach
Johnson, I loved the way he was coaching me, and the other coaches,” he
said. “That’s the thing, I want him to
T
Name
Kyle Baublitz
Robert Bolden
Adrian Coxson
Miles Dieffenbach
Luke Graham
Evan Hailes
Kevin Haplea
Mike Hull
Daquan Jones
Paul Jones
Alex Kenney
Levi Norwood
Silas Redd
Thomas Ricketts
Dakota Royer
Pos.
DL
QB
WR
OL
OL
DT
TE
LB
OL
QB
WR
WR/Ath.
RB
OL
DE
coach me for the next four or five years,
because I felt so comfortable after that
camp. After it was over, I told told
coach Johnson, we were in a room
talking, and it basically sealed the deal
when we were out on the field.”
As the Lions entered July, they didn’t slow down. On the first of the
month, Penn State landed a verbal
commitment from a familiar face, wide
receiver Levi Norwood from Midland
High School in Waco, Texas. He is the
younger brother of for mer Nittany
Lion Jordan Norwood.
“They offered (in June), and then I
committed at the senior camp over the
weekend,” said Levi, who at 6-foot-1,
175-pound is already bigger than his
older brother. “Jordan went there, and
I’ve been living there since fourth grade,
and I’ve always wanted to go there.”
Norwood was reportedly one of the
stars of the Nittany Lions’ senior camp
in June, although he did not play football as a junior.
Although the Nittany Lions recruited
four -star quarterback Paul Jones
early in the process, they made it
clear that they would go after another
signal-caller in the class. On July 10,
that goal was achieved in a big way.
Ht.
6-4
6-4
6-2
6-4
6-5
6-1
6-4
6-1
6-4
6-3
6-0
6-2
5-10
6-6
6-3
Wt.
266
195
196
285
265
305
226
218
302
226
194
170
198
265
211
Four -star quarterback Robert
Bolden from St. Mary’s High School in
Orchard Lake, Mich., became commitment No. 12 on that day, picking the
Nittany Lions over Louisville, Michigan
State and Oregon.
“I had been up there a few times. I
was able to sit down and talk with a
lot of the coaches as well as players,”
said Bolden. “I felt comfortable with
all the coaches as well as the players.
I got to hang out with the players and
I saw all of the campus; it was beautiful. I loved it up there. With all that,
the quarterback situation as well as
the academic part of it, I felt like I
could go ahead and make that choice.
I felt comfortable enough to do it.”
The summer surge continued the
following week with a little hometown
flavor, as State College native Alex
Kenney came on board on July 14.
The speedy Kenney, the fastest
prospect in Pennsylvania, will play
wide receiver for the Nittany Lions. He
had roughly 20 scholarship offers, but
decided that staying home was his
best option in the end.
“At first, I kind of wanted to get out
of town, but then I was thinking about
it, and I got to know the coaching staff
Hometown
York, Pa.
Orchard Lake, Mich.
Baltimore, Md.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Harrison City, Pa.
Chesapeake, Va.
Annandale, N.J.
Canonsburg, Pa.
Johnson City, N.Y.
McKees Rocks, Pa.
State College, Pa.
Waco, Texas
Stamford, Conn.
Wexford, Pa.
Manheim, Pa.
and the newer r ecruits,” said the
three-star prospect. “I felt like this
was home.”
Before the month could come to a
close, the Nittany Lions added two
more prospects in the span of a week.
Three-star tight end Kevin Haplea,
from North Hunterdon High School in
Annandale, N.J., committed to the
Lions on July 27.
“Pretty much it’s just one thing after
another,” said Haplea. “It’s the campus, the life of the player, the stadium, the atmosphere, the coaches — it
just kind of seemed like everything,
one after the other, just fell out of
place up there. There was really no
other choice for me.”
He was quickly followed by four-star
defensive end Dakota Royer from
Manheim Central High School in
Lancaster, Pa., on July 30. Royer was
a longtime lean to the Nittany Lions.
“Penn State, you know, I just walk
up there and I feel right at home,” said
Royer. “There wasn’t another campus
facility or place that I felt that I could
spend four years. You have to look at
what happens if football is out of the
picture, where is the place you can go
for academics and stuf f like that.
There’s no place like Penn State.” BWI
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F o o t b a l l
R e c r u i t i n g
Still On the Hunt
The HOT List
Name
Pos.
Ht.
Wt.
Hometown
*Robert Bolden
QB
6-4
195 Orchard Lake, Mich.
*Paul Jones
QB
6-3
226 McKees Rocks, Pa.
Corey Brown
RB
6-0
178
Springfield, Pa.
Marcus Lattimore
RB
6-0
210
Duncan, S.C.
*Silas Redd
RB 5-10
200
Stamford, Conn.
Zach Zwinak
FB
6-1
230
Frederick, Md.
*Adrian Coxson
WR
6-2
194
Baltimore, Md.
*Alex Kenney
WR
6-0
196
State College, Pa.
*Levi Norwood
WR
6-1
175
Waco, Texas
Kenny Stills
WR
6-1
180
San Diego, Calif.
*Miles Dieffenbach
OL
6-4
285
Fox Chapel, Pa.
*Luke Graham
OL
6-5
270
Harrison City, Pa.
Robby Havenstein
OL
6-7
345
Frederick, Md.
Khamrone Kolb
OL
6-6
300
Burke, Va.
Arie Kouandjio
OL
6-5
310
Hyattsville, Md.
*Tom Ricketts
OL
6-5
265
Wexford, Pa.
*Kevin Haplea
TE
6-4
232
Annandale, N.J.
*Kyle Baublitz
DL
6-4
266
York, Pa.
