Ogbu, Royster, Wiz named 2010 All-Big Ten

Evan Royster was one of three Nittany Lions
to earn All-Big Ten honors for 2010.
(Photo: Mike/LBU)

In its poorest showing in years, Penn State can claim a mere three players selected to the 2010 All-Big Ten teams. Ollie Ogbu and Evan Royster both earned second team honors, while Stefen Wisniewski, who earlier today earned first-team All-America honors from the AFCA, landed on the Big Ten's first team.

Wisniewski isn't a surprise, since he was named All-America. Ogbu doesn't really come as much of a shock either, as he was easily the most consistent defender on the team this season. But seeing Evan Royster garner second-team honors this season was a bit unexpected.

Review: Penn State 33, Minnesota 21

Silas Redd put on a show for Penn State fans, piling up
73 yards for the Nittany Lions against Minnesota.
(AP Photo/Paul Battaglia)

Rah Rah!!! The Nittany Lions won a Big Ten game!

Ok, enough of that. It wasn't pretty, but it was convincing in the end. Reeling from two embarrassing performances, Penn State went on the road and did what it had to do. Minnesota may be the worst team in the conference this season. It doesn't matter. Wins are wins, and Penn State sure needs a few more before the season is done.

The defense bent plenty, but never broke enough to lose the game. In fact, it was a few big defensive stops, efficient passing, a strong running game [gasp!] in the second half, and special teams that propelled Penn State to the victory in Minneapolis. Now, I may be crazy here, but doesn't that sound an awful lot like the Penn State teams of old?

Here the roundup from Saturday.

Review: Penn State 44, Youngstown St 14

Collin Wagner (36) put on a distance-kick
clinic against Youngstown State.

It was a very iffy start, but the biggest question facing the Nittany Lions going into the season opener--"Can Rob Bolden do the job?"--was answered in the most definitive of means.

That and more in today's review of Penn State's 44-14 win over Youngstown State in the season opener. Expect this to be the main format throughout the season for game reviews, with things like players of the game, best unit performances, things that need work, etc. At the end, I'll just go through a few miscellaneous points in the order I noticed them re-watching the game today. On regular game weeks, this post will most likely be done earlier on Sundays. But I had a long travel weekend, which kind of screwed up my timing. Plus, with the extra day off tomorrow, we're delaying some of our stuff until Tuesday, when you're all back at work needing something to read.

Players of the Game

Rob Bolden -- Who else would you pick first? The true freshman did everything (and more) anyone could have dreamed for his collegiate debut. He completed 70 percent of his pass attempts for 239 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception that wasn't completely his fault (Derek Moye fell down mid-route). Bolden never once looked spooked in the pocket, even when defenders breached the offensive line. Granted, Youngstown State isn't Alabama, but Bolden's performance was extremely encouraging going into next week.

Ollie Ogbu and Brett Brackett voted 2010 Penn State captains

At his first game week press conference today, Joe Paterno revealed Penn State's 2010 team captains, seniors Ollie Ogbu and Brett Brackett. They aren't exactly surprise picks, but it is interesting that just two players this year were given this honor, as opposed to the usual three, four, or even five (2008) captains we've seen in recent years.

Ollie Ogbu:

"I have looked up to so many great captains, like Sean Lee, Daryll Clark, Josh Gaines and Terrell Golden, so to be a captain myself, it feels really special," Ogbu said. "It is a big honor to be voted a captain by my teammates."

Ogbu's always had one of the best attitudes on the team. He's also been a significant contributor to the team on the field for his entire career. I like pick #1.

Thursday Quesiton: 2010 Surprise Breakout Offensive Player

Will Kevin Newsome (12) surprise the Nittany Nation this fall, with a breakout season?

Last week, it was our picks for the breakout defensive player for 2010. This week, we flip over to the offensive side of the ball. From quarterback to wide receiver to the return game, we'll take a look at a few players that could catch you off guard this season, with a truly surprising breakout campaign.

So, let's get to it: What's your surprise breakout offensive player for 2010?

Galen

This may come as a shocker but I’m going to go with Kevin Newsome as my breakout offensive player for 2010. It’s all set up for Kevin, Penn State will feature a strong running game behind a record-setting running back. If Newsome can be adequate to above average the offense will soar. Teams will undoubtedly stack the line to stop the run and challenge PSU to beat them through the air. If Kevin can burn a couple defenses early it will make defensive coordinators think twice. Not to mention there isn’t a Penn State fan that doesn’t think Kevin has wheels, he’ll burn a couple defenses that let him get outside the pocket. I was skeptical about Michael Robinson and Darryl Clark when they stepped into the starting QB role for the first time and I was wrong about them. I’ve been outspoken about Newsome as well so who’s to say I’m not wrong about him, and let’s face it the universe hates me so he’ll probably have a great year just to make me look bad.

