Penn State category, Page 50
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...
North Penn wide receiver Yazeed Haynes commits to Penn State
Penn State football added a 13th verbal commit to its Class of 2023 on Sunday. Yazeed Haynes, a four-star wide receiver from North Penn in Lansdale, announced his commitment to the Nittany Lions on his Twitter account. Decided to stay home! Fully committed to Penn State University! #weare @coachjfranklin @CoachStubbs...
James Franklin says Penn State has to be more competitive with NIL
UNIVERSITY PARK — James Franklin took a question Wednesday afternoon on the sunny practice field outside the Lasch Building, but did not immediately answer it. Instead, he went back to something asked right before — about NIL and how Penn State can compete. “I can’t get off this,” Franklin said....
James Franklin set to move Penn State forward with 1st chapter of tenure in rearview mirror
UNIVERSITY PARK — James Franklin sat on the balcony outside of his office in the Lasch Building on May 31, taking a moment to contemplate a question. Franklin has been Penn State’s head football coach since January 2014, helping it navigate sanctions that could have crippled the program for the...
Belle Vernon grad Bailey Parshall enjoys breakthrough season as Penn State’s ace
She is a left-handed flamethrower who fanned nearly 1,000 batters in her high school softball career at Belle Vernon, where the Leopards rode her talents to three WPIAL championships before seeing her off to the next level at Penn State. As a college senior this season, she hurled the fifth...
Former Penn State, Pitt stars named to College Hall of Fame ballot
Former Penn State football stars Paul Posluszny, Ki-Jana Carter and D.J. Dozier and ex-Pitt quarterback Matt Cavanaugh and running back Craig “Ironhead” Heyward have joined a group of 218 coaches and players whose names have been placed on the ballot for the National Football Foundation’s College Hall of Fame’s Class...
Penn-Trafford grad, Penn State standout Josh Spiegel lives out dream of homering at PNC Park
Young baseball players in Western Pennsylvania grow up dreaming about the moment. Josh Spiegel experienced it. The Penn-Trafford graduate hit a three-run homer at PNC Park on May 17, leading Penn State to a 19-6 victory over Pitt. Spiegel drove a first-pitch slider over the North Side Notch in left-center,...
West Virginia snares Rodney Gallagher, but where are the other top area players?
With one complete academic year and his senior football season ahead of him, Laurel Highlands’ Rodney Gallagher — to his credit — did not squeeze every last bit of drama from his high-profile recruitment. The No. 1 recruit in Pennsylvania, per Rivals.com, announced Wednesday he will enroll at West Virginia...
Penn State QB Christian Veilleux showed promise in his 2021 debut: Can he take another step forward in the fall?
STATE COLLEGE — Christian Veilleux was more than a little rusty when he relieved ailing starting quarterback Sean Clifford early in Penn State’s Big Ten East game with Rutgers last November at Beaver Stadium. Veilleux, a freshman, made his debut for the Nittany Lions vs. the Scarlet Knights when Clifford...
Former Gateway soccer standout Sam Alexander set to cheer on Nittany Lions
Sam Alexander fashioned one of the top varsity careers in the history of Gateway boys soccer as a lockdown goalkeeper who earned numerous all-star honors for his play. His athletic endeavors continue at Penn State but in a slightly different direction. Last month, Alexander, a freshman on the University Park...
These 10 Penn State football players could go in the 2023 NFL Draft
Penn State football had eight players go in the 2022 NFL Draft over the weekend and another five sign as undrafted free agents after the three-day event concluded. The eight players selected set a new high in the James Franklin era of Nittany Lion football and set a program high...
Penn State, Syracuse football to play home-and-home series
The Penn State and Syracuse football teams announced a nonconference home-and-home series for the 2027 and 2028 seasons on Wednesday. The Nittany Lions will host the Orange on Sept. 4, 2027, and will travel to Syracuse Sept. 9, 2028. Penn State leads the series, 43-23-5. The teams last played in...
What are Penn State’s biggest questions heading into August camp?
Penn State’s spring drills concluded a little more than a week ago. Predicting the Nittany Lions’ place in the Big Ten in the fall is a little more complicated this season, given the program’s huge personnel losses. But James Franklin and his assistants know they are working with some talented...
Jesse Luketa goes to Cardinals in 7th round, the 8th Penn State player drafted
Jesse Luketa, who grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, became the fifth Penn State player drafted Saturday — and the eighth in the past three days — when the Arizona Cardinals selected him in the seventh round (256th overall). Luketa was the last of the Nittany Lions drafted — seven...
Packers draft Penn State left tackle Rasheed Walker in 7th round
Considering his size, strength, footspeed and experience in a Power 5 program, it was only a matter of time until Penn State offensive left tackle Rasheed Walker was drafted. Walker, 6-foot-6, 325 pounds, was finally chosen by the Green Bay Packers on Saturday in the seventh round (249th overall). At...