Dominique Easley
DL
6-2
260
Staten Island, N.Y.
J.R. Ferguson
DL
6-3
272
Chatham, Va.
Sharrif Floyd
DT
6-3
300
Philadelphia, Pa.
*Evan Hailes
DT
6-1
305
Chesapeake, Va.
*DaQuan Jones
DT
6-4
304
Johnson City, N.Y.
Mike Thorton
DT
6-2
280 Stone Mountain, Ga.
Kareem Martin
DE
6-6
222 Roanoke Rapids, N.C.
C.J. Olaniyan
DE
6-4
230
Warren, Mich.
*Dakota Royer
DE
6-3
217
Manheim, Pa.
Khairi Fortt
LB
6-3
220
Stamford, Conn.
*Mike Hull
LB
6-1
217
Canonsburg, Pa.
Sean Parker
Saf.
6-0
185
Harbor City, Calif.
Travis Williams
Saf.
6-2
197
Norfolk, Va.
* Penn State verbal commitment
30
B L U E
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Penn State’s hot on the trail of several big-name recruits
By Sean Fitz
ven with limited numbers in its Class of 2010,
Penn State continues to be hot on the trail of several top prospects heading into the 2009 season.
Here is a look at what is going on with the
prospects on the Hot List.
◆ Running back/slot back Corey Brown from
Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield, Pa., has
a top 10, which includes the Nittany Lions, but he
has shown little interest at this point. Florida, Ohio
State and Rutgers appear to be his top choices.
◆ Five-star running back Marcus Lattimore from
Byrnes High School in Duncan, S.C., took an unofficial visit to Penn State with two teammates on July
30-31. He came away impressed with what he saw,
and named the Nittany Lions one of five finalists,
along with Auburn, North Carolina, Oregon and
potential favorite South Carolina. He will take an
official visit to Penn State this fall.
◆ The nation’s top fullback, Zach Zwinak from
Linganore High School in Frederick, Md., has gone
completely under the radar in terms of communicating about his recruitment. Sources indicate that
Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State and Virginia Tech,
where his father played in the 1980s, are the top
four for the four-star prospect.
◆ Despite a lapse in communication with the Penn
State coaching staff, wide receiver Kenny Stills from
La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad, Calif.,
has set up an official visit to Happy Valley for the
Ohio State game in November. He lists the Nittany
Lions among his favorites, along with Cal, Florida,
Oklahoma, UCLA and USC. He said he will decide
the first week of December.
◆ Massive offensive lineman Robby Havenstein,
Zwinak’s teammate at Linganore, does not appear to
be a priority for the Nittany Lions any longer. He
has a number of other options, including Maryland,
N.C. State, Rutgers, Virginia and Wisconsin. He
should be deciding soon.
◆ Three-star offensive tackle Khamrone Kolb, from
Lake Braddock High School in Burke, Va., has narrowed his list to five — Connecticut, North Carolina,
Penn State, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Despite the
Nittany Lions having three offensive line commitments already, Kolb said that Larry Johnson is still
recruiting him, and he will take an official visit to
Penn State this fall. The Nittany Lions are at the top
of his list, along with UConn and Virginia.
◆ Offensive lineman Arie Kouandjio, a four -star
prospect from Dematha High School in Hyattsville,
Md., is stringing along his recruitment, and likely
E
Photo Provided
Zach Zwinak (40) from Frederick, Md., hasn’t talked
much about his recruitment, but PSU is still in the mix.
will not make any visits until after his senior season. Schools involved include Alabama, Cal, Florida
State, Maryland, Ohio State and Penn State.
◆ Defensive lineman Dominique Easley from
Curtis High School in Staten Island, N.Y., attempted
to commit to Florida in July, but was turned away
by the Gators staff, who have players higher on
their board. He promptly retur ned home and
reopened his recruitment, which included setting up
an official visit to Penn State in September. The top
player in the Empire State is looking at Georgia,
Miami, Oregon and Penn State the hardest.
See THE HOT LIST, Page 31
F o o t b a l l
THE HOT LIST
◆ Five-star defensive lineman J.R. Ferguson, from
Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., cut his
list to 14 schools in July, and included the Nittany
Lions on his list. Although Penn State is still technically in the picture, most believe he will head south
to play his college ball. LSU, Miami, Notre Dame
and Oklahoma will make his final list.
◆ Defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd from George
Washington High School in Philadelphia, who just
ear ned his fifth star from Rivals.com, has the
Nittany Lions at or near the top of his list right now.
Other schools involved include Boston College,
Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Rutgers, but he
won’t decide until January. Look for him to visit
Penn State at least once this year.
◆ Defensive end C.J. Olaniyan, from Warren Mott
High School in suburban Detroit has yet to narrow
his list, but most have Michigan State and Penn
State at
the top for
his services at
this point.
The four star prospect will
cut his list
sometime
in August,
and take
all five official visits
b e f o r e
deciding.
◆ Four s t a r
linebacker
K h a i r i
Fortt, from
BWI File Photo S t a m f o r d
Fortt is a four-star who is still on the board. H i g h
R e c r u i t i n g
School in Stamford, Conn., recently put out a final
six of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Penn
State, Tennessee and USC, but it looks as if this is
shaping up to be a battle between the Nittany Lions,
Tar Heels and Bulldogs. He said he would like to
take three official visits this fall before deciding in
September or early October.
◆ California safety Sean Parker, who plays at
Narbonne High School in Harbor City, has the
Nittany Lions in his top gr ouping, along with
favorite Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan,
Tennessee, UCLA and USC. His coach said that he
would like to visit State College this fall, but those
plans have not been finalized.
