Starting Hero Nick Sukay is out for the year with a torn pectoral.
There is nothing to report on the recruiting front.
Being that Penn State football has taken the last two weeks off, I think it's only fair that I take the next two weeks off as well.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Week Five
There is nothing wrong with the talent level of the Penn State football team, we just have a very poor coaching staff. We need a new head coach to come in and completely clean house and get rid of every coach on staff. The offense is the biggest problem, run by a clown named Jay Paterno, son of Joe Paterno aka JokePa. JokePa has no interest in retiring so I say fire his ass. Fuck him, our squad is trash because of him and his inabilty to fire questionable coaches. We got embarassed by Iowa and quite frankly, I'm sick of it.
Redshirt freshman starting tight end Garry Gilliam tore his ACL.
True freshman defensive tackle (#91) DaQuan Jones played for the first time this season and is evidently no longer redshirting.
True freshman starting quarterback Robert Bolden has looked worse than he did in the previous game in every game this season.
4th and goal on the one and you run it with Bolden?!? Why not put in Newsome in that situation when everyone knows you're running the QB draw?
4th and six from midfield with just over 4 minutes left in the game down by 14 and you punt!?!?! Are you fucking serious JokePa? This coaching staff can lick my balls. And no, I'm not going to pick a new team and I'm not going to lower my expectations.
Fuck you Joe Paterno, fuck you.
Nittany Lion of the Week goes to redshirt junior safety Nick Sukay. The much maligned Sukay played aggressive on Saturday and his aggressive play led to a timely interception (that the offense did nothing with) and a few big time tackles. I have been critical of Sukay and it's good to see him step his game up and play well.
Top Ten
1) Alabama
2) Ohio State
3) Oregon
4) Nebraska
5) Oklahoma
6) Boise State
7) Auburn
8) TCU
9) Arizona
10) Oklahoma State
Heisman
1) Denard Robinson, SO, Quarterback, Michigan
2) Cameron Newton, JR(RS), Quarterback, Auburn
3) Terrelle Pryor, JR, Quarterback, Ohio State
Redshirt freshman starting tight end Garry Gilliam tore his ACL.
True freshman defensive tackle (#91) DaQuan Jones played for the first time this season and is evidently no longer redshirting.
True freshman starting quarterback Robert Bolden has looked worse than he did in the previous game in every game this season.
4th and goal on the one and you run it with Bolden?!? Why not put in Newsome in that situation when everyone knows you're running the QB draw?
4th and six from midfield with just over 4 minutes left in the game down by 14 and you punt!?!?! Are you fucking serious JokePa? This coaching staff can lick my balls. And no, I'm not going to pick a new team and I'm not going to lower my expectations.
Fuck you Joe Paterno, fuck you.
Nittany Lion of the Week goes to redshirt junior safety Nick Sukay. The much maligned Sukay played aggressive on Saturday and his aggressive play led to a timely interception (that the offense did nothing with) and a few big time tackles. I have been critical of Sukay and it's good to see him step his game up and play well.
Top Ten
1) Alabama
2) Ohio State
3) Oregon
4) Nebraska
5) Oklahoma
6) Boise State
7) Auburn
8) TCU
9) Arizona
10) Oklahoma State
Heisman
1) Denard Robinson, SO, Quarterback, Michigan
2) Cameron Newton, JR(RS), Quarterback, Auburn
3) Terrelle Pryor, JR, Quarterback, Ohio State
Monday, September 27, 2010
Week Four
A pathetic first half + a great second half = a 22-13 win for Penn State over Temple.
Our defense picked it up in the second half and saw nice performances from sophomores Pete Massaro, Jordan Hill and Michael Mauti. Mauti literally played like his hair was on fire.
On the offensive side of the ball we saw a fired up back up fullback, Michael Zordich, score his first career touchdown. We also saw the return of Evan Royster, rushing for 187 yards on 26 carries.
Stephfon Green had 11 carries but only managed 15 yards on them. Neither Kevin Newsome nor Silas Redd entered the game.
True sophomore wide receiver Justin Brown looked like a real playmaker out there. Brown and Moye are playmaking wide receivers with size and speed, Brackett's a big target and Devon Smith provides high end speed. So why does Zug get PT?
Senior RT Lou Eliades tore his ACL against Temple and his college career is now over. He'll be replaced by junior Chima Okoli. Okoli had trouble moving up the depth chart at DT so moved over to offense this past offseason.
Nittany Lion of the Week goes to redshirt sophomore linebacker Michael Mauti. Mauti played like a man possessed in the second half against Temple. Mauti played well as a true freshman, then tore his ACL and redshirted last season. He had been a step slow, maybe a step tentative in the first 3 1/2 games of 2010 then he reverted back to his old form. If the second half against Temple wasn't an abberation and Mauti truly is back then we now have a big time playmaker on D, a playmaker who can fire up his teammates and give us a shot at beating Iowa. If Bolden plays well and Royster can hold onto the ball (I know, right), then we can beat Iowa. If the players and coaches hate Iowa like I hate Iowa then we'll win by 50.
Top Ten
1) Alabama
2) Ohio State
3) Oregon
4) Nebraska
5) Oklahoma
6) Stanford
7) Boise State
8) Florida
9) TCU
10) Wisconsin
Heisman
1) Denard Robinson, SO, Quarterback, Michigan
2) Cameron Newton, JR(RS), Quarterback, Auburn
3) Terrelle Pryor, JR, Quarterback, Ohio State
I was wrong and I am glad I was wrong. Apparently now Shawney Kersey isn't transferring. This is great news. I don't expect to see much from him before our bye (Iowa then Illinois then bye) because of the missed practice time, etc., but I still think he can be a big time producer the second half of the year. This is huge and don't forget that Curtis Drake, our starter in the slot, is still out with injury. We are deep and talented at wide receiver (as well as running back).
Our defense picked it up in the second half and saw nice performances from sophomores Pete Massaro, Jordan Hill and Michael Mauti. Mauti literally played like his hair was on fire.
On the offensive side of the ball we saw a fired up back up fullback, Michael Zordich, score his first career touchdown. We also saw the return of Evan Royster, rushing for 187 yards on 26 carries.
Stephfon Green had 11 carries but only managed 15 yards on them. Neither Kevin Newsome nor Silas Redd entered the game.
True sophomore wide receiver Justin Brown looked like a real playmaker out there. Brown and Moye are playmaking wide receivers with size and speed, Brackett's a big target and Devon Smith provides high end speed. So why does Zug get PT?
Senior RT Lou Eliades tore his ACL against Temple and his college career is now over. He'll be replaced by junior Chima Okoli. Okoli had trouble moving up the depth chart at DT so moved over to offense this past offseason.
Nittany Lion of the Week goes to redshirt sophomore linebacker Michael Mauti. Mauti played like a man possessed in the second half against Temple. Mauti played well as a true freshman, then tore his ACL and redshirted last season. He had been a step slow, maybe a step tentative in the first 3 1/2 games of 2010 then he reverted back to his old form. If the second half against Temple wasn't an abberation and Mauti truly is back then we now have a big time playmaker on D, a playmaker who can fire up his teammates and give us a shot at beating Iowa. If Bolden plays well and Royster can hold onto the ball (I know, right), then we can beat Iowa. If the players and coaches hate Iowa like I hate Iowa then we'll win by 50.
