Frank Bodani's live chat will start at 8 p.m. Monday.
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August 2009 Archives
Frank Bodani's third live chat about Penn State football will be 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 31. live right here on the Nittany Nation blog.
The season is rapidly approaching, so Frank's ready for questions about Saturday's opener against Akron.
While you're thinking Penn State, check out Frank's cool feature on Chaz Powell. (Notice the great work of the YDR graphics department, too.)
We'll see you there at 8 p.m. Monday.
It appears now that defensive tackle Abe Koroma's career at Penn State is finished.
Joe Paterno first broke news of Koroma's possible season suspension for personal reasons last month at Big Ten Media Days. But over the weekend, Koroma, a junior with two years of eligibility left, posted on his Twitter account that his Penn State career is officially over.
Penn State sports information director Jeff Nelson confirmed the transfer on Monday.
Continue reading Koroma gone for good.
Frank Bodani's second live chat about Penn State football will be 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 24. live right here on the Nittany Nation blog.
The AP poll is out, and the season is just around the corner, so there will be plenty to talk about with the York Daily Record/Sunday News' beat writer.
Here's yet another list to get Penn State fans fired up.
This time it's SI.com ranking the Big Ten's top 10 football players for the upcoming season. Certainly, Nittany Lion fans will take exception of one omission (no linebacker Navorro Bowman) -- and the positioning of a couple of other players.
Coming in at No. 10 is tailback Evan Royster, the Big Ten's leading returning rusher and the only running back on the list. And the Big Ten's top returning quarterback, Daryll Clark, managed only a No. 6 spot.
He is behind a defensive end from Northwestern, teammate and linebacker Sean Lee (No. 4), Michigan State linebacker Greg Jones and Illinois receiver Arrelious Benn.
And, of course, he's also behind the top pick on the list, Ohio State sophomore QB Terrelle Pryor.
It looks as if the Big Ten will be replacing the Alamo Bowl with the Gator Bowl, adding yet another New Year's Day game.
It seems likely that the Big Ten will reach a deal that will send its No. 4 or No. 5 team to Jacksonville against the No. 3 team from the ACC beginning with the 2010 season, according to SI.com.
The Gator and the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., already in the Big Ten fold, would apparently alternate getting the league's No. 4 and 5 picks, SI.com reported.
Continue reading Big Ten getting Gator Bowl?.
Let's offer some perspective on the recent Mike Mauti injury, the one that will keep one of the top young linebackers in the nation off the field this season for Penn State.
His torn-up knee suffered in practice is part of the game, but a shame, nonetheless. Simply put, we were looking forward to seeing him work alongside Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman at linebacker. We figure that by mid-October that trio very well could have been recognized as the best in the nation.
Continue reading Mauti to miss the season.
Three members of Penn State's defense -- linebackers Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman and tackle Jared Odrick -- are candidates for the Bednarik Award, given to the nation's top defensive player.
Penn State, Oklahoma and UCLA are the only schools with three members on the "watch list."
The Nittany Lions' Dan Connor won the award in 2007 and Paul Posluszny won in 2005 and 2006. LaVar Arrington also won the award in 1999.
Other Big Ten candidates include Iowa linebacker Pat Angerer, Michigan defensive end Brandon Graham, Michigan State linebacker Greg Jones, Indiana defensive end Jammie Kirlew and Northwestern defensive end Corey Wootton.
Odrick and teammate Stefen Wisniewski (center) also are members of the "watch list" for the Outland Trophy, given to the nation's top interior linemen.
The Nittany Lions are the only Big Ten school with multiple nominees on the 40-man preseason list. Penn State's only Outland winner was All-America defensive tackle Mike Reid in 1969.
Frank Bodani's live chat about Penn State football will begin promptly at 8 p.m. Monday.
Come prepared with questions about the upcoming season.
Hello loyal Penn State football fans.
Frank Bodani is as eager as you are for the football season to start, so he's hosting a live chat. Frank's first chat will be 8 p.m. Monday (Aug. 17) right here on the Nittany Nation blog.
Bring your questions about the upcoming season, local players or anything else you're itching to know about PSU. Frank will be chatting every Monday throughout the season.
Thanks for reading.
Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark and center Stefen Wisniewski grace the cover of the Aug. 17 issue of Sports Illustrated for its annual college football preview issue.
The Nittany Lions, ranked 14th by SI, are one of four regional covers for the preview issue, along with Mississippi, Oklahoma State and Oregon. The Penn State issue will be distributed throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and upper Midwest.
SI predicts that the Lions will make their third Bowl Championship Series appearance in the past five years, facing Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Penn State is making its 13th appearance on the cover of SI during coach Joe Paterno's career, which includes being pictured for his selection as SI's Sportsman of the Year in 1986.
