Outback Bowl '11: Media Day Quick Hits

Not much in the way of real news, mostly just fluff stuff from the Outback Bowl Media Day this week. But we'll quickly touch on some of the more substantive bits from the day, including injury updates, which for this Penn State team is critical, and Kevin Newsome.

Michael Mauti should be fully healthy
for the Outback Bowl. (Photo: Mike/LBU)

• Anthony Fera should--should--be ready to go for the game. This could be huge, as he was sorely missed on kickoffs the final few games. It initially wasn't expected for him to return, but this is good news, albeit tempered a bit by the uncertainty. 
• Kevin Newsome met with Joe Paterno this week, to discuss options for transferring. Paterno said he doesn't want to prevent Newsome from playing, and told the true sophomore QB to at least wait through the bowl preparations and game. Newsome is set on playing quarterback, which doesn't bode well for him staying at Penn State. If he was interested in switching positions, then there would definitely be a place for him. But nothing yet has been decided.

• Michael Mauti will play, and is apparently full strength now. He had a dislocated shoulder the last few weeks of the season, which caused him to miss time. Having Mauti back for the game is very huge for the linebackers and defense overall. 
• Of course there were questions about Joe's returning in 2011, Urban Meyer's second retirement this calendar year, and about how good Florida and the SEC are. But all the answers were, again, fluffy and not very substantive. I guess if I were a beat reporter looking to churn out a few print stories, or a TV station in need of clips, then I'd be worth going into detail. But that's not why you're here. You're reading LBU right now because we don't mess around or waste your time.

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