Top Ten
1) Alabama
2) Ohio State
3) Oregon
4) Nebraska
5) Oklahoma
6) Stanford
7) Boise State
8) Florida
9) TCU
10) Wisconsin
Heisman
1) Denard Robinson, SO, Quarterback, Michigan
2) Cameron Newton, JR(RS), Quarterback, Auburn
3) Terrelle Pryor, JR, Quarterback, Ohio State
I was wrong and I am glad I was wrong. Apparently now Shawney Kersey isn't transferring. This is great news. I don't expect to see much from him before our bye (Iowa then Illinois then bye) because of the missed practice time, etc., but I still think he can be a big time producer the second half of the year. This is huge and don't forget that Curtis Drake, our starter in the slot, is still out with injury. We are deep and talented at wide receiver (as well as running back).
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Future Playmakers?
After witnessing a lack of playmakers on both sides of the ball in Saturday's win against Kent State, a friend of mine asked me if we have any playmakers redshirting this season. I'll take a look at that but first let me give you an update on the "Kersey Situation".
Shawney Kersey is a redshirt freshman wide receiver on the team. He wears #4. Kersey has the best size/speed combo of any player on the squad as he stands 6'2" tall and is one of the fastest if not the fastest player on the entire roster. In my opinion, Kersey has the talent and potential to be the greatest Nittany Lion receiver to ever play at Penn State.
Let's take a look at a timeline of facts:
Kersey commits to Rutgers.
Kersey decommits from Rutgers and commits to Penn State.
Kersey redshirts in 2009.
Kersey has two touchdown catches in his first public scrimmage as a Nittany Lion, this spring's Blue White game.
Kersey receives zero touches against Youngstown State.
Kersey gets his first and only career "touch", a 24-yard rush on a reverse against defending national champs and #1 ranked Alabama.
Kersey receives zero touches against Kent State.
No wonder he's transferring, I'd be pissed too. Wide receivers coach Mike McQueary aka "Red" has his favorites, he has for years. Red plays who he likes, not who's the best. Yes, he has a rotation but it very much matters where you are in that rotation. Before having had enough of the situation, Kersey was inexplicably at the bottom of the rotation.
We will never win another national championship with the current staff. We need someone to come in and completely clean house. Penn State hasn't won a national championship since 1986 and I no longer think we have a shot at one next season. Next year we play Alabama, Iowa and Nebraska at home and both Ohio State and Wisconsin on the road. Despite the talent on the roster, with this coaching staff we have zero chance of going 11-1 with that schedule. This situation sucks.
Back to the question at hand, do we have playmakers that are redshirting? Seeing our team severly lacking of playmakers on both sides of the ball, one would assume we do not. We actually do. Let's take a look at a few of them.
Quarterback Paul Jones - According to JoePa, Jones is redshirting because he needs to focus on academics. I don't know the situation but it doesn't matter, when the season is over Jones will be a redshirt freshman and #2 on the depth chart, only behind true sophomore Rob Bolden. Jones has talent. How much talent? Enough that if they truly open the competition up again in the spring, he has a shot of taking Bolden's job as starter.
Fullback Zach Zwinak - Zwinak was the top fullback recruit coming out of high school over the past five years. A devastating blocker who is "Mike Alstott with the ball", Zwinak should provide a new dimension to the Penn State fullback who as of late has not done much toting of the rock. Next season third string fullback Glenn Carson will move back to linebacker and Zwinak will take his spot behind Joe Suhey and Mike Zordich on the depth chart. By 2012 Zwinak should be getting a couple carries a game and by the time he's a junior he should be an integral part of the offense.
Wide Receiver Curtis Drake - Drake played, and played well last season but broke his leg almost two months ago. I am not optimistic that Drake will make it back in time to play enough this season to warrant wasting a year of eligibility. Expect Drake to redshirt and come back next season as a sophomore and the starter in the slot, where he was scheduled to be before his injury.
Defensive Tackle DaQuan Jones - Jones is 6'4, 300 lbs and possesses a quick first step off the ball. Between Jones' strength and quickness and the coaching he will get from defensive line coach Larry Johnson, Jones will be a playmaker. The only question is at what point in his career will he start making plays.
Linebacker Mike Hull - Hull is ultra-talented and a little undersized. Recruited to play linebacker and possibly safety, Hull is being redshirted to put on weight then will be the next great linebacker at Linebacker U. My question is, between Hodges' injury and the lack of playmaking coming from our safeties, why not play Hull this year. I don't care how small he is, he can't be worse than Gbadyu on the outside and I don't care how young he is, he can't be worse than Astorino at Hero
Shawney Kersey is a redshirt freshman wide receiver on the team. He wears #4. Kersey has the best size/speed combo of any player on the squad as he stands 6'2" tall and is one of the fastest if not the fastest player on the entire roster. In my opinion, Kersey has the talent and potential to be the greatest Nittany Lion receiver to ever play at Penn State.
Let's take a look at a timeline of facts:
Kersey commits to Rutgers.
Kersey decommits from Rutgers and commits to Penn State.
Kersey redshirts in 2009.
Kersey has two touchdown catches in his first public scrimmage as a Nittany Lion, this spring's Blue White game.
Kersey receives zero touches against Youngstown State.
Kersey gets his first and only career "touch", a 24-yard rush on a reverse against defending national champs and #1 ranked Alabama.
Kersey receives zero touches against Kent State.
No wonder he's transferring, I'd be pissed too. Wide receivers coach Mike McQueary aka "Red" has his favorites, he has for years. Red plays who he likes, not who's the best. Yes, he has a rotation but it very much matters where you are in that rotation. Before having had enough of the situation, Kersey was inexplicably at the bottom of the rotation.
We will never win another national championship with the current staff. We need someone to come in and completely clean house. Penn State hasn't won a national championship since 1986 and I no longer think we have a shot at one next season. Next year we play Alabama, Iowa and Nebraska at home and both Ohio State and Wisconsin on the road. Despite the talent on the roster, with this coaching staff we have zero chance of going 11-1 with that schedule. This situation sucks.
Back to the question at hand, do we have playmakers that are redshirting? Seeing our team severly lacking of playmakers on both sides of the ball, one would assume we do not. We actually do. Let's take a look at a few of them.
Quarterback Paul Jones - According to JoePa, Jones is redshirting because he needs to focus on academics. I don't know the situation but it doesn't matter, when the season is over Jones will be a redshirt freshman and #2 on the depth chart, only behind true sophomore Rob Bolden. Jones has talent. How much talent? Enough that if they truly open the competition up again in the spring, he has a shot of taking Bolden's job as starter.
Fullback Zach Zwinak - Zwinak was the top fullback recruit coming out of high school over the past five years. A devastating blocker who is "Mike Alstott with the ball", Zwinak should provide a new dimension to the Penn State fullback who as of late has not done much toting of the rock. Next season third string fullback Glenn Carson will move back to linebacker and Zwinak will take his spot behind Joe Suhey and Mike Zordich on the depth chart. By 2012 Zwinak should be getting a couple carries a game and by the time he's a junior he should be an integral part of the offense.
Wide Receiver Curtis Drake - Drake played, and played well last season but broke his leg almost two months ago. I am not optimistic that Drake will make it back in time to play enough this season to warrant wasting a year of eligibility. Expect Drake to redshirt and come back next season as a sophomore and the starter in the slot, where he was scheduled to be before his injury.
Defensive Tackle DaQuan Jones - Jones is 6'4, 300 lbs and possesses a quick first step off the ball. Between Jones' strength and quickness and the coaching he will get from defensive line coach Larry Johnson, Jones will be a playmaker. The only question is at what point in his career will he start making plays.
