Penn State category, Page 49
AP sources: ESPN out of Big Ten TV rights negotiations
As the Big Ten prepares to become a 16-team, coast-to-coast superconference with the additions of USC and UCLA in 2024, it is ending a 40-year relationship with ESPN and moving toward partnerships with two new networks. Two people familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the...
Mike Yurcich ready for Year 2 running Penn State’s offense
STATE COLLEGE — Mike Yurcich’s first year at Penn State did not go as planned. The offensive coordinator presided over a unit that averaged just 3.2 rushing yards per attempt and scored an average of 25 points per contest. Those numbers must improve in Year 2, and improvement is likely...
First-year Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz opens up about each level of Nittany Lions defense
STATE COLLEGE — Penn State coach James Franklin is in his ninth season with the Nittany Lions, but this is his first season without Brent Pry. The former PSU defensive coordinator is now Virginia Tech’s head coach. Manny Diaz was Franklin’s choice to replace Pry. Diaz, formerly the Miami head...
North Allegheny grad Joey Porter Jr. stands out among Penn State’s defensive backs
STATE COLLEGE — Penn State hasn’t had many cornerbacks like Joey Porter Jr. Few possess his raw talent. Even fewer are built like him. Porter is already a 2023 first-round projection in several mock drafts. The North Allegheny grad, the son of Pittsburgh Steelers great Joey Porter, was a third-team...
After 2 disappointing seasons, James Franklin likes Penn State’s depth, but question marks remain
Something Penn State players, coaches, fans and administrators probably would agree on is the Nittany Lions have fallen well short of expectations over the past two seasons. The covid-impacted 2020 campaign was something of a mulligan for all college football programs (those lucky enough to even play a season), but...
Friday Football Footnotes: Ben Roethlisberger’s name dragged into Deshaun Watson mess; J.K. Dobbins, Saquon Barkley making comebacks
“Friday Football Footnotes” this week looks at how Ben Roethlisberger’s name is getting dragged into the suspension wrangling of Deshaun Watson. J.K. Dobbins and Saquon Barkley are looking to make big comebacks in 2022. And there are legal problems in Arizona. Watson’s ‘whataboutism’ Apparently, Deshaun Watson’s legal camp is going...
New Penn State AD Pat Kraft discusses Big Ten scheduling issue, future of Beaver Stadium
INDIANAPOLIS — Pat Kraft is less than a month into his tenure as Penn State’s athletic director. And he has plenty of interesting ideas about shaping the future of collegiate sports in State College. Kraft, formerly the athletic director at Boston College and Temple, was also a walk-on football player...
Penn State’s Sean Clifford among old-guy QBs in Big TenVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — The story of Sean Clifford and Tanner Morgan’s began on a seventh-grade football field. Their final scheduled matchup is Oct. 22 when Minnesota visits Penn State. In between, the two quarterbacks followed one another’s journeys through high school and the recruiting process, the natural ups and downs of...
Penn State’s James Franklin optimistic about PJ Mustipher’s health, talks about depth at QB at Big Ten Media Days
INDIANAPOLIS — Penn State’s James Franklin, now in his ninth season, used part of his opening press conference at Big Ten Media Days to break down some of the strengths of the Nittany Lions entering training camp. Franklin is also aware of the significant challenge facing Penn State in the...
Big Ten’s expansion further damages Rose Bowl’s status
INDIANAPOLIS — Playing in the Rose Bowl was the pinnacle of a college football career for those who coached and played in the Big Ten for decades. The Rose Bowl’s importance has been waning for years as college football’s postseason evolved. The latest expansion by the Big Ten puts the...
Bold, aggressive Big Ten leaves door open for more expansion
INDIANAPOLIS — Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren talked Tuesday about the conference being bold and aggressive as college sports goes through a period of sweeping change and left the door open for more expansion after the league added Southern California and UCLA. Warren’s opening remarks to begin Big Ten football...
‘Commander on the field,’ ex-Pine-Richland, Penn State catcher Matt Wood selected in 4th round by Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers selected former Pine-Richland and Penn State catcher Matt Wood in the fourth round of the MLB Draft on Monday, perhaps impressed by the take-charge attitude he has cultivated throughout his baseball career. “You’re the commander on the field,” he said from his home in Gibsonia. “You get...
