The Nittany Lions have earned an unprecedented 28th Lambert Meadowlands Trophy as the top football team in the East.
Penn State also won it's record 13th ECAC Team of the Year award and quarterback Daryll Clark was picked as the ECAC Player of the Year.
The Lions topped Big East Champ Cincinnati in the final ECAC Lambert Meadowlands Poll presented by FieldTurf. First captured by Penn State in 1947, the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy was established in 1936 by brothers Victor and Henry Lambert in memory of their father, August.
Joe Paterno has coached 24 Lambert winners.
Penn State's football highlight DVD from the 2009 season is now on sale.
The inside look at the program includes preseason preparations, Big Ten Co-MVP Daryll Clark's record-setting season and the Nittany Lion's top 10 defense. Other features include conversations with coaches and players, feature stories on the players and their families and game-by-game recaps.
The DVD also includes Capital One Bowl week activities and highlights from Penn State's 19-17 victory over LSU.
It can by ordered at www.GoPSUsports.com for $19.95, plus shipping and handling.
Nittany Lion quarterback recruit Paul Jones has already settled in to Happy Valley, having graduated from high school early and enrolled this semester. He's eligible to participate in spring football practices and is eager to begin learning the offense.
Read more as Kevin McGuire at examiner.com takes an in-depth look at Jones, including a brief video interview with the Sto-Rox High School grad.
Penn State beat reporter Frank Bodani and copy editor Dave Sottile talk about Penn State's recruiting class in the latest Penn State podcast.
Listen below:
STATE COLLEGE -- Six Penn State football players have been invited to participate in the National Football League's 2010 Scouting Combine. The Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten in total invitees the past two years with 14.
Penn State All-Americans Jared Odrick and Navorro Bowman will participate in the Combine, which will be held Feb. 24-March 2 at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. Quarterback Daryll Clark (shown at right), linebacker Josh Hull, linebacker Sean Lee and tight end Andrew Quarless also have been invited.
These players were instrumental in helping the Nittany Lions win 51 games, two Big Ten Championships and four bowl games over the past five seasons.
Read more about the Lions headed to the combine
For months, it seems, fans and recruiting experts have been dissecting Penn State's recruiting class.
So what do we really make of it now that it's been finalized?
The overall effort, for the most part, seemed almost perfectly planned for much of the past year. The staff specifically targeted areas of need (quarterback, offensive line, linebacker) and received commitments from nearly every one they wanted.
They started off wonderfully with way-early verbals from one of the better linebacker prospects in the nation (Mike Hull) and one of the top quarterbacks (Paul Jones).
That set the stage.
From then on, the prospects rolled in, almost as if in a planned order of sequence. No reaches, no duds, no projects for the first time in forever. And it was necessary considering that the class was average size at best.
The questions?
We're still unsure why the Lions didn't push to keep up the interest of California's Kenny Stills. Why seemingly shut the door on a top-line receiver, no matter how many others you have waiting, no matter where he's from?
We're not sure why the staff didn't pursue North Carolina safety/receiver Keenan Allen harder after offering him a scholarship last winter. If they had, maybe his last-minute de-commitment from Alabama could have worked in their favor.
And we continually point to how poorly the Lions fare in trying to reel in top talent in late January, when some of the best finally make up their minds.
Every year, it seems, the Lions are in the picture for two or three four- and five-star kids late but never seem to lock them up.
Make no mistake, this Penn State is very, very good, from top to bottom. And, certainly, we expect at least a couple of the lower-rated kids to excel beyond expectations, at some point.
And we know that while Penn State is not an Ivy League institution, or even has the standards of a Northwestern, that there are quite a few prospects who aren't pursued because the staff doesn't feel they could handle the academic load.
But here's the deal. We always focus on what the best someone can do. And the Lions do pursue some of the very best linebackers and running backs and safeties just before signing day.
Rarely, though, do they ever get one.
And that shouldn't be, no matter how well you succeed earlier.
There's no reason with Penn State's pedigree and recent success on the field, that it should struggle down the stretch, year after year.
But that's just what it did yet again.
From The Associated Press
MIAMI -- Jim Caldwell has a staff of 16 assistant coaches, plus a deep supply of friends and confidants who helped him steer the Indianapolis Colts into the Super Bowl.
Count JoePa among those who got Caldwell off to a great start.
Longtime Penn State coach Joe Paterno -- major college football's all-time win leader -- hired Caldwell as a wide receivers coach in 1986, and the words he spoke then still resonate deeply with the Colts' rookie boss now.
One quote in particular stuck with Caldwell.
"Take care of the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves," Caldwell recalled Wednesday.
In many ways, Penn State was Caldwell's big coaching break. During his time with the Nittany Lions, he worked with Kerry Collins when he was considered college football's top quarterback, and worked his way up the ranks to passing game coordinator, plus was part of a national championship.
By the time Caldwell left Penn State, he was ready for a head coaching gig, which Wake Forest gave him in 1993. Caldwell worked for some other top-notch college coaches as well - Howard Schnellenberger and Bill McCartney among them -- but Paterno's words echo loudest to this day.
"I worked for him for seven years, and I think he's one of the finest teachers in the game," Caldwell said.
Today is National Signing Day, and Frank Bodani will be chatting at 8 p.m. about this year's recruiting class. Come here to talk about the highs and lows of the future of Penn State football.
Connecticut might be a small state, but it's turning out some big football prospects, and Penn State has had a hand in that process.
Connecticut prospects Silas Redd Jr. and Khairi Fortt, both ranked among the nation's top 50 football recruits by Rivals.com, have been answering questions about their state's size and stature for years. In committing to play at Penn State, they have converted this growing area into an unlikely recruiting hotbed.
Learn more in Kevin Armstrong's New York Times feature.
First-year Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson knows his sport, inside and out.
Sanderson never lost a match at Iowa State, going 159-0 en route to capturing four NCAA titles. He also won a freestyle gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
What the college wrestling superstar can always use, however, is insight into coaching. That's where college football's legendary coach comes in.
Sanderson values Joe Paterno's input. He talks to JoePa when he gets the chance and is hoping for a lengthy chat at the end of the season.
Click here for the full Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story on Sanderson.