Mike

I really do think that Kevin Newsome qualifies for a surprise breakout candidate this year; that's why he's my pick. No one is expecting the kid from Portsmouth, VA to excel on the field of play this fall. Far too many fans and pundits are calling for him to be benched, before he's even thrown a meaningful pass. That's ridiculous. This is all not to say that Paul Jones or Robert Bolden, or even Matt McGloin aren't good, or have the chance to someday get there. But considering the offensive situation for 2010, why wouldn't Newsome have a chance to be a younger Mike Robinson?

The offense will need a running quarterback. The wide receivers are dynamic enough to make mediocre passes look fantastic. The offensive line is good enough to get by with said running QB. There are at least three good running backs, and another who is up for the Doak Walker and Maxwell awards. Kevin Newsome has the most experience of any QB, not matter how little that actually may be. He has been running these plays for a year and eight months, and has speed to burn. Yes, there's a new No. 12 in town, and he is my pick for 2010's surprise breakout player on offense.

Will Brett Brackett (83) have a breakout senior season?

Ryan

I know going it may not seem like too big of a risk to say a senior is going to be a breakout player, but Brett Brackett to me has all the makings of finally coming into his own this year at the receiver position. He was slated to start in the slot before the Curtis Drake injury, but it seemed a formality that Drake would be getting a bunch of snaps in his stead. Brackett is a HUGE target, and whoever the starting quarterback is, they are certainly going to find comfort in throwing to the 6'6 232 pounder. I expect Brackett to be the primary red-zone threat, as well as a frequent target on third downs. Brackett is also slotted to be the starting holder, so he hopefully will be able to help Colin Wagner in the kicking game as well. And who knows, if this passing game turns out to be as bad as a lot of people think it is going to be, maybe Brackett goes back to his high school days and starts taking snaps under center for old time's sake.

Tim

I'm going to go out on a limb here: Devon Smith. Let's not forget that the little speedster saw some meaningful PT early last season before a concussion and off-field issues got him buried under the depth chart. I still remember him running a beautiful route to get wide open for a 20+ yard catch against Akron and having a couple of nice runs out of the reverse. I fully expect to see him returning kickoffs this season but now with the lovable Drake out 6-8 weeks, don't be surprised if you see Smith being utilized the way the coaching staff had intended to use Drake (i.e. reverses, screens, etc.). Not only is he a blur, but his shortness (5'8") could make him difficult to spot by opposing defenders if he has enough tall blockers in front of him.

Of course, there's a chance I could be dead wrong on this prediction and Brett Brackett ends up filling the void for Drake's duties but I have a gut feeling about Devon breaking out this year. Oh, and you can't talk about Mr. Smith without this obligatory video:

Who is your surprise breakout offensive player for 2010?

Follow LBU on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Linebacker-U.com by Email

Linkbacker-U now has reason to look forward to college football

More Erin Andrews! What can be bad?

Fear no longer sports fans, as the most coveted free agent in the business decided to resign, and not go anywhere else. No, not LeBron James. ESPN's Erin Andrews. And not only will she be a sideline reporter, but she's going to actually be serving a role that us college football fans will actually find useful for something other than her...you know...

"The blond beauty - whose previous contract with ESPN expired July 1 - will join the network's new College GameDay lineup as a part-time host and feature reporter and will continue as a sideline reporter."

That's right Penn State football fans. We actually have something to look forward to this season. An extra hour of College Gameday will air from 9-10 A.M. on ESPNU, with Erin Andrews hosting. Wouldn't count on actually being able to see her in Happy Valley anytime soon, however.

Sharing is Caring for PSU Recruit Shawn Oakman

I never thought I would actually say this, but the Nittany Lion basketball team just caught a break. Shocking, I know. Coach DeChellis, you can thank the football coaching stafff, as the team is allowing recruit Shawn Oakman, a 6'8 250 lb beast, play basketball as well.

"They [the Penn State football coaches] encouraged it. They fully support it," Oakman said in a phone interview from a team camp at Albright College in Reading. "So, that will be good.''

This doesn't come as an unprecedented move for the football squad, as quarterback Paul Cianciolo pitched for the baseball team and wide receiver Jordan Norwood had a short stingt with the basketball squad.

At 6'8 250 pounds, Oakman still doesn't quite violate Ed's "6'8 and under" rule that he seemingly must enforce, but he does provide a potentially legitimate inside presence that the Lions so desperately need.

Oh Where Oh Where will the Big Ten Championship Be?


Surprise! The Big Ten is trying to install a conference championship game. What, you didn't hear? Well a few questions remain before this can be installed. How the divisions line up, when the game will take place, and Adam Rittenberg just threw a new one at us today....WHERE?