◆ Safety Travis Williams, from Lake Taylor High
School in Norfolk, Va., camped at Penn State in
June, and the Nittany Lions made his final six in
July. LSU, Miami, North Carolina, Tennessee and
West Virginia are the other schools, and it appears
that the Hurricanes and Mountaineers have the
upper hand at this point.
For more on Penn State football recruiting, visit
BWI
www.bluewhiteillustrated.com.
A U G U S T
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U p
C l o s e
&
P e r s o n a l
Two For the Price of One
Stephon Morris and Derrick Thomas come to PSU with little fanfare, but big expectations
By Sean Fitz
THE MORRIS FILE
rospects from Eleanor Roosevelt
High School in Greenbelt, Md.,
rarely have a tough time getting
noticed. As a top producer of talent
year after year, Roosevelt Raiders like
former Philadelphia Eagles standout
Derrick Burgess, Baltimore Ravens
lineman Jared Gaither, Jacksonville
Jaguars first-round draft pick Derrick
Harvey and Penn State’s own Derrick
Williams and Matthew Rice have had
no problem shining on football’s big
stages.
So when then-junior defensive backs
Stephon Morris and Derrick Thomas
started their own recruitment, they
each had big expectations. But as
signing day for the class proceeding
their own came and went, the pair still
found themselves without a single
scholarship offer.
Both had standout junior seasons,
and were among the area’s top players, but as others around them pulled
in big time offers and committed to
other schools, patience for both players was wearing thin.
“That was probably the toughest time
in our high school career, because that
was the time that everyone was telling
us about the players who came before
us at our high school and what kind of
things that they had done, and the
kind of offers they had,” said Thomas.
“So we said, ‘we’ve got to do what we’ve
got to do,’ and we really started working hard, going to these camps, showing out good in the combines, and we
still didn’t have any offers, and it was
hard. Coach Roman Morris, Stephon’s
dad, he was taking us to all the
camps, he telling us not to worry
about it, because we were good athletes, the offers were going to come,
but we were stressing about it a lot.”
Several coaches inquired about both
players, but it wasn’t until March that
Maryland came in with a scholarship
offer for Thomas.
“To be completely honest, it was just
a matter of time,” said Roosevelt head
coach Tom Green. “The kids there,
P
32
B L U E
W H I T E
BY THE NUMBERS
■ Measureables: 5-foot-9, 184 pounds
■ Rated as a three-star cornerback, according to rivals.com
■ Finished the year with 46 tackles, 16 pass deflections, four forced fumbles and three interceptions
PREP HIGHLIGHTS
■ Selected first team all-county, first team all-conference and honorable mention all-state
JUST WHAT HE WANTED ... As a child, Stephon Morris told his father he wanted to go to Penn State.
Now, his dream has become a reality.
Matt O’Haren
because of Derrick Williams being
ranked as the top recruit in the
nation, they were worried about where
they were ranked in their position or
nationally, and that wasn’t important.
I knew the offers were going to come,
based on their abilities, but teams still
had to evaluate them.”
A few weeks later, Penn State assistant coach Larry Johnson dropped by
the school to pick up film on both
players. He quickly offered the 6-foot1, 180-pound Thomas, who was a
standout on both sides of the ball for
the Raiders, and took a flier on
Morris.
Green, who played at Oxon Hill and
later the University of Maryland while
Johnson was winning state championships at nearby McDonough, was
pretty sure that, although the 5-foot9, 181-pound Morris was smaller, he
would impress the veteran coach as
well.
“Larry Johnson is the one guy who if
he says he is evaluating the kids and
he is seriously considering the kids,
he’s the one guy that I take his word
for everything he says,” said Green.
“He offered Derrick pretty early. He
said he was going to take a strong
look at Stephon, and after he did, the
next week he came back with the
offer. I guess because I have had such
a good relationship with Larry, I never
questioned that it was going to happen.”
When Johnson told Morris about his
offer from the Nittany Lions, his first,
it brought the emotional cornerback
to tears.
“It meant a lot, because it was my
first one,” he said. “When I first got it,
I started crying, I was just overjoyed.
Penn State really meant a lot. I told
them that, because they took a
chance on me. A lot of people feel that
I’m undersized, and maybe I didn’t get
the looks at some of the other big
schools, so I feel like Penn State took
a real big chance on me, and I was
just overwhelmed.”
Thomas was the first to jump on
board, becoming the Nittany Lions’
sixth commitment back in May 2008.
He quickly went to work on his teammate and close friend.
“We had both started getting offers,
and me and Stephon started getting
some of the same offers. I told him to
do what was best for him, and I would
do what was best for me, and we
could worry about going to school
together later,” said Thomas. “When I
committed to Penn State, I wasn’t
really pressing him to Penn State,
because I wanted him to find what
was right for him, but I told him it
was real nice up there, and he should
look into it.”
It only took 12 days for Morris to get
the message, as he committed to Joe
Paterno in person later that month.
HIs decision was one that fulfilled a
lifelong dream.
“When I was young I told my father
that I wanted to go to Penn State,”
said Morris. “That was the first school
I’d ever seen, but after I started looking at their roster and talking to their
coaches, I got a real good feel for the
coaches and started doing my
research on them. I went onto the
Internet and started researching the
education, and that had a big impact
on that. Then when I went up on campus, I got a good feel of the people up
there, and that was the main reason
that I picked the school.”
Both will begin their respective
careers this fall fighting it out on the
cornerback depth chart, vying for a
chance to see the field in nickel packages and special teams.