The Lions were last featured on an SI cover in November 2005, when Paterno and All-America linebacker Paul Posluszny were featured.
Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark and tailback Evan Royster are among the 30 initial candidates for the Water Camp Football Foundation's Player of the Year award.
Only four other schools -- Florida, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas -- have multiple players on the list.
And Illinois receiver Arrelious Benn is the only other candidate from the Big Ten.
John Cappelletti and Larry Johnson are Penn State's previous winners of the award.
Clark was runner-up for the Big Ten's MVP award last year with a school-record 29 touchdowns (19 passing, 10 rushing) to go with only six interceptions. Royster ran for 1,236 yards last fall, averaging a lofty 6.5 yards per rush with 12 touchdowns.
The Walter Camp award will be narrowed to 10 semifinalists in early November.
The Big Ten Network will air its Penn State football preseason practice show at 10 p.m. on Thursday.
The 90-minute show hosted by Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith will "feature a true, behind-the-scenes look at individual and team drills as Big Ten teams prepare for the 2009 season."
The network's season preview show will air at 10 p.m. on Aug. 27, nine days before the opener against Akron at Beaver Stadium. The game will be broadcast by the Big Ten Network.
The Nittany Lions are No. 8 in the USA Today/Coaches' preseason top 25 poll released today -- a couple of spots behind rival Ohio State.
Penn State, which finished 11-2 last season with a loss to USC in the Rose Bowl, is firmly ahead of No. 9 LSU in voting points (988-917) and just behind No. 7 Virginia Tech (1,020).
Florida is the decisive preseason No. 1 with 53 first-place votes, followed by Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Alabama and Ohio State, at No. 6. Mississippi rounds out the top 10.
Iowa (9-4 last year) is the only other Big Ten team in the top 25. Michigan State (9-4) just missed the list and is the second team outside of the poll with 136 points.
Notre Dame is ranked 23rd and Pitt is out of the top 25 with 64 points, just ahead of West Virginia and Rutgers.
Nittany Lion senior Andrew Quarless is one of the candidates to win the Mackey Award, given to the nation's top tight end.
And certainly the nomination is based more on potential than recent productivity.
Quarless, who combines impressive speed with a huge frame, caught only 11 passes last fall, in part, because he has struggled with disciplinary problems throughout his college career.
His breakout time, rather, came in 2007 when he five of his receptions went for 20 yards or more.
Now he is one of 30 players on the Mackey Award "watch list," including six Big Ten tight ends. The winner will be announced on ESPN's annual award show on Dec. 10.
One of the top high school cornerbacks in the nation will now apparently play football for Rutgers -- after he failed to be admitted into Penn State at the last minute, according to an ESPN report.
Darrell Givens, who was an All-American last year out of Lackey High in Indian Head, Md., had been attending summer school to qualify academically to attend Penn State this fall.
But he reportedly still did not fulfill requirements to be admitted this month, as expected, and decided to go elsewhere rather than attend prep school.
Daryll Clark has been named to the "watch list" for the Davey O'Brien award, given to the nation's top quarterback. He is one of 33 members of the preseason list and the only Big Ten QB named a semifinalist for the award last year.
Penn State's Todd Blackledge (1982) and Kerry Collins (1994) have won the award and Michael Robinson was named a semifinalist in 2005.
Clark threw for 19 touchdowns and only six interceptions last season and was the runner-up for the Silver Football, presented to the Big Ten MVP by the Chicago Tribune.
The winner will be announced on Dec. 10
As far as these voters see it, Joe Paterno is the third-best college coach of all-time.
This is according to the voters in The Sporting News' recent list of "sports' 50 greatest coaches of all-time." (www.sportingnews.com/college-basketball/article/2009-07-29/sporting-news-50-greatest-coaches-all-time) Overall, the 82-year-old Penn State coach was No. 13 in the poll -- the highest-ranked current college football coach.
The top pick was UCLA basketball legend John Wooden followed by the NFL's Vince Lombardi.
Bear Bryant was the top college football coach, coming in at No. 3 overall. Knute Rockne (No. 10) was only other one ahead of Paterno.
The No. 11 and 12 spots went to college basketball coach Pat Summit and the NFL's Paul Brown. George Halas, Chuck Noll and Bobby Knight immediately followed Paterno.
The Sporting News panel included seven World Series-winning managers, four Super Bowl champion coaches and the winningest coaches in the NBA, NHL and college basketball.
Big Ten voters of note include commissioner Jim Delany and football coaches Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Michigan (Rich Rodriguez) and Ohio State (Jim Tressel). Other voters include Dan Rooney, Brent Musberger, Bobby Bowden, Tommy Lasorda, Marv Levy, Tom Osborne, Don Shula, Steve Spurrier, Barry Switzer, Lenny Wilkens and Roy Williams.
