Archive: July, 2012
Video: Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien spoke at Big 10 media day in Chicago on Thursday. What's the latest on Silas Redd? Joe Juliano of the Inquirer discusses with CineSport's Brian Clark.
Joe Juliano
A group of about 30 Penn State players showed up Wednesday at the practice fields outside the Lasch Football Building to show unity and support for the football program, wracked by NCAA sanctions in connection with the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal.
A pair of seniors, fullback Michael Zordich and linebacker Michael Mauti, both sons of former Penn State players, delivered a statement on behalf of the players.
The statement reads:
Joe Juliano
The NCAA has listed the full set of options for Penn State players or recruits who wish to play elsewhere in wake of the severe sanctions imposed against the university’s football program.
The ruling body listed rules in five different categories that affect players wishing to transfer.
Interested players have from now until the start of Penn State’s preseason practice in 2013 to transfer without having to sit out one season, as long as the player is admitted and academically eligible.
Joe Juliano
Penn State coach Bill O’Brien said Tuesday that he is looking ahead with the Nittany Lions’ football program and that his most important goal for the moment is keeping his team together for the 2012 season.
Speaking with Bonnie Bernstein on the Dan Patrick Show, O’Brien said he felt the toughest sanction imposed Monday by the NCAA was the one that enabled current Nittany Lion players to transfer to other schools without having to sit out a year.
“I can’t pick out one sanction versus another, it’s just that much harder,” he said. “But I can tell you that right now, my main goal is to keep this 2012 football team together and that’s what I’m working very hard to do every single day.”
Joe Juliano
The NCAA has scheduled a press conference for Monday to announce likely penalties against Penn State as a result of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
NCAA president Mark Emmert and Oregon State president Ed Ray, chair of the NCAA’s executive committee, will discuss the matter at 9 a.m. at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis.
CBS News quoted an NCAA source as saying penalties against Penn State would be “unprecedented.” The source went on to say, “I’ve never seen anything like it,” according to CBS.
Joe Juliano
Penn State tailback Silas Redd has earned a spot on another watch list for a national award, this one being the Doak Walker Award given to the nation’s top running back, not just for his achievement on the field, but his accomplishments in the classroom and in the community.
Redd, a junior, also is on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, given to the nation’s top football player by the Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia. He rushed for 1,241 yards last season.
Senior linebacker Gerald Hodges, of Paulsboro, N.J., can find his name on four watch lists – the Nagurski Trophy (best defensive player), the Butkus Award (top linebacker), the Rotary Lombardi Award (top lineman or linebacker) and the Bednarik Award (top defensive player).
Joe Juliano
Officials announced that the annual Penn State Uplifting Athletes “Lift For Life” charity fund-raiser netted a record $110,374 for the Kidney Cancer Association.
The total broke the old record of $100,930 set last year. In the 10 years that the event has been held, members of the Penn State football team has raised more than $700,000 for kidney cancer research.
More than 80 players secured donations for the event. Junior guard Eric Shrive, vice president of the Nittany Lions’ Uplifting Athletes chapter, raised the most money with $31,868.
Joe Juliano
Video: Louis Freeh's report claims Penn State officials knew about Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children and did nothing. CineSport's Noah Coslov & The Inquirer's Joe Juliano discuss.
Joe Juliano
Penn State football players will participate in Lift for Life, a fund-raising event that benefits the Kidney Cancer Association, on Friday at the lacrosse field south of the Bryce Jordan Center.
The competition, which will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., features players from the offense facing off against players from the defense in areas such as the tire flip, tug of war, obstacle course and sled pull and push. More than 80 players are expected to take part.
Players have raised more than $600,000 since the first Lift for Life in 2003.
Joe Juliano
Penn State has struck out for the second time in its efforts to get top linebacking prospect Alex Anzalone of Wyomissing Area (Pa.) High School.
Anzalone announced Sunday night that he has chosen Notre Dame over Penn State and Florida as the college where he will play football beginning in 2013.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Anzalone, ranked as a four-star player by all the prominent recruiting web sites, had de-committed from Ohio State in May, two weeks after announcing he would play his college football for the Buckeyes.
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.
