Well, the dog days of summer are here. Thankfully, the hot temperatures and high humidity stayed away on Friday as Holuba Hall opened its doors for Lift For Life, an annual fundraising event held at Penn State. In this week’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll go inside Lift For Life. We’ll also break down another position on the Nittany Lions roster, have top moment No. 7 and another question for athletic director Tim Curley.
(Anthony Morelli at Life For Life. Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated)
Lift For Life
A total of 84 Nittany Lions took part in the grueling workout in an effort to raise money for kidney cancer research. In the end, a record $75,000 was raised by Uplifting Athletes.
For those of you who have never been to Lift For Life, teams are broken into four players each. There are several different stations where the players must compete to lift weights, carry weights, even toss a large tire. Points are awarded and tallied at the end of the competition.
This year’s winning team was “Wear Burt Bee,” which was comprised of Kevin Suhey, Jason Ganter, Brett Brackett and Mark Rubin.
Moshannon Valley graduate Ryan Gmerek took part in the event and his team finished sixth. But it was not about the competition so much, as senior linebacker Dan Connor pointed out.
“It’s hard man, really hard,” Connor said. “But it’s for a good cause and that’s why we’re out here. We’re helping out and if it helps us bond as a team, all the better.”
It truly is a great event. Fans showed up in droves, and about 3,000 passed through the doors of Holuba Hall. The young fans got a chance to get some autographs, while the older fans got an early glimpse of the 2007 Nittany Lions.
“I think they look pretty good,” said Dave Malewski, who made the trip from Altoona. “I really wanted to see Austin (Scott). He looks lean. He looks like he’s ready for a big year.”
One young fan had a football covered in autographs. As he walked from player to player, he blew on the signatures to make sure they dried.
“I wanted to get some autographs,” said nine-year-old Robby Weinzetel of Milesburg. “I think I did a pretty good job.”
There was no cost of admission, although LFL organizers asked for a $10 donation at the door.
LFL is the brainchild of former Penn State player Scott Shirley, who lost his father to kidney cancer.
(Austin Scott in Blue White Game. Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated)
Breaking It Down: Tailback
This is a crucial position as the Nittany Lions look to 2007. They must replace one of the best rushers in Penn State history, Tony Hunt, who ranks No. 2 on the all-time rushing list at Penn State.
Fifth-year senior Austin Scott has the job and it’s his to lose. He sat out last season because the Lion coaching staff knew that they didn’t have a blue-chip running back in the arsenal. Scott will look to live up to the hype that surrounded him coming of out Parkland High School, where he rushed for 3,853 yards and 53 touchdowns. But, simply put, he hasn’t lived up to the hype at Penn State.
Now, he will get his chance.
And this is it for Scott, because there are no more redshirts, no more second chances. He is the man. If he falters, the Lions could be in a lot of trouble.
Health has always been an issue with Scott, although the last time we saw him — at the 2006 FedEx Orange Bowl — he sliced and diced his way through a vaunted Florida State defense after Hunt went down with an ankle injury.
If Scott does falter, all is not lost. Senior Rodney Kinlaw will be more than willing to step in, although like Scott, he’s never quite lived up to the hype either.
There’s also a redshirt freshman named Brent Carter who could see playing time.
But the guy to watch for here is another redshirt freshman, Evan Royster. He was impressive in the Blue-White Game and could force his way into the lineup.
However, the bet here is that Scott will have a monster season as he readies for the next level. Call me crazy, but I’m picking him as the team MVP. More important than Derrick Williams, more important than Anthony Morelli, Scott will be the guy to make the offense go.
Let’s hope I’m right.
Top Moments
This week, we highlight the No. 7 moment of the year in Penn State athletics.
This item would have been higher, but there were some big news stories coming out of University Park during the 2006-07 year.
Coming in at No. 7 is the fact that five Penn State football players were selected in the NFL Draft.
Penn State has perennially ranked at or near the top of the list of colleges with alumni in the NFL. That status won’t change much after five former Nittany Lions were drafted in April.
Levi Brown, Paul Posluszny, Jay Alford, Tony Hunt and Tim Shaw were all selected in the first five rounds.
Brown, a right tackle, was tabbed with the fifth pick of the first round by the Arizona Cardinals.
Posluszny, the two-time Bednarik Award winner, is a future inside linebacker for the Buffalo Bills after being selected with the second pick of the second round, or 34th overall.
Alford, a defensive tackle, was picked by the New York Giants with the 81st overall pick in the third round.
Hunt, a running back, will be wearing a green Philadelphia Eagles jersey this fall after being taken in the third round.
And Shaw, who will play linebacker at the next level, went in the fifth round to the Carolina Panthers.
Questions With Curley
This week’s question with Penn State athletic director Tim Curley has to do with the success (or lack thereof) with the men’s basketball program. Just how long does Penn State plan to stick with Ed DeChellis?
CM: As soon as the basketball season ended, a lot of coaches lost their jobs. There seems to be more patience at Penn State. Ed DeChellis is entering his fifth year and has just one postseason appearance. is that program making the kind of progress you had hoped?
TC: I think the men’s program has made great progress from where they started. Certainly the record is not where we want it to be, and I think Ed will be the first one to tell you that. We thought we were going to have a better record this past year. And so, from that standpoint, we are disappointed. However, if you look at all the other indicators of the program, academically they’re doing a great job. I think we had eight all-academic Big Ten honorees.
I think his recruiting class, he’s just starting to get going in terms of recruiting. I think if you have a look at what we have coming in this year, plus the two that sat out last year, I think that people will finally get a chance to see the type of recruits that he originally wanted to bring into the program.
And now that we’re established, he’s going to be able to bring in to the program. And, so, now we’re going to be able to see this coming fall, I think, what will now be only his third recruiting class. I think that where we were with the program hopefully will get the kind of excitement this year with the third recruiting class is going to put us in a position that people are going to get a chance to see that there are deciding days ahead.
While we are somewhat frustrated right now that we haven’t seen more success. I think down the road we’re going to continue to see the program grow so we can bring in recruits. We felt from day one, when we hired him, that we were going to be able to continue to see that happen and to continue to grow.
I’m really looking forward to next year. I think you’re going to be really, really pleased with the incoming recruits.
In addition to writing for gantnews.com, Chris Morelli is the editor of Blue White Illustrated, a sports publication devoted to Penn State sports. He is also a regular on “Front and Center,” which airs on ESPN Radio in State College and Altoona. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.