Penn State Strengthens Secondary
Real life has once again gotten in the way of my writing. It’s unfortunate timing since it ate up spring practice, the one time during the off-season where there is a significant amount of things to be discussed. Anyway, here’s a brief update on Penn State recruiting from the weekend.
Penn State has landed three quality defensive back prospects over the past three days. The best of the bunch appears to be Darrell Givens (Lackey H.S./Indian Head, MD), teammate of fellow Penn State verbal Malcolm Willis. Givens originally verballed to Ohio State back in April but news leaked early Saturday that he would be switching his pledge to the Nittany Lions. Givens is a big pick up as he not only got the ball rolling with a number of secondary prospects but is Penn State’s first four-star verbal commitment in the class. Questions surrounding Joe Paterno’s future has really hindered Penn State’s recruitment of the nation’s top prospects. Givens’ verbal now gives Penn State an early headline player for the class. Hopefully other top prospects will see his pledge to Penn State as a statement that Happy Valley is still a destination for the nation’s top prospects.
The other two verbal commitments Penn State landed over the past three days are Stephen Obeng-Agyapong (John F. Kennedy H.S./Bronx, NY) and Derrick Thomas (Eleanor Roosevelt H.S./Greenbelt, MD). Both players are being recruited for the secondary and both have Penn State connections. Obeng-Agyapong plays for John F. Kennedy High School. The school is quickly becoming a pipeline for Penn State as highly-touted redshirt freshman running back Stephfon Green, walk-on linebacker Shaine Thompson, and offensive lineman Nerraw McCormack (by way of junior college) all played there previously. Thomas plays for Eleanor Roosevelt High School, the same school that Derrick Williams attended when he was the top-ranked player in the country four years ago. Obeng-Agyapong also held scholarship offers from Buffalo, Connecticut, and Iowa while Thomas held offers from Illinois, Maryland, and Pitt.
With these three commitments, and Malcolm Willis already in the fold, Penn State is two-thirds of the way to achieving their goal of recruiting six secondary prospects in the Class of 2009. However, the only one of the current four prospects that could provide immediate help as a true freshman appears to be Givens. With Lydell Sargeant and Tony Davis both graduating after the 2008 season, Penn State will likely need freshmen to step in and play in 2009.
The Blue-White Roundtable: Pre-Blue-White Game
The pre-Blue-White Game roundtable questions come from Nittany WhiteOut. I haven’t been posting much lately and am finishing up a vacation in Puerto Rico currently. I plan on some analysis of the Blue-White Game sometime late in the weekend or early next week. You can read the rest of the roundtable responses here:
Black Shoe Diaries
The Nittany Line
There Is No Name on My Jersey
William Yurasko
Tangled Up in Blue and White
The Big Eleventh
Run Up the Score
1) The announcement Wednesday is that contract talks are on hold until the conclusion of this season, and that Joe might not even need a contract to coach, how do you see this saga ending? Is this the final year for Joe Paterno?
I think it comes down to a few different things regarding whether this is the end for Joe. First and foremost is the all-time wins record. If Joe manages to pass Bobby Bowden, which is a distinct possibility if PSU plays up to its potential and Florida State repeats its shortcomings of the past few seasons. If Joe recaptures the wins record and Bowden bows out, it might make the choice a little easier. Honestly, 2009 doesn’t look good right now. The only thing that will likely keep PSU as an 8-4 team next season is the fact that the non-conference schedule consists of four guaranteed wins and all are at home. Unless Penn State has a disastrous season (read: no bowl game) or his health severely declines, Joe will be back in 2009 unless he has the wins record. Spanier and Curley don’t have it in them to oust him with or without a contract.
2) Joe will clearly not been on the sidelines in 10 years time. Whether he is awarded another extension or is forced out against his will, a new face will inevitably be on the sidelines for the Lions in the years to come. Which candidates would top the list when it comes to a coaching search? Should it be an in-house hire or should we start off with a blank slate?
First, don’t be so sure about Joe not being here ten years from now. Back in 1987, would he have been expected to still be on the sidelines in 1997? In 1997, would he have been expected to still be coaching in 2007? As unlikely as it seems, just don’t count it out. Also, he won’t be forced out unless ticket sales plummet or the donations dry up. Forcing out Joe Paterno would be a PR nightmare. It’s just not going to happen.I favor an outside hire. I just believe that hiring someone from the staff leaves too much room for Paterno to still dictate how the program is run and that is a detriment since it would likely include Jay Paterno being kept on in some capacity on the coaching staff. Outside of Larry Johnson Sr., Ron Vanderlinden, and Tom Bradley, the entire coaching staff really needs to be cleared out. There has been no accountability on this staff for years. Changes must be made to improve the state of Penn State football.