See UP CLOSE & PERSONALS, Page 33
U p
UP CLOSE & PERSONALS
&
P e r s o n a l
THE THOMAS FILE
On the field, Thomas is almost
effortless. He found the end zone 16
times as a senior and nearly 1,000
yards of total offense as a wide receiver. He also recorded five interceptions
and 43 tackles for one of the top
defenses in the state. He was a first
team all-state selection, and a
Rivals.com four-star prospect.
“Derrick is a different kind of athlete
than any kid I’ve ever coached,” said
Green. “He’s so rangy, I think the sky
is the limit for Derrick. He’s one of
those kids that does everything well. It
would be hard to pinpoint one thing.
Derrick has great acceleration, he has
great hips, long arms, he jumps very
well. He’s one of those kids where if
Penn State had him on offense, he
would be on the field producing there,
too. He’s that kind of athlete.
“For Derrick, he does things so
smooth, everything is just so easy for
him. It’s going to be a challenge to him
to push himself because he was
always so much better than the guys
on the other side of the ball. At this
level, Derrick will be forced to push
himself to the limit to perform well. If
he ever reaches his potential, Derrick
could be a first round draft pick in the
future.”
Morris, on the other hand, is a
grinder who makes up for his size
with textbook technique. He finished
his senior year with 46 tackles, 16
pass deflections, three interceptions
and four forced fumbles. He was an
all-state honorable mention pick, and
also picked up first team all-county
honors.
“He’ll work extra and do what he
needs to do to succeed. He’s 5-8, 5-9,
175, so it’s always a tough matchup
when you’re playing with receivers
that are 6-2, 6-3,” said Green.
“Stephon works really hard at using
his hands and getting stronger so he
can play with those big receivers, so
that he can always be in the right
position at the right time. When you’re
5-8, you’re at a disadvantage against
6-4 receivers.
“I think his biggest strength is his
hips and his ability to change direction. If he makes a mistake, he can
recover. He has real good recovery
speed, and he is real quick so he can
change direction and make up for
mistakes that may be made in coverage.”
C l o s e
PREP HIGHLIGHTS
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
■ Racked up 923 yards of total offense and
■ Selected first team all-state, second team
16 offensive touchdowns in 2008, while adding
43 tackles, five interceptions, two defensive
touchdowns and two special teams touchdowns.
■ Rated a four-star prospect and the No. 232
player in the country by Rivals.com. He was also
rated as the No. 6 player in Maryland.
■ Became the Nittany Lions’ sixth commitment on May 12, 2008.
all-Metro, first team all-conference and first
team all-county.
■ Played in the inaugural Maryland Crab Bowl
in December.
DONE DEAL FOR DERRICK ... Thomas was the sixth commitment for the Class of 2009.
Logan Cramer III
Morris also specializes in chatter
while on the field. He said his swagger
is just part of what makes him the
player that he has become.
“It’s funny because when I was
young, I used to give the ball right to
the referee,” said Morris. “They told
me that I needed to start showing a
little bit more passion for the game,
and ever since, I’ve been real passionate about the sport. The competitiveness of the game brings it out in
me. Yeah, I talk a lot, but things are
so competitive that you almost have
to.”
While Thomas comes off as the quieter one of the duo, Morris said that
his teammate also has a brash side
that a lot of folks don’t see until he
puts the pads on.
“If you really pay attention to one of
our games, Derrick’s not quiet, he
talks on the field, too,” said Morris.
“He can talk. People know about
Derrick from the big catches he
makes, but also because we’re just all
so competitive. Neither one of us likes
to lose, and I think that’s one thing
that makes our relationship so
strong.”
While sometimes he just had to sit
back and chuckle at the antics of his
two standouts, Green said that the
confidence that the two show on the
field will help them in the long run.
“As long as it’s within the scheme of
what the school is doing, I think
they’ll be very effective,” said Green.
“At cor nerback, everyone talks at
every level. You can’t be a successful
cornerback if you’re not borderline
arrogant.
“I don’t think you can play the position at a major college level or in the
NFL if you don’t have that kind of confidence. I think that’s a good asset for
him, and it’s going to help him in the
long run at Penn State.”
BWI
A U G U S T
3 1 ,
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S e a s o n
P r e v i e w
Penn State archives
Kansas fans celebrated at what they thought was the conclusion of the 1968 Orange Bowl. However, too many men on the field gave the Lions another chance to win.
The Greatest Plays
Author Lou Prato picks the Greatest Plays in Penn State football history
By Lou Prato
(Editor’s note: BWI contributor Lou
Prato has written a new book entitled
Game Changers: The Greatest Plays in
Penn State Football History. Triumph
Publishing, Inc. will release the book at
the end of August. We asked Lou to
describe exclusively for our readers the
five greatest plays in his book.)
34
B L U E
W H I T E
n choosing the greatest plays in the
history of Penn State football, one
must first establish criteria. My fundamental standard was that the play
had to be meaningful or consequential
in winning that specific game and also
significant in the evolution of the
Nittany Lions as one of the elite teams
in college football.
I
Since Penn State did not really
develop into a consistently high level
football program until the coaching
era of Joe Paterno, it was decided to
concentrate on the Paterno influence,
which dates to his arrival on campus
in 1950 as an assistant to Rip Engle.
The final criterion in the selection
process was based on the fact that in
many games, there was more than
one crucial play that changed the outcome of the game. Without the first
play, the second — or even a third one
— would not have occurred. Thus,
more than one play could be defined
as a game changer but a game could
be cited only once.
With that as the background, here
See GREATEST PLAYS, Page 35
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GREATEST PLAYS
Nov. 12, 1994 at Champaign, Ill.