Linebacker Mike Hull - Hull is ultra-talented and a little undersized. Recruited to play linebacker and possibly safety, Hull is being redshirted to put on weight then will be the next great linebacker at Linebacker U. My question is, between Hodges' injury and the lack of playmaking coming from our safeties, why not play Hull this year. I don't care how small he is, he can't be worse than Gbadyu on the outside and I don't care how young he is, he can't be worse than Astorino at Hero
Week Three
So Penn State beat Kent State 24-0 in Week Three. I have never been this, dare I say borderline depressed, about a 24-0 victory before in my life.
Royster played like shit for the third straight week. He has averaged under 4 yards per carry in each of our three games this season. This despite a 15 yard gain on one of his 11 carries against Kent State.
The defense played like shit again. How can you say this, they pitched a shutout? Yeah, a shutout against an abysmal Kent State offense missing their best player, playmaking all everything running back Eugene Jarvis. They made up for his loss by going to the air with a quarterback who is worse than Morelli.
Bolden has his worst game of the season.
The offensive line had their best game. They still are not where they need to be though, especially with Iowa looming a mere week and a half away.
It blows my mind that ultra-talented wide receiver Shawney Kersey doesn't get any playing time. I guess that's why he's leaving, more on that in my next blog post.
DE's Jack Crawford and Eric Lattimore didn't start against Kent State, instead Pete Massaro and Sean Stanley did. Everyone knows SickOLBs is a Pete Massaro fan and he has been without question the best DEnd this team has had so far this season. Massaro is a redshirt sophomore, he came in, redshirted, then blew out his knee in the 2009 Blue White game. This young man has a bright future. He's not the most talented DEnd on the roster but he plays hard, he plays smart, and I look forward to watching him get better and better.
Stephfon Green looked very good in his limited carries against Kent State. I really want to see him start over Royster on Saturday.
Hero Drew Astorino got benched last week midway through the game for blowing tackles. FINALLY. Word is he'll be the guy in Nickel formations and new starting Hero Andrew Dailey will be the guy in the base D.
I was wrong about Devon Smith. He's a tough little guy and he's a football player. I was wrong and now I'm a fan of 5'6", 155 lb #20.
Looking ahead to Temple: If we don't play our best game of the season, we have no shot at beating Temple, period. This team has piss poor coaching and even worse leadership. I expect us to lose games this year, I just hope one of them isn't this Saturday against Temple.
Nittany Lion of the Week goes to junior cornerback D'Anton Lynn. Lynn's opening drive interception set the tone for the typically slow starting Nittany Lions. Lynn picked Akron's QB, Penn State scored a touchdown, then Penn State scored another touchdown en route to a 14-0 first quarter lead. It is pathetic that it took a late game bomb to make the final score 24-0. This lack of fire won't cut it against Temple.
Top Ten
1) Alabama
2) Ohio State
3) Nebraska
4) Boise State
5) Oregon
6) Oklahoma
7) Stanford
8) TCU
9) Wisconsin
10) Texas
Heisman
1) Denard Robinson, SO, Quarterback, Michigan
2) Colin Kaepernick, SR(RS), Quarterback, Nevada
3) Ryan Mallett, JR(RS), Quarterback, Arkansas
Lock of the Century: Stanford over Notre Dame
Upset of the Week: Kentucky over Florida
Royster played like shit for the third straight week. He has averaged under 4 yards per carry in each of our three games this season. This despite a 15 yard gain on one of his 11 carries against Kent State.
The defense played like shit again. How can you say this, they pitched a shutout? Yeah, a shutout against an abysmal Kent State offense missing their best player, playmaking all everything running back Eugene Jarvis. They made up for his loss by going to the air with a quarterback who is worse than Morelli.
Bolden has his worst game of the season.
The offensive line had their best game. They still are not where they need to be though, especially with Iowa looming a mere week and a half away.
It blows my mind that ultra-talented wide receiver Shawney Kersey doesn't get any playing time. I guess that's why he's leaving, more on that in my next blog post.
DE's Jack Crawford and Eric Lattimore didn't start against Kent State, instead Pete Massaro and Sean Stanley did. Everyone knows SickOLBs is a Pete Massaro fan and he has been without question the best DEnd this team has had so far this season. Massaro is a redshirt sophomore, he came in, redshirted, then blew out his knee in the 2009 Blue White game. This young man has a bright future. He's not the most talented DEnd on the roster but he plays hard, he plays smart, and I look forward to watching him get better and better.
Stephfon Green looked very good in his limited carries against Kent State. I really want to see him start over Royster on Saturday.
Hero Drew Astorino got benched last week midway through the game for blowing tackles. FINALLY. Word is he'll be the guy in Nickel formations and new starting Hero Andrew Dailey will be the guy in the base D.
I was wrong about Devon Smith. He's a tough little guy and he's a football player. I was wrong and now I'm a fan of 5'6", 155 lb #20.
Looking ahead to Temple: If we don't play our best game of the season, we have no shot at beating Temple, period. This team has piss poor coaching and even worse leadership. I expect us to lose games this year, I just hope one of them isn't this Saturday against Temple.
Nittany Lion of the Week goes to junior cornerback D'Anton Lynn. Lynn's opening drive interception set the tone for the typically slow starting Nittany Lions. Lynn picked Akron's QB, Penn State scored a touchdown, then Penn State scored another touchdown en route to a 14-0 first quarter lead. It is pathetic that it took a late game bomb to make the final score 24-0. This lack of fire won't cut it against Temple.
Top Ten
1) Alabama
2) Ohio State
3) Nebraska
4) Boise State
5) Oregon
6) Oklahoma
7) Stanford
8) TCU
9) Wisconsin
10) Texas
Heisman
1) Denard Robinson, SO, Quarterback, Michigan
2) Colin Kaepernick, SR(RS), Quarterback, Nevada
3) Ryan Mallett, JR(RS), Quarterback, Arkansas
Lock of the Century: Stanford over Notre Dame
Upset of the Week: Kentucky over Florida
Monday, September 13, 2010
Linebacker Situation
Here at Linebacker U in 2010 we play a 4-3, which means we start three linebackers. We have the Fritz (weak), the Mike (middle), and the Sam (strong).
Week One against Youngstown State saw Bani Gbadyu (15) and Gerald Hodges (6) split time at the Fritz, Chris Colasanti (48) start and be backed up by Mike Yancich (33) at the Mike, and Nate Stupar (34) and Michael Mauti (42) split time at the Sam.
The gameplan for Alabama was for Hodges to be our Fritz and have three players split time evenly between the remaining two positions with Colasanti and Mauti seeing time at the Mike and Stupar and Mauti seeing time at the Sam. Hodges went down on the opening kickoff which resulted in Gbadyu playing the entire game at the Fritz with the remaining plan for the other two positions staying in tact.
This won't work moving forward considering at this point, a healthy Hodges is the best linebacker on the squad and Gbadyu may not even be in the top five. Mauti is still not even close to his old self after suffering an ACL a little over a year ago. Stupar would be better suited as a stand-up DE. Colasanti probably won't lose his starting spot.
We have two true freshman linebackers on the squad as well in Mike Hull and Khairi Fortt. Fortt enrolled early and Hull did not. Hull is a little undersized and prior to Hodges' injury was going to take a redshirt this season. Unless another linebacker goes down I don't see Hull playing in 2010. Fortt wasn't going to redshirt regardless and now presumably steps into Hodges' roll as Gbadyu's competition at the Fritz. I can see Gbadyu starting the next two games and Fortt getting the start at Iowa. The real question is how long will Hodges be out for? And if he's out for most of the remainder of the season will he take a redshirt? I'll keep you up to date on the linebacker situation at Linebacker U as it should be both interesting and exciting.
