July 28, 2010

Linkbacker U is getting to know the Quarterbacks


Dissecting the Competition

We get it. Two freshmen quarterbacks. Three scramblers. One walk-on. None of which excite the Penn State faithful. But what about beyond the game...once they take their helmets and jerseys off and are actual people. StateCollege.com talked to each of the quarterbacks (wonder who their connection was) and found out a little more about them.

Kudos to you Mr. Newsome. The Goofy Movie is a phenomenal film.

No where to go but up....Right?

The special teams for Penn State last season was..well.. special. And that was WITH Jeremy Boone. When Collin Wagner is one of the only sure things for the special team unit, you know there are going to be problems.

Audrey Snyder of the Daily Collegian broke down the current state of affairs in the special teams unit, telling us a couple things. Wagner is expanding his range, the punting situation is still up in the air, and at least one member of the kick return unit from a year ago can now focus on his duties on offense.

"We have some guys that can step up and do the return game and stuff like that," Royster said. "I doubt I'll be too involved with that, but definitely catching the ball out of the backfield and trying to split out. I think we'll try and get into that."


Basketball in July


Thankfully basketball season is still a long way away, but the mass exodus at the end of last year opened up many a spot on the roster, and so far so good for their replacements, Talor Battle told the Pitt Stop

Not sure whether this is simply PR on Battle's part or not, but I guess when Battle has good things to say about his teammates, that's good to hear on a few different levels.

Speaking of Basketball, We've Got Company.

Jim Delaney was just too kind. He knew that us Penn State basketball faithful were getting lonely in the Big Ten cellar. So he invited Nebraska to give the Lions a run for their money on the court. Black Shoe Diaries talked with Brian from Corn Nation to discuss the newest addition to Big Ten basketball.

"Brian: Again, we've been competitive. We just haven't had the wins to show for it. We won the league tournament in '94, and have a handful of upsets over Missouri and Kansas when they were ranked in the top 2 or 3. Case in point, we led Kansas in the second half during both games last year, but couldn't pull them out in the end.

Nebraska will be more competitive in the Big 10. We've had a few rough seasons, but our youth is very talented and after last season...experienced. Keep in mind, Nebraska led the Big 12 in scoring defense for the majority of the year in 2009-10. We fit the Big 10's style of play a bit better than the Big 12. I'd say that Nebraska will compare to an Iowa or Minnesota in terms of what they are capable of."


That pre-season optimism sounds all too familiar. I'm not buying it.

Checking in on our Old Friends

They won't be running out of the Beaver Stadium tunnel this season but they're still Lions in our book.

Bleeding Green Nation reports that A.Q. Shipley is doing well in the first team offense while Jamaal Jackson is out, Micky Shuler signs with the Vikings, and PackersNews.com says Andrew Quarless still has his work cut out for him.

“We’re probably going to have a lot of conversations like we had a few years ago (about Finley) where we have a young guy who’s got a long way to go,” McAdoo said of Quarless. “Really there’s not a lot to talk about right now. He’s a young man that has to learn how to practice the right way, he’s got to learn how to keep his pads down, he’s got to learn the offense.”


At Least not all Conferences Suck at Math...

Finally a conference that has as many teams as it claims to have. The Pac 10 added two more teams in Colorado and Utah, and just recently changed its conference name to indicate such. What a novel concept huh? Doesn't seem the Big 10 or Big 12 grasp this higher level of thinking.

1 comment:

  1. Royster said... I doubt I'll be too involved with that

    Music to my ears... er I mean art to my eyes. I cringed seeing Royster catching punts, the last thing I want to see is his record setting season come to a premature end because we don't have someone that can field punts.

    ReplyDelete

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