Penn State 35, Illinois 31
Fullback Brian Milne’s 3-yard touchdown up the middle climaxes a
thrilling, come-from-behind, 14-play,
96-yard drive late in the fourth quarter that wins the Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl berth, keeping
the No. 2 Nittany Lions undefeated
and still in contention for the national
championship.
Trailing by a shocking 21-0 deficit
10 minutes into the first quarter
against a 12-point under dog, the
Nittany Lions never lost their poise
before a raucous, hostile and intimidating crowd. As a light rain fell
throughout the late afternoon-early
evening game, State battled back and
with 6:07 left found itself behind by
three points and 96 yards away from
the Illini goal. “Let’s do it,” quarterback Kerry Collins said, and they did.
Mixing five short runs with a short
passing game — and three times
needing critical yardage on third down
— the Lions had a first-and-goal with
1:11 on the clock. Milne scored
behind a full house backfield, sevenman line formation that blasted a big
hole in the Illini defense.
“We have watched (Penn State) rise
from the grave,” wrote Bruce Keidan
in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Despite the gripping comeback that
brought out the true character of this
great team, the media and coaches
that decided the national championship in the polls snubbed the Lions
in favor of Nebraska.
are my five Greatest Plays in Penn
State Football History:
1. The Catch
2. The Interception
Ja n . 2 , 1 9 8 7 a t Te m p e, A r i z .
(Fiesta Bowl)
Penn State 14, Miami 10
Linebacker Pete Giftopoulos intercepts Heisman Trophy winner Vinny
Testaverde at the goal line on the last
play of the game to give Penn State its
second national championship.
Giftopoulos’ fourth down interception was the ultimate play in a suspenseful goal-line stand that started
from the Penn State 9-yard line with
1:01 left and the underdog Lions bare-
P r e v i e w
3. The Drive
Jan. 1, 1983 at New Orleans
(Sugar Bowl)
Penn State 27, Georgia 23
Gregg Garrity makes a diving catch
in the end zone on a 47-yard pass
from quarterback Todd Blackledge for
the game-winning touchdown that
gives Penn State its first national
championship.
The play was “6-4-3,” with
Blackledge faking to tailback Curt
War ner and passing to one of four
receivers going deep. Georgia bit on
the fake and Blackledge spotted
Garrity open way downfield on the left
sideline and “threw the ball as far as I
could.”
There was still 13:16 left on the
clock when Garrity scored to put Penn
State in front 27-17 and it would take
another Blackledge pass to the onetime walk-on for a first down in the
last two minutes to finally seal the
game after Georgia rallied for a touchdown.
But the spectacular reception by
Garrity was the play of the game and
became immortalized with a Sports
Illustrated cover photograph showing
Garrity celebrating the catch in the
end zone with Penn State cheerleaders. Framed copies of that Sports
Illustrated cover hang prominently on
walls in the homes and offices of Penn
State fans around the world. It’s a
tribute to the play that ended decades
of frustration with the Nittany Lions
finally winning a national championship that had eluded them for one
reason or another.
S e a s o n
4. The 12th Man
Sports Illustrated
Gregg Garrity’s catch was immortalized on this cover of Sports Illustrated.
ly holding on to the lead. An aggressive defense and superb punting by
John Bruno enabled the Lions to
dominate the high-powered Miami
offense for most of the game.
Shane Conlan’s critical 39-yar d
interception retur n on banged-up
knees set up what would become the
winning touchdown with 8:13 remaining, but with 3:07 left and three timeouts, Miami came alive and quickly
drove from its 23-yard line to the Penn
State 9.
On first down, the Hurricanes
gained 4 yards on a pass. Tim
Johnson’s sack pushed Miami back to
its 12 and Testaverde’s third down
pass attempt was incomplete. With 18
seconds left, three receivers sped out.
Testaverde fired toward Brett
Perriman in the left corner of the end
zone, but Giftopoulos swept in front of
him and ran to the 10 before he fell on
his knees clutching the ball firmly.
Giftopoulos, a junior overshadowed
by his All-American teammates, had
just made the greatest interception in
Penn State football history.
Jan. 1, 1968 at Miami (Orange
Bowl)
Penn State 15, Kansas 14
A penalty for too many men on the
field gives Penn State a second chance
to score two points after a touchdown
in a dramatic, last minute, comefrom-behind victory that propels the
Nittany Lions to the upper echelon of
college football and their highest ranking in school history.
With 1:16 left on clock and Penn
State trailing Kansas 14-7 with one
timeout after a partially blocked punt,
tailback Bobby Campbell hooked up
with quarterback Chuck Burkhart on
a startling 47-yard pass to the Kansas
See GREATEST PLAYS, Page 36
A U G U S T
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GREATEST PLAYS
3-yard line. Two runs up the middle
gained nothing, and on third down
with 20 seconds remaining, Burkhart
surprised everyone by disregarding
the off tackle play to the right that
had been called and running a bootleg
ar ound left end for a touchdown.
When a pass attempt to Campbell for
the winning two-points was broken
up, Kansas began celebrating until
the referee singled a penalty against
the Jayhawks for having 12 defenders
on the field. Campbell then took a
pitchout around left end to send
Nittany Lion fans that were there into
a frenzy.
Game film later revealed that Kansas
had 12 men on the field for the three
previous plays, including the touchdown. As Paterno often said in the
years since the unbelievable finish,
“This Orange Bowl game put us on the
map.”
5. Avoiding Disaster
Oct. 18, 1969 at Syracuse
Penn State 15, Syracuse 14
Penn State rallies from a 14-0 deficit
against heavy underdog Syracuse in
the fourth quarter to pr eserve its
school record undefeated streak
thanks to unsung defensive back
George Landis’ two blocked field goals.