Week One against Youngstown State saw Bani Gbadyu (15) and Gerald Hodges (6) split time at the Fritz, Chris Colasanti (48) start and be backed up by Mike Yancich (33) at the Mike, and Nate Stupar (34) and Michael Mauti (42) split time at the Sam.
The gameplan for Alabama was for Hodges to be our Fritz and have three players split time evenly between the remaining two positions with Colasanti and Mauti seeing time at the Mike and Stupar and Mauti seeing time at the Sam. Hodges went down on the opening kickoff which resulted in Gbadyu playing the entire game at the Fritz with the remaining plan for the other two positions staying in tact.
This won't work moving forward considering at this point, a healthy Hodges is the best linebacker on the squad and Gbadyu may not even be in the top five. Mauti is still not even close to his old self after suffering an ACL a little over a year ago. Stupar would be better suited as a stand-up DE. Colasanti probably won't lose his starting spot.
We have two true freshman linebackers on the squad as well in Mike Hull and Khairi Fortt. Fortt enrolled early and Hull did not. Hull is a little undersized and prior to Hodges' injury was going to take a redshirt this season. Unless another linebacker goes down I don't see Hull playing in 2010. Fortt wasn't going to redshirt regardless and now presumably steps into Hodges' roll as Gbadyu's competition at the Fritz. I can see Gbadyu starting the next two games and Fortt getting the start at Iowa. The real question is how long will Hodges be out for? And if he's out for most of the remainder of the season will he take a redshirt? I'll keep you up to date on the linebacker situation at Linebacker U as it should be both interesting and exciting.
Current Seniors
Let's take a look at the current seniors on the roster and my optimism for the future.
Evan Royster - RB - He has 72 yards rushing (3.6 ypc) and zero touchdowns after two games. It will be a shame if he becomes the school's all time leading rusher. I hope he finishes #2 on the list. I am currently of the opinion that he is the third best running back on the squad and I can tell you that I am not alone on that.
Graham Zug - WR - Zug has zero catches after two games as a starter; he started last season as well. Way to go, champ.
Brett Brackett - WR - Coming into this season Brackett had under 200 yards receiving in his career.
Stefen Wisniewski - RG - Wisniewski is a good center and an even better guard. He's by far the best OLineman on a shaky OLine.
Doug Klopacz - C - Klopacz is our starting center, first year starter. He's average.
Lou Eliades - RT - Eliades is our starting right tackle, he was our starting right guard last season. He's average as well, which is disappointing considering the amount of experience he has accumulated over the years.
Collin Wagner - K - Last season Wagner was a reliable kicker who couldn't hit past 40. This season Wagner's become a real asset to the kicking game.
Ollie Ogbu - DT - All I hear is about how underrated Ogbu is. Everyone says Ogbu is underrated. It's to the point where he's actually become overrated. Ogbu's solid, no more, no less. He'll make plays but is by no means a star. He's a multi-year starter at defensive tackle.
Bani Gbadyu - OLB - Sorry folks I can't do it, he's not a SickOLB. Gbadyu is a career backup which for a linebacker at Linebacker U isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world. Bani, known to most fans as "#15", was forced to play the entire game at Alabama because Hodges got hurt on the opening kickoff. Bani got abused in Tuscaloosa.
Chris Colasanti - MLB - Colasanti has started two games in his career now, against Youngstown State where he was my Nittany Lion of the Game, and against Alabama where he was abused. Not abused nearly as much as Gbadyu and the safties, but nonetheless abused. What does this tell me? It tells me he plays very hard but does not possess elite talent.
Shelton McCullough - CB - This walk-on corner's presense allowed Chaz Powell to shift back over to offense when Curtis Drake went down with a broken leg in August. McCullough is second string but he's the #4 corner meaning he's not the nickel back (#3 corner, Derrick Thomas) and he's not the dime back (#3 safety, Andrew Dailey).
We have 11 seniors on the squad with three of them being former walk-ons (Zug, Wagner, McCullough). Out of the 11, ten are current starters on the team. We'll miss Wisniewski, and if Fera's consistent next year, Wisniewski will be the only one we'll miss. The rest of the team returns intact. I wish I could tell you that Astorino and Sukay are seniors...but they're not. We should be outstanding next season, and even better the year after that. I know it's sad but I'm already looking forward to 2011.
Evan Royster - RB - He has 72 yards rushing (3.6 ypc) and zero touchdowns after two games. It will be a shame if he becomes the school's all time leading rusher. I hope he finishes #2 on the list. I am currently of the opinion that he is the third best running back on the squad and I can tell you that I am not alone on that.
Graham Zug - WR - Zug has zero catches after two games as a starter; he started last season as well. Way to go, champ.
Brett Brackett - WR - Coming into this season Brackett had under 200 yards receiving in his career.
Stefen Wisniewski - RG - Wisniewski is a good center and an even better guard. He's by far the best OLineman on a shaky OLine.
Doug Klopacz - C - Klopacz is our starting center, first year starter. He's average.
Lou Eliades - RT - Eliades is our starting right tackle, he was our starting right guard last season. He's average as well, which is disappointing considering the amount of experience he has accumulated over the years.
Collin Wagner - K - Last season Wagner was a reliable kicker who couldn't hit past 40. This season Wagner's become a real asset to the kicking game.
Ollie Ogbu - DT - All I hear is about how underrated Ogbu is. Everyone says Ogbu is underrated. It's to the point where he's actually become overrated. Ogbu's solid, no more, no less. He'll make plays but is by no means a star. He's a multi-year starter at defensive tackle.
Bani Gbadyu - OLB - Sorry folks I can't do it, he's not a SickOLB. Gbadyu is a career backup which for a linebacker at Linebacker U isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world. Bani, known to most fans as "#15", was forced to play the entire game at Alabama because Hodges got hurt on the opening kickoff. Bani got abused in Tuscaloosa.
Chris Colasanti - MLB - Colasanti has started two games in his career now, against Youngstown State where he was my Nittany Lion of the Game, and against Alabama where he was abused. Not abused nearly as much as Gbadyu and the safties, but nonetheless abused. What does this tell me? It tells me he plays very hard but does not possess elite talent.
Shelton McCullough - CB - This walk-on corner's presense allowed Chaz Powell to shift back over to offense when Curtis Drake went down with a broken leg in August. McCullough is second string but he's the #4 corner meaning he's not the nickel back (#3 corner, Derrick Thomas) and he's not the dime back (#3 safety, Andrew Dailey).
We have 11 seniors on the squad with three of them being former walk-ons (Zug, Wagner, McCullough). Out of the 11, ten are current starters on the team. We'll miss Wisniewski, and if Fera's consistent next year, Wisniewski will be the only one we'll miss. The rest of the team returns intact. I wish I could tell you that Astorino and Sukay are seniors...but they're not. We should be outstanding next season, and even better the year after that. I know it's sad but I'm already looking forward to 2011.
Week Two
We all know we played at #1 Alabama in Week Two and now we all know we got embarrassed at #1 Alabama in Week Two. My thoughts:
Bolden looked good. Both of his picks were due to too much pressure.
Our O Line sucks, period.
That pick that WR Justin Brown threw was an awful play.
