Archive: February, 2012
Joe Juliano
Penn State coach Bill O’Brien has received his first oral commitment for the freshman class of 2013, a quarterback who apparently liked the fact O’Brien worked with Tom Brady when he was the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.
Christian Hackenberg, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound QB at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy, committed to Penn State late Tuesday, according to several recruiting web sites.
Hackenberg, who visited Penn State during the football program’s Junior Day on Feb. 19, also had offers from Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Rutgers and Miami. Rivals.com has given him a four-star rating and ranks him 153th among all players in his class.
Penn State dismissed Shawn Oakman from the football team for a violation of team rules, the school announced in an e-mail Tuesday night. No further details were given.
Oakman, a 6-foot-9, 270-pound defensive end from Penn Wood High School, redshirted his freshman year.
Attempts to reach Oakman were unsuccessful.
Aaron Thomas is 12 years old and he has been battling leukemia for seven years. But this weekend, he got the chance to forget his illness and meet some people whose shoes he hopes to fill one day.
On Saturday afternoon, the Penn State football team hosted its annual THON Make-A-Wish event in the Lasch Football Building with approximately 25 Make-A-Wish families in attendance. The event is part of the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, where Penn State students, through a 46-hour dance marathon, raise money to benefit the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. Since 1973, the event has raised more than $78 million to fight childhood cancer.
For children like Thomas, who doesn’t get the chance to go outside of his home much because of his illness, days like Saturday are a godsend, his mother said. It takes him out of his home and into the locker rooms of the players he idolizes.
Joe Juliano
Former Penn State quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said that while he was flattered to have attracted enough support to have his name be placed on the ballot for election to the university’s board of trustees, he is unable to run.
In a post Friday on Twitter, Paterno, son of the late Penn State head football coach, noted that he is ineligible to serve on the board because he had been employed by the university as recently as last month until Bill O'Brien took over as head coach.
Under the board’s bylaws, a person can only become a trustee if he or she has not been employed by Penn State for a total of three years.
For a team set to begin its 2012 season on Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla., against Seton Hall in the Big Ten/Big East Challenge, Penn State baseball coach Robbie Wine boasts a starting staff to get excited about.
With Cody Lewis, a junior transfer righthander from Saddleback Junior College; John Walter, a junior righthander and 2011 third-team All Big Ten; and Steve Hill, a junior righthander and second-team All Big Ten, Wine said he believes he’s got a team with plenty of experience to win significant games this season.
The Lions recorded a 32-22 record last season and were 12-12 in the Big Ten.
Penn State rounded out its strength and conditioning staff on Tuesday when head coach Bill O'Brien announced the addition of Dwight Galt IV, Steven Williams Jr., and Sean Hayes.
The new coaches will serve under newly hired director of strength and conditioning for football, Craig Fitzgerald.
Galt has coached alongside Fitzgerald at South Carolina since January 2010. He was a graduate assistant from August to December of 2010, then an assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2011-12. During his playing days, Galt was a defensive end at Maryland from 2005-09.
Joe Juliano
Seven players who starred for Penn State have been invited to take part in the NFL Scouting Combine beginning Feb. 22 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The seven are defensive end Jack Crawford, cornerback D’Anton Lynn, wide receiver Derek Moye, cornerback Chaz Powell, defensive tackle Devon Still, linebacker Nate Stupar and guard Johnnie Troutman.
Three players have ties to the extended Philadelphia area – Crawford (St. Augustine Prep) from Longport, N.J.; Still (Howard Technology) from Wilmington and Troutman (Pemberton) from Browns Mills, N.J.
Video: Penn State didn't sign any players from Philadelphia. Instead, Rutgers had success in Philly. The Inquirer's Joe Juliano and Rick O'Brien talk more about it with CineSport's Brian Clark.
Penn State defensive coordinator Ted Roof talks about the Nittany Lions' 2012 recruiting class at a press availability on National Signing Day.
(Video by Joe McIntyre/The Philadephia Inquirer)
Joe Juliano
Penn State completed national signing day with no surprises, with 19 players submitting signed letters of intent to become part of the Nittany Lions’ freshman Class of 2012.
Penn State received letters from every player who was expected to sign. No player made a last-minute change of heart toward another school, and the Nittany Lions did not hear from anyone who made a sudden decision to go to Penn State.
The Lions ended up signing five defensive linemen, four wide receivers, three defensive backs, two offensive linemen, two tight ends, one linebacker, one running back and one quarterback.
This season is Joe's fourth season on the paper's Penn State beat. He previously covered the Nittany Lions for United Press International from 1976 to 1984.
Emily Kaplan is the Inquirer’s fall intern covering the Nittany Lions. She is a senior at Penn State and has covered a variety of sports for the university’s student-run paper, The Daily Collegian. Over the last two years, she has reported for The Associated Press from State College.
A Montclair, N.J. native, she has also interned at MLB Network, NHL.com and covered the 2012 Olympics in London. Follow her on Twitter here @EKaplan24.