This game and the plays that won it
are hardly remembered, but if the
Nittany Lions had lost this game in
decrepit Archbold Stadium 40 years
ago, the 1969 team would not be
immortalized as it is today nor would
the course of the Penn State football
program be the same.
With the help of long punt returns,
Syracuse shocked and dominated the
seemingly lethargic No. 5 Lions
through three quarters. The lead
might have been much larger if Landis
had not blocked two field goal
attempts in the first half. Those blocks
also caused Syracuse coach Ben
Schwartzwalder to pass up another
field goal attempt near the end of the
half with a fourth-and-a-long-1 at the
3-yard line, and the Lions stopped the
running play that was called.
State’s rally started when Dennis
Onkotz forced a fumble that was
recovered by Jack Ham at the
Syracuse 32-yard line, setting up a 4yard touchdown by L ydell Mitchell
and a run for two points by Franco
36
B L U E
W H I T E
S e a s o n
P r e v i e w
Harris. Minutes later, Harris rambled
36 yards for another touchdown and
Mike Rietz’s winning PAT prevented a
historic upset.
◆◆◆
T H E O T H E R P L AY: A l t h o u g h
Landis’ blocked field goals in the ’69
Syracuse game rank as my Play No. 5,
others might rate the plays that won
the more memorable 1982 Nebraska
game higher. It’s my Play No. 6.
6. The Two-Step & Stonehands
Sept. 25, 1982 at Beaver
Stadium
Penn State 27, Nebraska 24
Mike McCloskey catches a controversial 15-yard sideline pass from
Todd Blackledge at the Nebraska 2yard line with time running out, setting up the game-winning touchdown
catch by Kirk Bowman that upsets the
Huskers and thrusts the Lions to No.
3 in the national championship race.
It’s believed by many who saw this
game that it is the greatest game ever
played in Beaver Stadium — primarily
because of the heart-throbbing finish.
Most also believe it was a night game but
it actually kicked off at 3:45 p.m. with
portable lights for national television.
The Lions had blown a 14-point
thir d quarter lead, and with 1:18
remaining on the clock, they were losing 24-21 with a first-and-10 on their
own 35-yard line and no timeouts.
What followed was a textbook twominute drill, with Blackledge urgently,
but methodically, taking the Lions
downfield to the Nebraska 17-yard
line with 13 seconds left.
Blackledge then threw to tight end
McCloskey tip-toeing near the 2-yard
line along the left sideline and he
caught the ball going out of bounds.
The official signaled a completion as
Nebraska protested — and the controversy over that play continues to this
day. With nine seconds left,
Blackledge passed to “Stonehands”
Bowman near the back of the end
zone. The ball was low but Bowman
dived, scooped the ball into his arms
and rolled on to the turf as thousands
of fans poured onto the field.
Sports Illustrated called the game,
“The Miracle at Mount Nittany.”
(To read more details about these six
great plays and others, visit www.triumphbooks.com to order a copy of
Game Changers: The Greatest Plays in
BWI
Penn State Football History.)
P e n n
S t a t e
S p o r t s
Scorecard
PSU varsity schedules and results
2009 FOOTBALL
RECORD: 0-0 BIG TEN: 0-0
SEPTEMBER
5
12
19
26
AKRON
SYRACUSE
TEMPLE
IOWA
3
10
17
24
31
at Illinois
EASTERN ILLINOIS
MINNESOTA
at Michigan
at Northwestern
7
14
21
OHIO STATE
INDIANA
at Michigan State
(Big Ten Network) Noon
(ABC or ESPN) 8 p.m.
OCTOBER
TBA
TBA
(ABC or ESPN) 3:30 p.m.
TBA
(ABC or ESPN) 4:30 p.m.
NOVEMBER
TBA
TBA
TBA
2010 FOOTBALL
4
11
18
25
2
9
16
23
30
6
13
20
27
SEPTEMBER
YOUNGSTOWN STATE
at Alabama
KENT STATE
TEMPLE
OCTOBER
at Iowa
ILLINOIS
Bye
at Minnesota
MICHIGAN
NOVEMBER
NORTHWESTERN
at Ohio State
at Indiana
MICHIGAN STATE
2011 FOOTBALL
3
10
17
24
1
8
15
22
29
5
12
19
26
SEPTEMBER
INDIANA STATE
ALABAMA
at Temple
EASTERN MICHIGAN
OCTOBER
at Illinois
OHIO STATE
IOWA
at Northwestern
PURDUE
NOVEMBER
Bye
WISCONSIN
at Minnesota
at Michigan State
2009 BIG TEN FOOTBALL
CONFERENCE PLAY BEGINS: Sept. 26
Sept. 5
Missouri at ILLINOIS
38
B L U E
W H I T E
Eastern Kentucky at INDIANA
Northern Iowa at IOWA
Western Michigan at MICHIGAN
Montana State at MICHIGAN STATE
MINNESOTA at Syracuse
Miami (Ohio) at NORTHWESTERN
Navy at OHIO STATE
Akron at PENN STATE
Toledo at PURDUE
Northern Illinois at WISCONSIN