Big Ten football is all about "three yards and a cloud of dust, strong defense, and COLD weather (though I don't have to tell you that if you were at the Michigan State game in 2008...brrr)

But does that necessarily mean the Big Ten Championship has to be in a similar cold weather city? Rittenberg brings up a good point, the SEC plays its regular season games in the heat of the south, they decide to play their championship game in the climate-controlled Georgia Dome.

Could the Big Ten follow suit with an indoor facility, perhaps Lucas Oil Stadium (Colts) or Ford field (Lions) as Rittenberg suggests?

You know it's a slow day in college football when Brett Brackett is making national headlines

So as I was scrolling through some sites today trying to dodge stories about LeBron James and Brett Favre, I came across the college football section on Yahoo and low and behold, a Brett Brackett story is among the top headlines.

AP writer Genaro Armas reports that Brackett, now a senior, seems to be primed for a breakout year for Penn State.

With the talent and depth of this year's receiving class and lack of experienced talent or depth at the quarterback position, I'm not too optimistic of his chances to "breakout". Now he did play quarterback in high school...so if he lines up under center than we may have something.

Death of a Legend (Part II)

I've been a Yankee fan since I was seven years old (ironically that also happened to be the 1996 season). And I grew up with George Steinbrenner. Not the Steinbrenner who hired and fired Billy Martin five times (though that would have actually made a good hour long ESPN special) but the Steinbrenner who stuck with Joe Torre for 12 seasons and continued to resign the core players that left their best efforts on the field to help the Yankees to victories and championships. Jeter. Pettitte. Posada. Rivera. If Steinbrenner wasn't willing to invest in his own team, which several other owners fail to do, then perhaps none of these four will be donning the pinstripes today. Say what you want about The Boss, and I can't speak personally having never met him, but his will to win was second to none, and he will be sorely missed.

Follow LBU on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Linebacker-U.com by Email

Blue-White Countdown 2010: Wide Receivers

Previous entries...
1: Special Teams
2: Defensive Backs
3: Linebackers
4: Defensive Line
5: Offensive Line
6: Tight EndsGraham Zug (5) has earned a cult-like following among fans.

We continue our countdown to the 2010 Blue-White Game. Penn State football is up and running, the weather is warming, and that itch you're feeling won't be fixed by a doctor, but rather a sunny day in Beaver Stadium with 80,000 fans. As we close in on the Blue-White weekend, I'll go through all the major positions, trying to give the most reasoned explanation of who we could see come out big, and why. In today's edition, the wide receivers get a look.

Background

From 2000 through 2004, Penn State had exactly one big-play threat wide receiver--Bryant Johnson in 2002. But ask most fans suffering through those "Dark Years," which positions contributed most to the poor on-field product, and they will surely point to the pass catchers. The Nittany Lions simply couldn't stretch the field on offense, allowing defenses to pile up in the box. It wasn't a fun time for the Penn State passing game.

Then, along came a kid from Greenbelt, Maryland named Derrick Williams. He was no ordinary recruit; he was the No. 1 recruit in college football for 2005. His commitment to the Nittany Lions in December 2004 gave new life to a program struggling to find the light at the end of the tunnel.

That fall, Penn State fielded what could have been dubbed the fastest group of wide receivers ever to wear the blue and white. Forty wins, three bowl wins, and two Big Ten titles later, the class of 2005 had gone on, leaving a huge hole on the outside of the offense.

Last season, new talent had to step into that void, and did so in surprisingly easy fashion. Derek Moye, Graham Zug and Chaz Powell helped quarterback Daryll Clark become the first Penn State player to pass for more than 3,000 yards in a season. All three return for 2010, but that doesn't mean the wide receiver positions are going to remain the same as 2009. With a new quarterback and new tight ends, this spring will be crucial to the development of the Nittany Lions' pass attack this fall.

Receivers

Derek Moye (6) became Penn State's go-to guy last season, catching 48 passes for 785 yards and six touchdowns.

Last season, we saw the emergence of Moye and Zug as Penn State's two main receivers. They combined for 1,385 yards and 13 touchdowns.

That might not seem like much, but when combined with Andrew Quarless' 536 from the tight end spot, Powell's 336 as an all-purpose-style receiver, and nearly 400 yards from the running backs catching passes, the Nittany Lions had plenty of fire power through the air.

This spring, expect Moye and Zug to be held out of any serious competition. Powell has been moved to the defensive backfield. And the tight ends probably won't get nearly as many balls thrown their way as in 2009.

So, where does that leave Penn State? Well, not as bare in the cupboard as you'd think.