Penn State lands another top Pa. recruit, Scranton Prep RB London Montgomery
Penn State coach James Franklin received a verbal commitment Monday from running back London Montgomery, who rushed for 2,356 yards and 36 touchdowns in only 10 games last season for Scranton Prep. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Penn State Nittany Lions (@psudylan) Montgomery’s pledge gives the...
Strong season at Penn State puts Pine-Richland grad Matt Wood on radar for MLB teams
Matt Wood did everything he could on the diamond this spring to open the eyes of Major League Baseball scouts, and soon he’ll see if he’ll get the chance to play professionally. Wood, a Pine-Richland grad, slashed an impressive .379/.480/.667 with 15 doubles, a dozen homers and 53 RBIs this...
4-star defensive back flips commitment from Alabama to Penn State
After receiving bad news on two fronts Thursday, the Penn State football team received good recruiting news Friday when Elliot Washington, a four-star defensive back from Venice High School in Florida, flipped his commitment from Alabama to the Nittany Lions. Washington is listed by 247Sports and and Rivals as a...
Tim Benz: College football conferences may have to die for the sport to rediscover why they were important
I’ve long had a theory about how the shifting landscape of college sports conferences would end. Pretty close to how it started. I consider the constant conference expansion and contraction to be college football nihilism. The existence of conferences as we know them today is unfounded, senseless and useless. Objective...
Everything you need to know about UCLA and USC joining the Big Ten
A Southern California native and veteran of several Big Ten winters, Myles Johnson knows the first words likely uttered by former Pac-12 athletes once their new conference smacks them like a midwinter Lake Michigan breeze. “Help! Help!” Johnson, the onetime Rutgers center who spent his final college basketball season at...
Jim Souhan: What needs to happen now that USC, UCLA have blown up Big Ten?
MINNEAPOLIS — With the imminent arrival of USC and UCLA, the Big Ten’s overdue name change has become obvious. Welcome, West Coasters, to The Big Tent. When Kevin Warren left the Minnesota Vikings to become commissioner of the Big Ten three years ago, I predicted he could use the job...
Conference realignment makes another seismic shiftVideo
Conference realignment in college sports has been going on since 1984, when the Supreme Court invalidated the NCAA’s national television contract for football. The conference juggling has gone through ebbs and flows through the years since, from small schools bumping up to bigger leagues to power programs switching to other...
Penn State’s James Franklin says he embraces Big Ten’s addition of USC, UCLA
When Southern California and UCLA sent shockwaves through college sports by announcing their intention to join the Big Ten on Thursday, Penn State officials — from the university president to the baseball and softball coaches — expressed their excitement about the move. Football coach James Franklin was no different. “This...
Big Ten votes to add USC, UCLA as members starting in 2024
In a seismic shift in college athletics, the Big Ten voted Thursday to add Southern California and UCLA as conference members beginning in 2024. The expansion to 16 teams will happen after the Pac-12’s current media rights contracts with Fox and ESPN expire and make the Big Ten the first...
Florida safety King Mack joins Penn State’s 6th-ranked 2023 recruiting class
Penn State landed one of the top safeties in the nation Thursday when King Mack of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., made a verbal commitment to coach James Franklin. BREAKING: Penn State picks up commitment No. 16 in its Class of 2023 from On3 Consensus ⭐⭐⭐⭐...
Former Penn State stars Blair Thomas, Scott Fitzkee concerned about college football’s NIL policy and transfer portal
Scott Fitzkee and Blair Thomas played football a decade apart at Penn State. Fitzkee played his last season for the Nittany Lions in 1978 and Thomas in 1988. They were two of the better-known players on their teams and would have flourished had the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) avenue...
Penn State lands commitment from top New York defensive lineman
Penn State added a big defensive lineman to its 2023 class Friday when Tyriq Blanding gave his pledge to the Nittany Lions. The 6-foot-3, 285-pounder from Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village, N.Y. chose Penn State over Oregon, Michigan, West Virginia and Syracuse. Blanding is rated as...
Penn State’s wide receiver depth makes position’s once-troubling instability feel like distant memory
It wasn’t all that long ago Penn State was going through a “churn” at the wide receivers coach position and started making the wrong kinds of headlines about the way the program was developing its playmakers. David Corley lasted just the 2018 season coaching wideouts, and Gerad Parker spent the...