The depth chart at running back should be Redd, Green, Royster; not Royster, Green, Redd.
Zug sucks and Kersey's a weapon. So why does Zug start and Kersey gets no run?
We have NO tight end.
Our DLine is slightly above average. Our linebackers (minus Hodges now) are average.
Our corners (Lynn and Morris) are fantastic.
Our safeties (Astorino and Sukay) are a trainwreck. To be fair, calling them a trainwreck is a compliment at this point.
Collin Wagner's a weapon. Anthony Fera's inconsistent but should be a weapon down the road.
The coaching staff is a mess. We need a new head coach and we need him to completely overhaul the coaching staff when he comes in. I'd like to see The Mighty Nittany Lions win another national championship at some point.
Outside of the offensive line, Zug's drop, the wide receiver pass that was called and the big nothing we got from the tight end, I thought our offense played well enough to win the game. The defense let us down and the offensive line let us down. The coaching let us down and we have the worst safety tandem in the league. I mean seriously, it is downright offensive how bad they are.
Nittany Lion of the Week goes to redshirt junior wide receiver Derek Moye.
Top Ten
1) Alabama
2) Ohio State
3) Oklahoma
4) Iowa
5) Boise State
6) Nebraska
7) Oregon
8) TCU
9) Wisconsin
10) Texas
Heisman
1) Denard Robinson, SO, Quarterback, Michigan
2) Trent Richardson, SO, Running Back, Alabama
3) Andrew Luck, SO(RS), Quarterback, Stanford
As always, email me your questions to 717Rizk@gmail.com. I'll post another mailbag as soon as I get enough questions to answer.
Bolden looked good. Both of his picks were due to too much pressure.
Our O Line sucks, period.
That pick that WR Justin Brown threw was an awful play.
The depth chart at running back should be Redd, Green, Royster; not Royster, Green, Redd.
Zug sucks and Kersey's a weapon. So why does Zug start and Kersey gets no run?
We have NO tight end.
Our DLine is slightly above average. Our linebackers (minus Hodges now) are average.
Our corners (Lynn and Morris) are fantastic.
Our safeties (Astorino and Sukay) are a trainwreck. To be fair, calling them a trainwreck is a compliment at this point.
Collin Wagner's a weapon. Anthony Fera's inconsistent but should be a weapon down the road.
The coaching staff is a mess. We need a new head coach and we need him to completely overhaul the coaching staff when he comes in. I'd like to see The Mighty Nittany Lions win another national championship at some point.
Outside of the offensive line, Zug's drop, the wide receiver pass that was called and the big nothing we got from the tight end, I thought our offense played well enough to win the game. The defense let us down and the offensive line let us down. The coaching let us down and we have the worst safety tandem in the league. I mean seriously, it is downright offensive how bad they are.
Nittany Lion of the Week goes to redshirt junior wide receiver Derek Moye.
Top Ten
1) Alabama
2) Ohio State
3) Oklahoma
4) Iowa
5) Boise State
6) Nebraska
7) Oregon
8) TCU
9) Wisconsin
10) Texas
Heisman
1) Denard Robinson, SO, Quarterback, Michigan
2) Trent Richardson, SO, Running Back, Alabama
3) Andrew Luck, SO(RS), Quarterback, Stanford
As always, email me your questions to 717Rizk@gmail.com. I'll post another mailbag as soon as I get enough questions to answer.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Quick Update
Bolden has been officially named the starting quarterback.
2011 and 2012 Big Ten conference schedules are up. Ohio State and Michigan will still finish the season playing each other. We will now finish the season playing Wisconsin. In 2011 instead of playing Alabama, Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin all at home we will now play Alabama, Iowa, and Nebraska at home and play Ohio State and Wisconsin on the road. BRUTAL schedule. Going to The Shoe two years in a row to boot. No Michigan the next two years either.
2011 and 2012 Big Ten conference schedules are up. Ohio State and Michigan will still finish the season playing each other. We will now finish the season playing Wisconsin. In 2011 instead of playing Alabama, Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin all at home we will now play Alabama, Iowa, and Nebraska at home and play Ohio State and Wisconsin on the road. BRUTAL schedule. Going to The Shoe two years in a row to boot. No Michigan the next two years either.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Coaching Update
You heard it here first: This time next year Al Golden, currently the head coach at Temple, will be Penn State's head coach. I wish it could happen next week, but the fact that I believe it will happen next year is good enough for me.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Recruiting Update
It is June 29 and we still only have one verbal commitment for the 2011 class, Kyle Carter, a tight end from Delaware who chose Penn State over Bucknell and Delaware.
The top tight end on our board, Ben Koyack, has committed to Notre Dame.
The top linebacker on our board, Lawrence Thomas, has committed to Michigan State.
And, last night, the top defensive tackle on our board, Marquise Wright, committed to Pitt.
When Joe Paterno told us to lower our expectations, this is not what I thought he had in mind. The day Paterno announces his retirement has gone from being a sad day to a happy one for Nittany Nation, and he has nobody to blame but himself. I look forward to that day.
The top tight end on our board, Ben Koyack, has committed to Notre Dame.
The top linebacker on our board, Lawrence Thomas, has committed to Michigan State.
And, last night, the top defensive tackle on our board, Marquise Wright, committed to Pitt.
When Joe Paterno told us to lower our expectations, this is not what I thought he had in mind. The day Paterno announces his retirement has gone from being a sad day to a happy one for Nittany Nation, and he has nobody to blame but himself. I look forward to that day.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
First Commit
I guess JoePa read the blog and wanted to shut me up. We received our first verbal commitment for the 2011 class today. Kyle Carter, a TE from Delaware, selected Penn State over offers from Bucknell and Delaware.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
2010 Recruiting Update
Got word today that Penn State has added a late addition to their 2010 recruiting class. Alex Mateas an offensive lineman from Ottawa. For those confused, Ottawa is in Canada. This is not another walk-on situation, Mateas will be on scholarship.
I have been receiving a lot of flak recently for the negative tones to my posts. There are two reasons for this. I would like to see Penn State win a national championship again in my lifetime. Also, I am scared about the upcoming season.
This is the first season since 2000 where I felt we have no chance of going undefeated. We are going to get smashed at Alabama, we are going to get smashed at Iowa, and we are going to get smashed at Ohio State. While that may be cool with JoePa, that is not cool with me.
Email me mailbag questions to 717Rizk@gmail.com.
Let's go State!
I have been receiving a lot of flak recently for the negative tones to my posts. There are two reasons for this. I would like to see Penn State win a national championship again in my lifetime. Also, I am scared about the upcoming season.
This is the first season since 2000 where I felt we have no chance of going undefeated. We are going to get smashed at Alabama, we are going to get smashed at Iowa, and we are going to get smashed at Ohio State. While that may be cool with JoePa, that is not cool with me.
Email me mailbag questions to 717Rizk@gmail.com.
Let's go State!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Mailbag!
SickOLBs,
I know it is impossible to predict at this point but if anyone can do it, you can. So who all is leaving State early for the NFL this season?
-Tony from Baltimore
Tony,
If this were five years ago I'd say nobody but we've seen recently quite a few Nittany Lions leave early for the League with Justin King (after the 2007 season), Mo Evans and Aaron Maybin (2008) and Navorro Bowman (2009). Keep in mind, King was the first Nittany Lion to forgo college eligibility to turn pro since LaVar Arrington did eight years before him.