Greg Schiano is still my top choice to succeed Paterno. He has exactly what Penn State needs in its next head coach- a young coach with Penn State ties, thus an appreciation for the “Penn State way,” yet still has the ability to inject new blood into the program, something it so badly needs. While some may criticize Schiano for Rutgers seemingly stalling out in its ascension as a program, he has had more success there in his brief tenure than every other coach in Rutgers history combined. He has taken the program from being a laughingstock to a respectable, competitive team year in and year out. He is a master recruiter and could become the next “rock star” coach (Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, etc.) with the Penn State name backing him. He would also revive dead recruiting pipelines in New Jersey and Florida. While it’s hard to say that the transition from Paterno to the next head coach will be flawless regardless of who it is, Schiano would certainly be a very smooth transition. Schiano turned down Miami and Michigan for a reason. I think he knows he has an excellent chance to succeed Paterno. Some other outside candidates I think Penn State should consider include Oakland Raiders’ head coach Lane Kiffin, Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly, South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt, and Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler. Some others who could play there way in depending on who 2008 and beyond (who knows how far into the future the change is really going to happen). Include Temple’s Al Groh, Connecticut’s Randy Edsall, and Southern Miss’ new head coach Larry Fedora, an excellent recruiter.
3) It almost seems as if we find another athlete in trouble with the law each morning when we read the newspaper. What has gone wrong with the once pristine image of the Penn State program?
To steal a favorite phrase from the NCAA, lack of institutional control. Frankly, I just think Paterno has lost a lot of control over the program. Clearly the recruits coming in don’t respect and/or fear him, and the program as a whole, as they once did. Another contributing factor that gets mentioned frequently is the fact that the State College police, right or wrong, has taken a lot of control away from Paterno. In the past many of these incidents would’ve been handled in-house by Paterno. But now the police seem intent on getting these kids, as well as their own, names in the paper. I think this should be among the many things that Spanier and Curley address with Paterno at their season end review. There has already been enough trouble to make it a big issue and spring practice is not even over yet. I would have expected this team to be on their best behavior after the fight last spring and certainly after Andrew Quarless’ pre-season underage drinking citation. But apparently they just don’t get it.
4) After 14 years in the Big Ten, Penn has not dominated the conference in football as most presumed when we joined winning only 2 Big Ten titles in that span. In 1994, Joe Paterno’s undefeated Nittany Lions were also backstabbed by its Big Ten breathern when most conference members voted for Nebraska instead of Penn State. Is the Big Ten the right home for Penn State? Or would Joe Paterno’s dream of an all-eastern conference be a much more ideal conference for the Nittany Lions?
From a purely academic and overall perspective, the Big Ten is a great fit. It associates Penn State with some of the top public and private universities in the nation and has been a major part of turning Penn State into one of the top public universities. The revenue distribution also helps to fund the non-revenue, but often times more successful, athletic programs. From a football and basketball perspective it is clearly a big no. Penn State football continues to be the red-headed stepchild of the conference. And whether you buy into the anti-Penn State refereeing bias or not, Penn State is still even after 15 years not treated like an equal member. The Rose Bowl tie-in crushed the hope of a Penn State-Nebraska showdown in 1994 to decide the national championship and that was compounded by the Big Ten writers turning their backs on Penn State. That would never happen to Michigan or Ohio State. Being a Big Ten member has also hurt recruiting significantly. It has allowed schools like Michigan and Ohio State to come into not only Pennsylvania and take recruits but it has allowed them into a place like New Jersey as well. Meanwhile, Penn State has failed to make significant in-roads into the only real fertile recruiting ground in the Big Ten, Ohio. Joe’s eastern conference at the time would have been a perfect move for Penn State. But to try to construct that now would be nightmarish and likely hurt Penn State worse than the Big Ten has. Unless Boston College, Maryland, and even a Virginia and/or Virginia Tech were to sign on for it, we would be talking likely about Penn State moving to the Big East which would be suicide for the program. The Big East needs Penn State more than Penn State needs the Big East. Programs like Pitt and Syracuse can continue to let their football programs rot away in the basketball conference. Both said no to Joe initially and then Pitt kept Penn State out of the Big East when it went to a vote. The Big Ten might not be ideal but it’s better than that mess of a conference. If Penn State were to leave the Big Ten, I would want to see them land in the ACC. It would put Penn State in good company academic-wise with Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, etc. but also put the program back into its old recruiting territory and also allow Penn State to play more road games in areas with a significant amount of Penn State alumni.The addition of Penn State would also perhaps help the conference finally gain the footing necessary to be considered as strong a football conference as it is a basketball conference. The only issue would be finding room for Penn State. None of the present members seem eager to leave. The ACC would likely need to go to 14 teams, something that it seems unlikely to do. However, it would be a chance for Pitt to ride Penn State’s coattails out of the Big East. While West Virginia would be a more beneficial athletics member, its academics aren’t really up to part with the rest of the league. Other potential moving partners could be Connecticut, Syracuse, and Rugers.
