Hull and rumors

Several newspapers are reporting that suspended players Maurice Evans and Abe Koroma will not play for the second straight game when Penn State visits Syracuse on Saturday. While this will more than likely turn out to be true, our sources say that coach Joe Paterno has not made his final decision as of this morning. Still, Paterno has a long standing rule of not playing players that have not practiced the week before a game, and Evans and Koroma have not practiced and will not for the rest of this week. The coach could update us on their status on his weekly call-in radio show tonight.

Also, here's this morning's story on Josh Hull's story book rise from walk-on to starting middle linebacker at Linebacker U.

Hull is just one of many walk-ons to succeed at Penn State. Here's a chart of some notable ones that ran in the newspaper:

Notable Penn State walk-ons
Following the reduction in Division I-A scholarships more than a decade ago, there have been more opportunities for walk-ons to make football teams and even start. Penn State has three starters who were once walk-ons: linebacker Josh Hull, wide receiver Deon Butler, and punter Jeremy Boone. Here are some other prominent walk-ons under coach Joe Paterno:

Tom Bradley, DB, 1977-78, Current Penn State defensive coordinator
John Bruno, P, 1984-86, Punter on 1986 national championship team
Ron Coder, G, 1974-75, Former NFLer played for USFL's Philadelphia Stars
Troy Drayton, TE, 1989-92, Played nine seasons in NFL
Rich Gardner, DB, 2000-03, Played three seasons in the NFL, 2004-06
Robbie Gould, PK, 2001-04, All-pro with Chicago Bears
Joe Iorio, C, 1999-2002, First true freshman walk-on to start under Paterno
Ethan Kilmer, WR, 2003-05, Safety with the Cincinnati Bengals
Neal Smith, CB, 1967-69, All-American, 1969