Sept. 12
Illinois State at ILLINOIS
Western Michigan at INDIANA
IOWA at Iowa State
Notre Dame at MICHIGAN
Central Michigan at MICHIGAN STATE
Air Force at MINNESOTA
Towson at NORTHWESTERN
Southern Cal at OHIO STATE
Syracuse at PENN STATE
PURDUE at Oregon
Fresno State at WISCONSIN
Sept. 19
INDIANA at Akron
Arizona at IOWA
Eastern Michigan at MICHIGAN
MICHIGAN STATE at Notre Dame
California at MINNESOTA
NORTHWESTERN at Syracuse
OHIO STATE at Toledo
Temple at PENN STATE
Northern Illinois at PURDUE
Woffrd at WISCONSIN
Sept. 26
ILLINOIS at OHIO STATE
INDIANA at MICHIGAN
IOWA at PENN STATE
MICHIGAN STATE at WISCONSIN
MINNESOTA at NORTHWESTERN
Notre Dame at PURDUE
Oct. 3
PENN STATE at ILLINOIS
OHIO STATE at INDIANA
Arkansas State at IOWA
MICHIGAN at MICHIGAN STATE
WISCONSIN at MINNESOTA
NORTHWESTERN at PURDUE
Oct. 10
MICHIGAN STATE at ILLINOIS
South Florida at INDIANA
MICHIGAN at IOWA
PURDUE at MINNESOTA
Eastern Michigan at NORTHWESTERN
WISCONSIN at OHIO STATE
Eastern Illinois at PENN STATE
PURDUE at MINNESOTA
Oct. 17
ILLINOIS at INDIANA
IOWA at WISCONSIN
Delaware State at MICHIGAN
NORTHWESTERN at MICHIGAN STATE
MINNESOTA at PENN STATE
OHIO STATE at PURDUE
Oct. 24
ILLINOIS at PURDUE
INDIANA at NORTHWESTERN
IOWA at MICHIGAN STATE
MINNESOTA at OHIO STATE
PENN STATE at MICHIGAN
Oct. 31
MICHIGAN at ILLINOIS
INDIANA at IOWA
MICHIGAN STATE at MINNESOTA
PENN STATE at NORTHWESTERN
PURDUE at WISCONSIN
Nov. 7
ILLINOIS at MINNESOTA
WISCONSIN at INDIANA
NORTHWESTERN at IOWA
PURDUE at MICHIGAN
Western Michigan at MICHIGAN STATE
OHIO STATE at PENN STATE
Nov. 14
NORTHWESTERN at ILLINOIS
INDIANA at PENN STATE
IOWA at OHIO STATE
MICHIGAN at WISCONSIN
MICHIGAN STATE at PURDUE
South Dakota State at MINNESOTA
Nov. 21
Fresno State at ILLINOIS
PURDUE at INDIANA
MINNESOTA at IOWA
OHIO STATE at MICHIGAN
PENN STATE at MICHIGAN STATE
WISCONSIN at NORTHWESTERN
Nov. 27
ILLINOIS at Cincinnati
Dec. 5
Fresno State at ILLINOIS
WISCONSIN at Hawaii
NOVEMBER
1
4
6
11
13
18
20
23
27
30
4
11
14
18
21
28
31
6
12
13
15
Noon
Noon
13
15
20
27
First Round
Second Round
Third Round
Quarterfinals
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
4
6
DECEMBER
Women’s College Cup
Semifinals at College Station, Texas
Finals at College Station, Texas
TBA
TBA
2009 WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
28
29
29
AUGUST
DUQUESNE (Exhibition)
BINGHAMTON (Exhibition)
SEPTEMBER
ST. FRANCIS
vs. Cal State Fullerton at Wolstein Classic
vs. Gonzaga at Wolstein Classic
HOFSTRA
HARTFORD
at Old Dominion
at James Madison
LEHIGH
MICHIGAN
PENN
OCTOBER
at Michigan State
NORTHWESTERN
LAFAYETTE
at Ohio State
at Bucknell
at Akron
WISCONSIN
NOVEMBER
at Michigan State
Big Ten Championship
First Round at Bloomington, Ind.
Semifinals at Bloomington, Ind.
Championship at Bloomington, Ind.
PURDUE
at Michigan
NCAA Tournament
2009 MEN’S SOCCER
22
26
1
8
7 p.m.
6 p.m.
7 p.m.
5 p.m.
Noon
7:30 p.m.
2:30 p.m.
8 p.m.
2 p.m.
7 p.m.
2 p.m.
7 p.m.
1
3:30
7
2
7
7:30
3
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
1 p.m.
TBA
TBA
TBA
2009 WOMEN’S SOCCER
4
5
5
11
12
12
18
19
19
25
26
2
3
7
11
16
17
23
24
28
30
6
7
13
14
20
21
27
28
5
6
12
13
18
20
AUGUST
vs. Miami (Ohio) at St. Louis, Mo.
vs. Alabama at St. Louis, Mo.
vs. St. Louis at St. Louis, Mo.
SEPTEMBER
BUFFALO
ROBERT MORRIS
PITTSBURGH
vs. Loyola at Durham, N.C.
vs. Charleston at Durham, N.C.
vs. Duke at Durham, N.C.
at Temple
ST. FRANCIS
TEMPLE
at Northwestern
at Illinois
OCTOBER
IOWA
WISCONSIN
at Ohio State
at Minnesota
at Michigan
at Michigan State
INDIANA
PURDUE
OHIO STATE
MINNESOTA
NOVEMBER
at Wisconsin
at Iowa
ILLINOIS
NORTHWESTERN
at Purdue
at Indiana
MICHIGAN STATE
MICHIGAN
DECEMBER
NCAA First and Second Rounds
NCAA First and Second Rounds
NCAA National Semifinals
NCAA National Semifinals
NCAA National Championship
NCAA National Championship
5 p.m.
1 p.m.
7 p.m.
7
10
7
5
p.m.
a.m.
p.m.
p.m.
Noon
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
10 a.m.
7:30 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7
7
7
1
7
6:30
7
7
7
7
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
AUGUST
21
29
31
4
6
11
13
20
23
27
4
9
11
16
18
25
29
VIRGINIA
WEST VIRGINIA
UCONN
SEPTEMBER
at Florida State
RUTGERS
vs. Wake Forest at Storrs, Conn.
vs. Boston University at Storrs, Conn.