I'm going to say we lose one and that one will be junior defensive tackle Devon Still. You might be thinking...he didn't even start last year!?! And while that's true, it was due to a lack of experience brought on by a rash of injuries throughout the early part of his career. Still showed immense talent and vast improvement to the point where he started the Capital One Bowl at the end of last season. Jared Odrick is gone (first round pick) and Still and fifth year senior Ollie Ogbu will form one of the best DT duos in the country with Still most likely being the star of the show.
SickOLBs,
LOVE the blog. What's really good regarding recruiting?
-Matt from Lansdale
Matt,
To be honest, nothing, at least recently. Over the past seven months Penn State has done very poorly. To be fair, Penn State had quite the class built by the end of recruiting season but this is a "what have you done for me lately" world that we live in. Let's take a look at the facts:
Dominique Easley - Decommitted from Penn State and committed to Florida, he was ranked as the #3 overall player in the nation by ESPN. Easley would have starred at DE at Penn State but will play DT at Florida.
Adrian Coxson - Decommitted from Penn State and committed to Florida, he wanted to be a Nittany Lion but WR coach Mike McQueary didn't like his attitude and told him to find another place to play ball. This is the kid I had compared favorably to Michael Crabtree and said I would be surprised if he didn't end up being the best wide receiver in school history. Don't blame me, I'm not the one who pulled his schollie.
Kenny Stills - Stills wanted to visit officially for the Ohio State game but the staff would not allow it because they didn't want to waste their time with a kid they were convinced wasn't leaving the state of California. Stills enrolled early and starred in the Oklahoma spring game last month. Ooops.
Levi Norwood - Younger brother of legendary wide receiver Jordan Norwood, Levi projects at the same position and has been described as a taller version of Jordan with more upside. Levi's commitment was the reason the staff felt comfortable telling Coxson to pound sand and Stills to go fly a kite. Norwood was released out of his signed Letter of Intent and will now be enrolling at Baylor (where his father, Brian, is the defensive coordinator) instead of Penn State. Anybody sensing a trend here?
Brice Schwab - JUCO All-American was a USC commit until Pete Carroll left the Trojans for the NFL. Schwab, orginially from Pennsylvania, wanted to go to Penn State after he decommitted but the staff told him "no thank you". Chose Arizona State two weeks before signing day. I feel as though Schwab would have came in and started in 2010 here as offensive tackle is a major weak spot for us.
Brad Bars - A DE from Tennessee, Bars shocked Nittany Nation by committing a few days before Signing Day. Bars chose Penn State over Army, Navy, Arkansas State and Georgia Southern. You cannot make this stuff up.
Shyquawn Pullium - A corner from Erie, Pullium selected Penn State two days after Bars did. Pulliums other offers included Pitt and Maryland and word on the street is Pullium will need to go to prep school for a year before enrolling.
Marcus Lattimore - Scout.com's top ranked running back, Lattimore made his commitment the day before Signing Day. Penn State was in it until the end, but they weren't in it at the end. USC beat out Penn State again for a recruit. This time it was the other USC as Lattimore chose to play for The Old Ball Coach and the hometown Gamecocks. The silver lining here is that I think Lattimore is overrated.
Michael Thornton - Thornton would have been the third big time DT in our class (Evan Hailes, DaQuan Jones) and Nittany Nation was expecting a Signing Day commitment. What we weren't expecting was for that commitment to be to Georgia.
To review, we closed our class out by losing three commits (one classic decommit, one where the staff told to go elsewhere, and one where the kid had a change of heart after the fact), whiffed on another three (one we thought we had no chance with but may have, and two where the staff thought we were going to get and then we didn't, and one at a position of need that we told no thank you to), and two commits (one a virtual unknown, and one who we won't see for another year).
These results lead me to question the staff. We have an unqualified quarterbacks coach, Jay Paterno, who does a garbage job in his recruiting area of Ohio and only has his job because of who his daddy is. We can't pull anybody without Penn State ties who has an offer from Ohio State from Ohio but Ohio State does arguably better in Pennsylvania than we do. (Terrelle Pryor says hi) We have an offensive coordinator, Galen Hall, who does not recruit at all as evidenced by 2010 quarterback commit Robert Bolden asking "who?" when a reporter asked him what he thought about Hall. I can't blame Hall though, he essentially is a glorified babysitter who is there to make sure Baby Jay doesn't do anything too stupid and is also in charge of the running game, which is doing just fine. And we have a head coach who absolutely refuses to visit recruits. Thornton and Lattimore would have been ours had JoePa visited, same with Jelani Jenkins the year before, and on and on and on. Folks, this happens every year.
What about 2011 recruiting? As of now we have no commits and every couple of weeks one of our top targets falls off the board. Top linebacker prospect Lawrence Thomas has already selected Michigan State over a slew of offers including Penn State and a couple weeks ago Pennsylvania native Ben Koyack, a top tight end prospect, ended his recruitment early by picking Notre Dame over Ohio State. I don't know what's worse, losing this year's top in-state target to Notre Dame, or Ohio State finishing ahead of us yet again for the services of a Pennsylvania player that the coaching staff really wanted. And a lot of times when a kid chooses Columbus over State College it is because they feel more comfortable in an urban environment...this kid is from Oil City.
I know it is impossible to predict at this point but if anyone can do it, you can. So who all is leaving State early for the NFL this season?
-Tony from Baltimore
Tony,
If this were five years ago I'd say nobody but we've seen recently quite a few Nittany Lions leave early for the League with Justin King (after the 2007 season), Mo Evans and Aaron Maybin (2008) and Navorro Bowman (2009). Keep in mind, King was the first Nittany Lion to forgo college eligibility to turn pro since LaVar Arrington did eight years before him.
I'm going to say we lose one and that one will be junior defensive tackle Devon Still. You might be thinking...he didn't even start last year!?! And while that's true, it was due to a lack of experience brought on by a rash of injuries throughout the early part of his career. Still showed immense talent and vast improvement to the point where he started the Capital One Bowl at the end of last season. Jared Odrick is gone (first round pick) and Still and fifth year senior Ollie Ogbu will form one of the best DT duos in the country with Still most likely being the star of the show.
SickOLBs,
LOVE the blog. What's really good regarding recruiting?
-Matt from Lansdale
Matt,
To be honest, nothing, at least recently. Over the past seven months Penn State has done very poorly. To be fair, Penn State had quite the class built by the end of recruiting season but this is a "what have you done for me lately" world that we live in. Let's take a look at the facts:
Dominique Easley - Decommitted from Penn State and committed to Florida, he was ranked as the #3 overall player in the nation by ESPN. Easley would have starred at DE at Penn State but will play DT at Florida.
Adrian Coxson - Decommitted from Penn State and committed to Florida, he wanted to be a Nittany Lion but WR coach Mike McQueary didn't like his attitude and told him to find another place to play ball. This is the kid I had compared favorably to Michael Crabtree and said I would be surprised if he didn't end up being the best wide receiver in school history. Don't blame me, I'm not the one who pulled his schollie.
Kenny Stills - Stills wanted to visit officially for the Ohio State game but the staff would not allow it because they didn't want to waste their time with a kid they were convinced wasn't leaving the state of California. Stills enrolled early and starred in the Oklahoma spring game last month. Ooops.
Levi Norwood - Younger brother of legendary wide receiver Jordan Norwood, Levi projects at the same position and has been described as a taller version of Jordan with more upside. Levi's commitment was the reason the staff felt comfortable telling Coxson to pound sand and Stills to go fly a kite. Norwood was released out of his signed Letter of Intent and will now be enrolling at Baylor (where his father, Brian, is the defensive coordinator) instead of Penn State. Anybody sensing a trend here?