Aside from Moye and Zug, four returning receivers caught at least one pass last season--Curtis Drake, Devon Smith, Justin Brown and Brett Brackett. From the early reports out of spring practice, it looks like Brackett could be used as a flex-tight end in certain situations. But for this exercise, we'll include him in the wide receiver corps.

No.	Name	Pos.	Elig	Ht/Wt	High School	Coach
4	Shawney Kersey	WR	rFR	6-1/187	Woodbury, N.J./Woodbury	Zack Valentine
5	Graham Zug	WR	rSR	6-2/183	Manheim, Pa./Manheim Central	Mike Williams
6	Derek Moye	WR	JR	6-5/198	Rochester, Pa./Rochester	Gene Matsook
7	Curtis Drake	WR	SO	5-11/168	Philadelphia, Pa./West Philadelphia Catholic	Brian Fluck
8	Brandon Moseby-Felder	WR	rFR	6-2/170	Fort Washington, Md./Oxon Hill	Kevin Wolfolk
14	A.J. Price	WR	rFR	6-4/177	Reston, Va./South Lakes	John Ellenberger
17	Christian Kuntz	WR	rFR	6-4/207	Camp Hill, Pa./Trinity	Jeff Boger
19	Justin Brown	WR	SO	6-3/208	Wilmington, Del./Concord	George Kosanovich
20	Devon Smith	WR	SO	5-7/153	White Plains, Md./Westlake	Dom Zaccarelli
25	Andrew Goodman	WR	rSO	6-0/183	Philadelphia, Pa./George Washington	Ron Cohen
26	J.D. Mason	WR	rSO	6-4/208	Philipsburg, Pa./Philipsburg-Osceola	Jeff Vroman
27	Tariq Tongue	WR	rFR	5-8/164	Flushing, N.Y./Holy Cross	Tom Pugh
81	Ryan Scherer	WR	rSO	5-8/168	Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake	Dave Dlugosz
83	Brett Brackett	WR	rSR	6-6/232	Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence	Rob Radice

Receivers are like defensive backs and offensive linemen; you can never have enough on the roster. Including the six already mentioned, Penn State could have as many as ten wide receivers in serious contention for playing time in the fall. Four of them--Shawney Kersey, Brandon Moseby-Felder, A.J. Price and Christian Kuntz--are all redshirt freshmen, all of them looking for a chance to impress the coaches enough to land a spot in the regular receiver rotation. Spring practice and the Blue-White Game is where careers can be made. This season is no different, especially for these four young men.

A.J. Price (14) is just one of the young talented receivers trying to break into the rotation this spring.

Kersey and Moseby-Felder gained some early traction with the coaches, when in winter workouts prior to the Capital One Bowl, the two were said to have worked extraordinarily hard to help the team prepare. That is absolutely no slight to Kuntz or Price, as there have been no negative comments from the staff about them. It's just that the former two have been particularly praised going into the spring. Some reports have indicated that Moseby-Felder might not have been redshirted at all last season, had it not been for an injury during his senior year of high school.

The more experienced backups, including Drake, Brown and Smith, will all fight this spring for the vacancy left when Powell moved to defense. With Zug having played in the slot before, Brown won't have to worry about being left out. Drake and Smith are definitely more suited to play the slot position.

Brown is one of the players I'm particularly excited to see get more playing time. Not only did he show flashes on offense, but he saw even more in-game action on special teams as a punt returner. At 6-foot-3, and more than 200 pounds, he has prototypical NFL size, with speed to match. Paired up with Moye, Brown could give Penn State another huge boost down the sideline or to the post.

Smith played early last season, but managed to land himself in Joe Paterno's doghouse after the second or third game. He's one of the fastest players on the team, running several end-around plays and kickoff returns last season. If he can get his off-field issues settled, it will be difficult to keep him on the sideline. Smith was injured last week, but it's supposedly only a slight ankle sprain that shouldn't keep him out too long.

Then there's Drake. A former high school quarterback, the true sophomore earned increasingly more playing time as last season went on, eventually catching everyone's attention against Michigan State. On a fake end-around, Drake tossed one into the end zone for a touchdown. If that play was any indication of how the staff might want to use Drake this season, we could have another Derrick Williams on our hands. The coaches like to pull out a few tricks for the Blue-White Game crowd. I imagine this will be one of the players to do so.

Two final names, Brackett and running back Stephon Green, should be mentioned before we close. Brackett is entering his final spring session, but hasn't been able to capture a starting role for the Nittany Lions. He's seen plenty of action over his career, but with the de-emphasizing of tight ends this season, I won't be shocked to see his number of plays increase significantly. Green has been mentioned as a possibility to split out from the backfield. The coaches really want to keep him on the field as much as possible this season; catching passes might be the way to do it.

Next: Running Backs

Follow LBU on Facebook and Twitter. You can also Subscribe to Linebacker-U.com by Email