JAMES MADISON
at Bucknell
at Michigan State
OCTOBER
OHIO STATE
NORTHWESTERN
IOWA
at Minnesota
at Wisconsin
ILLINOIS
at Indiana
7 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
2:30 p.m.
7
1
5
11:30
1
7
1
7
11
7
p.m.
p.m.
p.m.
a.m.
p.m.
p.m.
Noon
p.m.
p.m.
a.m.
p.m.
Noon
2 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
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P e n n
THE FINAL
WORD
“We’ve got too many
things we’ve got to get
accomplished. I mean,
we’ve got a lot of work
ahead of us, I mean, to be
a good football team. So
I’m excited to be alive.”
— Joe Paterno, after being asked
by a reporter what he was excited
about for the 2009 season
T
H
E
T
A
I
L
E
N
S t a t e
S p o r t s
D
Pressing Questions
By Chris Morelli
T
here’s only one problem with success. Failure.
When you are successful at something, whether it be athletics or life in
general, people have a tendency to
expect it. When the Penn State football
team was dominant back in the 1980s,
fans grew to expect 9-,10- and 11-win seasons. They didn’t care who was injured or who filled out the roster. The
majority of those teams were good, if not great, and winning was a way of life.
Then came the 1988 season, when the Lions went 5-6.
That was coach Joe Pater no’s first losing season.
Unfortunately, there would be more. As the football program headed toward the new millennium, all was not well
in Nittany Nation.
Penn State experienced losing seasons in 2000, 2001,
2003 and 2004. But all the losing turned around in 2005
when the Nittany Lions racked up 11 wins, including a
thrilling triple overtime victory over Florida State in the
Orange Bowl.
After two better -than-average seasons in 2006 and
2007, the Nittany Lions experienced another resurgence
last season as they posted 11 wins (again) before stumbling in the Rose Bowl against USC.
So here comes the 2009 version of the Nittany Lions.
After capturing Big Ten titles in 2005 and again last
season, much is expected of this team, which enters the
campaign ranked in the top 10 in the USA Today/ESPN
Coaches Poll. Fans are expecting another big season —
another 11 wins, perhaps, and another Big Ten title.
Is this team capable of doing that? Absolutely. Are there
some question marks? You bet.
With the season upon us, it’s time to look at the five
biggest questions facing your 2009 Nittany Lions.
Q: Is the offensive line ready?
A: That remains to be seen. Offensive linemen comprise
one of the most important elements of a football team.
When they perform well, it usually goes unnoticed. When
they perform poorly, everyone notices.
The success of this team hinges on the offensive line. If
it can keep Daryll Clark upright and give him time to
throw the football, he is capable of picking teams apart —
we’ve seen that.
If the line can open holes for Evan Royster and Stephon
Green, that will help take the pressure off Clark. Losing
Gerald Cadogan, A.Q. Shipley and Rich Ohr nberger
hurts, without a doubt. Those three players are in NFL
camps this summer. Their replacements have big shoes to
fill.
Q: Will the wideouts be as productive as their predecessors?
A: Like the offensive line, the current crop of wideouts is
untested. Losing players like Deon Butler, Jordan
Norwood and Derrick Williams hurts a great deal, but if
just one or two of the current group of wide receivers on
the roster can step up, this is an area where the Lions
should be OK.
We’re guessing that Brett Brackett, Derek Moye, Chaz
Powell or Graham Zug is more than ready to start making
plays.
Sure, there are going to be some dropped balls early on,
but those growing pains will help the Lions prepare for
the road ahead.
Q: How about the secondary?
A: In this writer’s opinion, the secondary is the biggest
area of concern. Every starter from last season is gone,
which means plenty of new faces back there.
While there is some experience in players like A.J.
Wallace, there is a great deal of inexperience with players
like D’Anton L ynn patrolling the secondary. Certainly,
you remember what USC’s Mark Sanchez did to an experienced Lions’ secondary.
Here’s hoping the 2009 secondary is new and improved.
Q: What happens if Clark goes down?
A: Well, if the offensive line allows the opposition to get
to Clark, then there are problems.
Let’s face it: There’s not much experience behind Clark.
Actually, there’s no experience behind Clark. You’ve got a
true freshman (Kevin Newsome) and a walk-on (Matt
McGloin) backing up a senior.
Both Newsome and McGloin looked solid in the BlueWhite Game, but keep in mind that was a scrimmage and
you can’t gauge a lot from that. We’re guessing that
Newsome will back up Clark.
Just keep your fingers crossed that Clark remains
healthy.
Because if Clark goes down, Penn State’s season will
likely go with him.
Q: Will the non-conference schedule prepare the
Nittany Lions for the rigors of the Big Ten?
A: Negative.
If you think that playing the likes of Akron, Syracuse
and Temple prepares PSU for teams like Illinois, Ohio
State and Michigan State, then you are delusional.
What the three-game non-conference slate will do, however, is give the aforementioned units (offensive line,
wideouts, secondary) a chance to jell before the real fun
begins on Sept. 26 when Iowa visits Beaver Stadium.
I’m guessing that under the glare of the primetime
lights, we’ll find out just what the 2009 Nittany Lions are
made of.
There’s certainly a little mystery to this year’s squad,
which should make things in Happy Valley very interesting.
Chris Morelli is the editor of Blue White Illustrated. E-mail
him at [email protected].
A U G U S T
3 1 ,
2 0 0 9
39
August 24

2009 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ISSUE

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