With the Blue-White Game in the books, things are starting to slow down in Happy Valley. It’s finals week, so all the athletes are in lock-down mode before departing for the summer months.
In this week’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll take a look at PSU’s captains, put Stefen Wisniewski in the gridiron spotlight, take another look at a future Lion and have our weekly non-rev roundup.
Let’s get started with the big news — the naming of the captains.
Why is Anthony Scirrotto a captain for the Nittany Lions?
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Oh Captain, My Captain!
Penn State Sports Information recently released the names of the captains for the 2008 football season and there some surprises.
There are five — count ’em five — captains for the upcoming season.
A drumroll, please. They are A.Q. Shipley, Derrick Williams, Josh Gaines, Sean Lee and Anthony Scirrotto.
Two of those names are not surprising. I fully expected Shipley and Williams to be named captains. Especially after Williams was trotted out to represent the football team at Will Ferrell’s “Funny or Die”
comedy show a couple of months ago.
However, Gaines is a surprise simply because it’s a little bit of an upset. But the Lions needed a defensive player, so that choice makes sense to an extent. But why is Lee a captain? I really like the choice
— if it was 2009. But Lee is hurt and will not play a down this season, so that choice makes little sense. If he travels with the team, it will eat up a roster spot.
But the real head-scratcher here is Scirrotto. Can someone please explain why this kid is being rewarded? Remember, Scirrotto is one of the big reasons why Penn State has such a black eye nationally right now. If he had acted like a responsible adult instead of a spoiled kid, none of the fracas at Meridian II would have taken place. That event on April 1, 2007 was a catalyst for everything else that went wrong last season for the Lions, at least off the field.
And the fact that Scirrotto really wasn’t punished opened the floodgates for the problems that followed. By not punishing him, coach Joe Paterno simply let chaos rule the day. In this writer’s opinion, the Austin Scott and Chris Bell incidents can be directly linked to the Scirrotto apartment invasion/fight.
By rewarding Scirrotto with a captain’s title, Paterno has done more bad than good.
Stefen Wisniewski could be a force along the line for Penn State.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Lion Spotlight: The Wiz
Stefen Wisniewski is a man of few words.
Following the Blue’s 27-14 win over the White in Penn State’s annual spring game, Wisniewski — or Wiz, as he’s known to teammates — found himself in unfamiliar territory. There he was, sitting in the media room, fielding questions from reporters.
At first, Wisniewski was somewhat reserved, giving short answers. But after a few questions, he loosened up for the assembled media.
Good thing, because Wisniewski might be doing a lot of talking this fall — both on and off the field.
If the Blue-White Game is any indication, the 6-foot-3, 288-pound Wisniewski looks like he’s nailed down the starting job at right guard.
Is he pleased with the way the spring has gone? You bet.
“I’m happy the way it’s worked out. I haven’t been thinking about who’s the starter,” Wisniewski said. “I’ve just been focused on doing all I can, giving my all in workouts. I’m just going to let it work out the way it does.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Wisniewski is having success at the collegiate level. He was more than solid at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh and had offers from several big-name schools.
But Penn State was always in the cards for Wisniewski. His father, Leo, was a Nittany Lion, as was his uncle, Steve.
Stefen never got to see his father play, of course.
“I wasn’t even born,” Wisniewski said with a laugh.
Still, he’s watched tapes of his father and has been impressed with what he’s seen on video.
“He’s modest about it. He’s not telling any tall tales. He’s not making anything up,” Wisniewski said.
Having his father on the sidelines and in the weight room helped him immensely, he said.
“My Dad has been my coach — weight room and technique stuff — all my high school career,” Wisniewski said.
But he did get to watch his uncle play in the NFL. Steve spent several seasons with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders.
“I was a huge Raiders fan. I remember going to games all my life.
Football, it’s what I grew up on. I love it,” Wisniewski said.
It shows, for sure. In just his second season Wisniewski looks like a sure thing at guard. A member of the Blue squad, he did a nice job protecting quarterbacks Daryll Clark and Pat Devlin. He also helped open some holes for Brandon Beachum, Evan Royster and Brent Carter.
He was asked to grade his performance.
“I was really happy with it,” he said.
However, he realizes that it is just his second season and it was just the spring game.
“I’m getting better. Coach (Dick) Anderson and coach (Bill) Kenney have coached me up. I’m happy with where I am as of now, but I have to get a lot better still,” Wisniewski said.
Coach Joe Paterno was asked about Wisniewski during his pre-game news conference.
“He’s going to be a good football player. He’s still got some things to learn, but he’s a true sophomore,” Paterno said.
The spring game gave him a taste of what’s to come in the fall. With 73,000 fans in the stands, Wisniewski took it all in and looked forward to the fall, when the games actually mean something and the blocks actually count.
“I’m right where I want to be,” Wisniewski said of playing in Happy Valley. “The Lord has really blessed me.”
Future Lion: Mike Yancich
The Nittany Lions wrapped up their linebacker recruiting on June 26,
2007 when outside linebacker Mike Yancich gave his commitment to Penn State.
He was a two-way star at Trinity, leading the Hillers to a 7-4 record and a WPIAL Class AAA playoff birth as a senior. Yancich was named the Big Seven Conference Offensive Player of the Year after he carried the ball 212 times for 1,616 yards and 21 touchdowns. His yardage total ranked eighth in all divisions of the WPIAL.
He recorded 118 tackles his senior season, 21 of which were behind the line of scrimmage. He also posted 17 quarterback sacks for Ed Dalton’s club.
In addition, Yancich was named to the prestigious Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 all-star team. He was named, along with Ohio-bound teammate Andrew Weaver, to represent Pennsylvania in the Big 33 Classic this summer. He was named first team all-state by both the Associated Press and Pennsylvania Football News. Yancich was selected to play linebacker in the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl on Jan. 4.
Football insiders say Yancich possesses the lateral speed necessary to be a Big Ten linebacker, but his strength is his power. He set state powerlifting records as a sophomore.
He was recruited for the Nittany Lions by Tom Bradley.
Non-rev roundup: Men’s Volleyball
The Penn State men’s volleyball team got a fantastic effort from senior Luke Murray as the Nittany Lions won their second national title on Saturday night, defeating No. 2 Pepperdine (27-30, 33-31, 30-25, 30-23) in Irvine, Calif.
Murray had a season-high 63 assists, a career-high 12 digs and a career-high 11 blocks as the Nittany Lions tallied a team hitting percentage of .407.
“This replaces the 1972 Dairy Little League championship for me,” said PSU coach Mark Pavlik. “I’m really just the caretaker of this program.
To give this team the opportunity to play their best at the highest level, it’s rewarding to me. These guys played better than I coached, that’s for sure.”
The men’s team will raise their championship banner alongside the women, who won a title back in December.
In addition to writing for gantnews.com, Chris Morelli is the editor of Blue White Illustrated, a magazine devoted to Penn State sports. He is also a regular on “Front and Center,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.