Penn State's Latimore ready to play and other notes from Wednesday

The second day of Penn State conference calls took place on Wednesday. No earth-shattering news came out of them, but some players had interesting things to say, nonetheless. Below are are some notes from the conference calls.

-Defensive end Eric Latimore (Middletown, Del.) said he is "ready to go" after a wrist injury kept him out of the last eight games of last season. The 6-foot-6, 277 pound senior is listed as the first-team left end. Latimore, who is related to Philadelphia basketball legend Sonny Hill, has 4.5 sacks in three seasons. His best season came in 2009, when he played in every game, starting five, and had 21 tackles and 3.5 sacks.

-First-string left guard DeOn'tae Pannell said he has dropped about 25 pounds since the beginning of the winter and now weights about 308 pounds. The senior said he brought a different intensity into offseason workouts and "if you just eat right, you can still eat as much. So it isn't as hard as it sounds." Pannell played in each of his first three years in Happy Valley, starting sparingly. He said one of his goals is to start 12 games in 2011.

-Redshirt junior running back Brandon Beachum, who is listed as second-string behind sophomore Silas Redd, is excited to once again play in the same backfield as fullback Mike Zordich. Zordich, the son of Michael, the secondary/safeties coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, played with Beachum at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, Ohio. Beachum redshirted last season after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee late in the 2009 season.

-Pannell said he is not exactly sure what Indiana State will do defensively, but that the offensive line is preparing for everything and definitely a lot of blitzes.

--Jake Kaplan