Brice Schwab - JUCO All-American was a USC commit until Pete Carroll left the Trojans for the NFL. Schwab, orginially from Pennsylvania, wanted to go to Penn State after he decommitted but the staff told him "no thank you". Chose Arizona State two weeks before signing day. I feel as though Schwab would have came in and started in 2010 here as offensive tackle is a major weak spot for us.
Brad Bars - A DE from Tennessee, Bars shocked Nittany Nation by committing a few days before Signing Day. Bars chose Penn State over Army, Navy, Arkansas State and Georgia Southern. You cannot make this stuff up.
Shyquawn Pullium - A corner from Erie, Pullium selected Penn State two days after Bars did. Pulliums other offers included Pitt and Maryland and word on the street is Pullium will need to go to prep school for a year before enrolling.
Marcus Lattimore - Scout.com's top ranked running back, Lattimore made his commitment the day before Signing Day. Penn State was in it until the end, but they weren't in it at the end. USC beat out Penn State again for a recruit. This time it was the other USC as Lattimore chose to play for The Old Ball Coach and the hometown Gamecocks. The silver lining here is that I think Lattimore is overrated.
Michael Thornton - Thornton would have been the third big time DT in our class (Evan Hailes, DaQuan Jones) and Nittany Nation was expecting a Signing Day commitment. What we weren't expecting was for that commitment to be to Georgia.
To review, we closed our class out by losing three commits (one classic decommit, one where the staff told to go elsewhere, and one where the kid had a change of heart after the fact), whiffed on another three (one we thought we had no chance with but may have, and two where the staff thought we were going to get and then we didn't, and one at a position of need that we told no thank you to), and two commits (one a virtual unknown, and one who we won't see for another year).
These results lead me to question the staff. We have an unqualified quarterbacks coach, Jay Paterno, who does a garbage job in his recruiting area of Ohio and only has his job because of who his daddy is. We can't pull anybody without Penn State ties who has an offer from Ohio State from Ohio but Ohio State does arguably better in Pennsylvania than we do. (Terrelle Pryor says hi) We have an offensive coordinator, Galen Hall, who does not recruit at all as evidenced by 2010 quarterback commit Robert Bolden asking "who?" when a reporter asked him what he thought about Hall. I can't blame Hall though, he essentially is a glorified babysitter who is there to make sure Baby Jay doesn't do anything too stupid and is also in charge of the running game, which is doing just fine. And we have a head coach who absolutely refuses to visit recruits. Thornton and Lattimore would have been ours had JoePa visited, same with Jelani Jenkins the year before, and on and on and on. Folks, this happens every year.
What about 2011 recruiting? As of now we have no commits and every couple of weeks one of our top targets falls off the board. Top linebacker prospect Lawrence Thomas has already selected Michigan State over a slew of offers including Penn State and a couple weeks ago Pennsylvania native Ben Koyack, a top tight end prospect, ended his recruitment early by picking Notre Dame over Ohio State. I don't know what's worse, losing this year's top in-state target to Notre Dame, or Ohio State finishing ahead of us yet again for the services of a Pennsylvania player that the coaching staff really wanted. And a lot of times when a kid chooses Columbus over State College it is because they feel more comfortable in an urban environment...this kid is from Oil City.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm Back
Sorry about not blogging for a minute. I don't really have a good excuse so I'm not going to try to find one.
Blue White:
Wow, that was horrible! How Jay "I'm JoePa's son" Paterno still has a job is beyond me. True sophomore, and next year's starter, Kevin Newsome couldn't hit the side of a barn. Redshirt sophomore, next year's #2, and the pride of Scranton, Matt McGloin, was even worse. I think he was trying to set a record for throwing into double and triple coverage. I guess he figured Morelli did it and he got to start so what's good for the goose is good for the gander. True freshman early enrollee Paul Jones looks amazing. I will be yelling at my TV when we're losing games and he's sitting on the bench. All he did was complete (or have a receiver drop) all but one pass including two touchdowns to redshirt freshman Shawney Kersey.
Royster didn't play. Stephfon Green looks the same. Big back Curtis Dukes looks impressive in a uniform. He won't see much PT this year if any. Another big back, Old Dominion transfer Hykeem Brodie looked pretty good. Dukes is bigger and faster than Brodie and everyone has him pegged as our short yardage back but if it were up to me I would give those carries to Brodie at this point, he runs harder than Dukes. None of this will matter once true freshman Zach Zwinak hits the field as he's the next Mike Alstott. True freshman Silas Redd is the real deal. He's every bit as fast as Green and will be taking carries away from Green probably as early as this season. Don't be surprised if Green is our leading rusher as a true sophomore in 2011 after Royster is gone; in fact, count on it.
Wide receiver is a weird position for us. Doesn't look like starters Zug or Moye have improved at all. #3 wideout Chaz Powell has moved over to defense to be a back up corner. By the end of 2009 Curtis Drake was the #3 and I didn't see much of him in the Blue/White game but I'm sure he's fine. Justin Brown is the real deal. Brown and Drake both played as true freshmen last season. So did Devon Smith. Smith kinda sucks. I'd redshirt him this year, he brings nothing to the table really. Sure he's the fastest player on the team but he's so small that it looks like the pads are slowing him down! Shawney Kersey redshirted last season and I thought he had potential to be the best of the bunch and I'm not about to retract that. Kersey caught both touchdowns during the Blue/White game. I keep hearing about how Brandon Moseby-Felder is a Kersey clone, he's not. Don't expect much from him with guys like Kersey, Brown, and Drake ahead of him. Redshirt sophomore A.J. Price surprised me with his leaping ability. He's still the odd man out as he's ahead in eligibility and behind in talent. Our top five pass catchers this season will be Zug, Moye, Drake, Brown, and Kersey.
Starting tight end Andrew Szczerba didn't play due to injury. Looks like Szczerba will be the 1 with redshirt freshman Garry Gilliam as the 2. Redshirt sophomore Mark Wedderburn looks like a wasted scholarship at this point.
The offensive line is in shambles. We have no tackles. Wiz is moving back to right guard from center (good). Lou Eliades is moving from guard to right tackle (okay). Johnnie Troutman is in JoePa's infamous doghouse and at this point isn't expected to start (not good). DeOn'tae Pannell, "the future at tackle", is at guard. Doug Klopacz is holding down the starting spot at center with Quinn Barham at left tackle. Wisniewski, Eliades, and Klopacz are all seniors. It's embarrassing how we basically only lost Dennis Landolt from last year's line and we'll have three senior starters and yet this seems like a major weakness. A couple interesting tidbits about Barham, he was offered because he is friends with and the high school teammate of Greg Little (UNC). When Barham committed nobody thought he'd ever play a meaningful down here. I thought he was one of our better back ups last season but I never thought Barham, at 6'1", would be starting blind side.
Our DLine looks dominant once again. The starting four looks like this:
DE: Jr Jack Crawford
DT: Sr(RS) Ollie Ogbu
DT: Jr(RS) Devon Still
DE: Jr(RS) Eric Lattimore
There is both experience and talent in the front four. Still is a future pro who should fill in nicely for the departure of first round pick Jared Odrick.