5) With the lack of our traditional rivals in the Big Ten conference, and our unwillingness to reschedule any of them in any consistant manner, which teams are emerging as Penn State’s chief rivals in the Big Ten? (USC-Notre Dame proves that rivalries aren’t all about geographic significance.)
Clearly it’s Ohio State. With a few exceptions, the games are usually close and competitive. The teams go head to head for a lot of the same recruits every year and it’s a border war. Obviously Penn State will never be able to unseat Michigan as the Buckeyes’ top rival but if Penn State ever manages to become the power it was expected to be in the Big Ten back in the early to mid ‘90s, this game will carry a lot of clout, like a Georgia-Auburn of sorts. It’s hard to call Michigan a rival because of the incredible lack of success against them in the past decade but there is a clear dislike, even hatred, towards the Wolverines because the fact that PSU just can’t seem to beat them. Other than those two it’s really hard to sayPenn State has any rivals. Obviously there are the two fictitious rivalries with Michigan State and Minnesota but any true Penn Stater knows that there is no hatred there. I’m very indifferent towards the rest of the conference. I can’t say I feel there is any sort of rivalry with any other member of the conference.
Bonus Question: Are you going to the Blue-White Game?
No, but I will be watching the webcast from the Big Ten Network.
The Embarrassment Continues
As if Penn State growing image of thuggery and trouble needed any help growing, Chris Bell made sure it did. The former blue-chip wide receiver prospects brandished a knife in the Pollock Dining Commons on Monday evening. Bell has been kicked off the team and will be given no chance at returning. Reportedly he threatened defensive end Devon Still with the knife. Apparently the conflict arose over a cell phone case Still supposedly took from Bell.
The last thing Penn State needed was another embarrassing situation to highlight the degradation of the football program. Chris Bell provided just that. It’s really hard to blame some thing like this on Joe Paterno but after so many incidents over the past year, one must look to the top for responsibility.
The problem is, no one is going to find any. For many years a continual problem with the coaching staff has been a lack of accountability. Now that problem has finally made its way to Joe Paterno. This is absolutely unacceptable. The good image of Penn State football has been tarnished on a grand scale on too many occasions in the past year and Joe appears to be doing nothing about this. The entire program lacks leadership from Joe Paterno on down to the lowest string of the foreign team. The players can talk all they want about how this season will be different, etc. but nothing is going to change until Penn State gets another group of captains with the same desire and dedication as Michael Robinson, Alan Zemaitis, and Paul Posluszny. Those three took it upon themselves to turn the program around. Now it’s on Derrick Williams, A.Q. Shipley, and Sean Lee to do the same. Hopefully now that Bell is gone there will be no more trouble, at the very least for the rest of the spring.
But what this situation really highlights is just how much control Paterno has lost. He’s still the emperor of Penn State football but more and more often now we see that he is not wearing any clothes. Ten, fifteen, twenty years ago this stuff would not have happened to such a magnitude in one year. Penn State did not see these repeated screw ups. The players respected and feared Joe. Clearly that is not the case anymore. One of two things must happen- Joe needs to regain control on the program or surrender it for good. This IS NOT his program to run into the ground. If he’s not going to do the job, it’s time for Spanier and Curley to take charge and oust him, no matter the repercussions.
This is no longer a matter of the football team winning games, it’s a matter of Joe allowing the players he brought in to tarnish the image of the program and the university as a whole.
What’s New at Penn State?
Nothing is the real answer to that question. It has been a relatively quiet off-season so far as the team gets ready for spring practice and continues to await an announcement on Joe Paterno’s future (I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one).
Penn State finally beat Michigan in some football-related matter. Beaver Stadium is now the country’s largest stadium after Michigan was forced to make seat reductions to complete handicap-accessible improvements with their recent stadium upgrades. Penn State will likely only retain the distinction for two years though as Michigan Stadium will likely reclaim the top spot in 2010 after stadium renovations are complete. Never the less, it feels good to finally beat Michigan at something.
The most serious charge against defensive tackle Phil Taylor has been dropped. Taylor was the fourth football player charged for the October HUB fight, joining fellow defensive tackle Chris Baker, linebacker Navorro Bowman, and defensive back Knowledge Timmons. Baker and Bowman still face felony aggravated assault charges. Timmons faces no serious charges.
Nothing new on the Terrelle Pryor front. He has until April 1st to make a final decision. He is expected to visit Penn State in the near future but all signs still seem to point towards Ohio State.
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