We lose all three starting linebackers aaaaaaaaaand we're stacked at linebacker. Mauti's the best of the bunch and he's coming off a torn ACL from this time last year causing him to redshirt in 2009. Trust me folks, he won't look like a sophomore out there even though he will be one. True sophomore Gerald Hodges is now at linebacker after barely playing last year at safety. I wish they would have redshirted him. Hodges is a beast and can hit with the best of them. Jr(RS) Nate Stupar is a solid player that will probably start somewhere. So(RS) Mike Yancich seems to be a favorite of the coaches but after barely playing last season I have no idea how much PT he'll get. True freshman Mike Hull is the true wild card as he is oozing with talent. Mauti and Hull could be as good or better than Poz by the time they're done and I expect them to be better than both Connor and Lee. Tons of talent. The real question is how much seniors Bani Gbadyu and Chris Colasanti will play. I have no idea who will start but I can tell you who I would start. If Hull redshirts I would start Mauti, Hodges, and Stupar. If Hull is in play I would start Mauti, Hodges, and Hull. Mauti is the only set starter. If I had to guess I would say that Mauti, Stupar and one of the two seniors will start.
We have six players for five spots in the secondary (remember, we play a lot of Nickel). I want to see D'Anton Lynn get moved to safety and have Nick Sukay, Drew Astorino, and Andrew Dailey battle it out for the other safety spot but that's not going to happen. Sukay and Astorino will be our starters at safety no matter how well or poorly they play. They say Astorino played hurt last year and Sukay was inexperienced, I say they were both ineffective. At corner Lynn and Stephon Morris will start. Morris was the maaaaaaaaaaan last year as a true freshman. Chaz Powell and redshirt freshman Derrick Thomas will battle it out with the winner getting Nickel and the loser getting pine.
Same kicker as last year, Collin Wagner. We lost our punter to graduation and there was supposed to be a battle between Ryan Breen and Anthony Fera. Breen quit the team and Fera got an underage less than a month ago.
Blue White:
Wow, that was horrible! How Jay "I'm JoePa's son" Paterno still has a job is beyond me. True sophomore, and next year's starter, Kevin Newsome couldn't hit the side of a barn. Redshirt sophomore, next year's #2, and the pride of Scranton, Matt McGloin, was even worse. I think he was trying to set a record for throwing into double and triple coverage. I guess he figured Morelli did it and he got to start so what's good for the goose is good for the gander. True freshman early enrollee Paul Jones looks amazing. I will be yelling at my TV when we're losing games and he's sitting on the bench. All he did was complete (or have a receiver drop) all but one pass including two touchdowns to redshirt freshman Shawney Kersey.
Royster didn't play. Stephfon Green looks the same. Big back Curtis Dukes looks impressive in a uniform. He won't see much PT this year if any. Another big back, Old Dominion transfer Hykeem Brodie looked pretty good. Dukes is bigger and faster than Brodie and everyone has him pegged as our short yardage back but if it were up to me I would give those carries to Brodie at this point, he runs harder than Dukes. None of this will matter once true freshman Zach Zwinak hits the field as he's the next Mike Alstott. True freshman Silas Redd is the real deal. He's every bit as fast as Green and will be taking carries away from Green probably as early as this season. Don't be surprised if Green is our leading rusher as a true sophomore in 2011 after Royster is gone; in fact, count on it.
Wide receiver is a weird position for us. Doesn't look like starters Zug or Moye have improved at all. #3 wideout Chaz Powell has moved over to defense to be a back up corner. By the end of 2009 Curtis Drake was the #3 and I didn't see much of him in the Blue/White game but I'm sure he's fine. Justin Brown is the real deal. Brown and Drake both played as true freshmen last season. So did Devon Smith. Smith kinda sucks. I'd redshirt him this year, he brings nothing to the table really. Sure he's the fastest player on the team but he's so small that it looks like the pads are slowing him down! Shawney Kersey redshirted last season and I thought he had potential to be the best of the bunch and I'm not about to retract that. Kersey caught both touchdowns during the Blue/White game. I keep hearing about how Brandon Moseby-Felder is a Kersey clone, he's not. Don't expect much from him with guys like Kersey, Brown, and Drake ahead of him. Redshirt sophomore A.J. Price surprised me with his leaping ability. He's still the odd man out as he's ahead in eligibility and behind in talent. Our top five pass catchers this season will be Zug, Moye, Drake, Brown, and Kersey.
Starting tight end Andrew Szczerba didn't play due to injury. Looks like Szczerba will be the 1 with redshirt freshman Garry Gilliam as the 2. Redshirt sophomore Mark Wedderburn looks like a wasted scholarship at this point.
The offensive line is in shambles. We have no tackles. Wiz is moving back to right guard from center (good). Lou Eliades is moving from guard to right tackle (okay). Johnnie Troutman is in JoePa's infamous doghouse and at this point isn't expected to start (not good). DeOn'tae Pannell, "the future at tackle", is at guard. Doug Klopacz is holding down the starting spot at center with Quinn Barham at left tackle. Wisniewski, Eliades, and Klopacz are all seniors. It's embarrassing how we basically only lost Dennis Landolt from last year's line and we'll have three senior starters and yet this seems like a major weakness. A couple interesting tidbits about Barham, he was offered because he is friends with and the high school teammate of Greg Little (UNC). When Barham committed nobody thought he'd ever play a meaningful down here. I thought he was one of our better back ups last season but I never thought Barham, at 6'1", would be starting blind side.
Our DLine looks dominant once again. The starting four looks like this:
DE: Jr Jack Crawford
DT: Sr(RS) Ollie Ogbu
DT: Jr(RS) Devon Still
DE: Jr(RS) Eric Lattimore
There is both experience and talent in the front four. Still is a future pro who should fill in nicely for the departure of first round pick Jared Odrick.
We lose all three starting linebackers aaaaaaaaaand we're stacked at linebacker. Mauti's the best of the bunch and he's coming off a torn ACL from this time last year causing him to redshirt in 2009. Trust me folks, he won't look like a sophomore out there even though he will be one. True sophomore Gerald Hodges is now at linebacker after barely playing last year at safety. I wish they would have redshirted him. Hodges is a beast and can hit with the best of them. Jr(RS) Nate Stupar is a solid player that will probably start somewhere. So(RS) Mike Yancich seems to be a favorite of the coaches but after barely playing last season I have no idea how much PT he'll get. True freshman Mike Hull is the true wild card as he is oozing with talent. Mauti and Hull could be as good or better than Poz by the time they're done and I expect them to be better than both Connor and Lee. Tons of talent. The real question is how much seniors Bani Gbadyu and Chris Colasanti will play. I have no idea who will start but I can tell you who I would start. If Hull redshirts I would start Mauti, Hodges, and Stupar. If Hull is in play I would start Mauti, Hodges, and Hull. Mauti is the only set starter. If I had to guess I would say that Mauti, Stupar and one of the two seniors will start.
We have six players for five spots in the secondary (remember, we play a lot of Nickel). I want to see D'Anton Lynn get moved to safety and have Nick Sukay, Drew Astorino, and Andrew Dailey battle it out for the other safety spot but that's not going to happen. Sukay and Astorino will be our starters at safety no matter how well or poorly they play. They say Astorino played hurt last year and Sukay was inexperienced, I say they were both ineffective. At corner Lynn and Stephon Morris will start. Morris was the maaaaaaaaaaan last year as a true freshman. Chaz Powell and redshirt freshman Derrick Thomas will battle it out with the winner getting Nickel and the loser getting pine.
Same kicker as last year, Collin Wagner. We lost our punter to graduation and there was supposed to be a battle between Ryan Breen and Anthony Fera. Breen quit the team and Fera got an underage less than a month ago.
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