It was an up-and-down weekend for the Penn State basketball teams. The Penn State men picked up a nice win on Saturday against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, while the Lady Lions suffered one of their worst home losses in years to Iowa on Sunday.
In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll have part two of our story about PSU linebacker Sean Lee and check in on both hoop teams. Let’s start with Lee.
Sean Lee will be making tackles again soon.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
The Return of Sean Lee: Part 2
In the second half of our story about Sean Lee, we take a look at Lee’s home life, his return from injury and what lies ahead.
Family Matters
Lee comes from a close family. He has a brother, Connor, and a sister, Allie. Connor was the placekicker at the University of Pittsburgh and Allie is a student at Upper St. Clair, where she plays soccer.
He said that he’s very close with his mother and father.
“My Mom and Dad have supported me in everything I’ve ever done. At the same time, they held me accountable. My father was perfect because he’d say, ‘you did this well, but you need to do this.’ He was always realistic with me when it came to sports and what my goals were. If I didn’t play well, he didn’t sugarcoat things,” Lee said.
Craig said that he just wanted his son to live up to his full potential.
“My wife and I, I think we’re competitive people. We set high standards for them, in school and on the field in any sport they played,” Craig explained. “What I tried to emphasize with him was ‘you better give me what you got or I’m not gonna be happy.’ You better play as hard as you possibly can. If you make mistakes it’s OK, but I expect the best effort that you have.”
Those words resonated with both Sean and Connor, who enjoyed great success at any sport they tried — whether it be baseball, soccer, basketball or football.
Craig led by example. A Pittsburgh attorney, he always found time to take his children aside and help them hone their skills.
“One of the things I tried to emphasize was, if you want to be better at anything, you have to spend extra time at it. When they were little, I’d say, ‘give me a half hour hitting baseballs off a tee, or shooting foul shots.’ Usually, I found that a half hour would turn into an hour, but we’d make it fun,” the elder Lee said.
Sean and Connor are close, but have the usual sibling rivalry. While Lee would have loved to have faced his brother on the gridiron, a game between Penn State and Pitt never materialized while they were in school.
The teams haven’t met since the 2000 season, a 12-0 Panther victory. Lee said that he wishes the teams would play again.
“I do. Everybody from Pittsburgh understands the rivalry. Everybody outside, at this point, doesn’t get it,” Lee said. “I did a Second Mile thing with coach (former defensive coordinator Jerry) Sandusky and I asked him, ‘what was your biggest rivalry? He didn’t need any time to answer. He just said, ‘Pitt.’ I wish we played. I know a lot of the kids there and I played against them. It would be fun.”
Connor, one of the most successful kickers in the history of Pitt football, recently graduated with a dual bachelor’s degree in business and economics. He’s now pursuing his MBA at Pitt’s Katz Graduate School of Business.
Lee said that he doesn’t give his brother any flak for being a kicker.
“I always say he’s a kicker with a linebacker mentality. He was always watching film, trying to better himself in the offseason. It was stuff he didn’t need to do — as a kicker — but always did. He was elected captain, so obviously he earned some respect. Mentally, we’re the same. It’s just that I was blessed with more height,” Lee said.
For the record, Connor is 5-11, 200 pounds. Sean is 6-2, 235.
Long Road Back
In 2006, Lee followed up his Orange Bowl performance with a stellar sophomore season. He racked up 90 tackles, including 47 solo jobs. He had 5 1/2 sacks and recovered two fumbles.
Then, in 2007, he registered 138 tackles, 54 of which were solo efforts. He had 3 1/2 sacks and three fumble recoveries.
He was poised for a monster 2008 before the knee injury ended his season before it began.
Lee had surgery 17 days after the injury. It’s been a long road back, but he’s taking it one step at a time.
“It’s hard. It’s a long process. There are different phases of the process. The first two months, it’s just getting your knee to work right again. It’s getting the fluid out of your knee. It’s getting your leg to fully extend and fully contract. Once you get the fluid out, it’s a matter of building up your quad muscle. Then it’s just training and getting that strength back,” Lee explained.
While the knee still isn’t 100 percent, it’s getting there. After walking and jogging lightly for several months after the injury, Lee is able to run full tilt once again.
“It’s definitely a progression. We did light jogging, then jogging, then sprinting on the treadmill. A lot of it is mentally grueling because it’s every day. A lot of days, I’d just go numb and say ‘I gotta get my work done,'” Lee said.
When he realized that he would be out for the 2008 season, Lee was still determined to be a part of the team. He didn’t want to be relegated to cheerleader, so he talked to Bradley and linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden about wearing a headset during games. He communicated with Vanderlinden and was able to offer his expertise from his spot on the sidelines.
“I enjoyed being part of the game. I’d seen the offenses before, I’ve seen the looks. That’s where I could really help the guys,” Lee said.
While he wasn’t out on the field this season, Lee’s teammates praised him for his efforts as an extra coach. Despite being injured, he was clearly a leader in the locker room.
“Sean was still a leader,” said fellow captain Josh Gaines. “Guys would go to him. He was kind of like a second coach for the linebackers and they’d definitely talk to him. It’s easier to understand a player.”
Cornerback Lydell Sargeant said that Lee deserved a new title — and a paycheck.
“If there was a title of defensive coordinator assistant, that would be Sean. You’d see him out there on game days, calling plays. If someone made a mistake, he’d be the first one over there, helping correct things. In my eyes, he was a coach,” Sargeant said.
Bradley said that Lee made contributions to the team, even though he couldn’t set foot on the field.
“I think the good part was the leadership that he gave us, even though he wasn’t playing. He was involved with the players, he was involved emotionally. He was watching the game, trying to help them. It was a big help because he was so involved with the game even though he wasn’t on the field,” Bradley said.
The headset gave him a different perspective on the game. Since he was on a two-way headset with Vanderlinden, he wasn’t privy to the offensive play calling, though.
“Of course, I could still hear Joe screaming,” Lee said with a laugh.
Bradley was glad to have the extra help on the sidelines, but said he can’t wait to see No. 45 back in the lineup.
“I like him a lot better in front of me than beside me,” Bradley said with a laugh.
While having a prime spot on the sideline was nice, Lee still had the itch to get back out on the field. It was difficult, but he had to keep his emotions in check.
Still, he looked like a younger version of another Pittsburgh native, former Steelers’ coach Bill Cowher. Lee was spotted running up and down the sideline, exhorting his teammates and high-fiving them.
“I’d go to the game, go through the warm up, get all pumped up. I had all that same emotion, but I didn’t have anywhere to take it. So I’d run up and down the sidelines and get excited,” Lee said. “It’s great, but I definitely had the urge to run on the field. It was frustrating.
I wanted to run out there and make a play.”
The sideline, as it turned out, was the perfect place for Lee.
“Once he realized the cards were dealt to him, he said, ‘how can I help the team?’ He was involved not only on the field, but in the locker room,” Bradley said. “He did everything a captain would do. He just couldn’t play.”
Looking Ahead
When the 2009 season begins in September, Lee will almost certainly be captain — again. The list of two-time captains is a short one.
Posluszny was the most recent.
Lee realizes that it’s a great honor.
“That’s one of the biggest honors I can achieve up here, I feel. With all the great people we’ve had in the past, I see it as a great honor.
I see it as a responsibility to act a certain way, be a certain way. I see a responsibility to pass my role onto the younger guys. I take it very seriously,” Lee said.
Before his injury, Lee was rated as one of the top outside linebackers in the 2009 NFL Draft. Now, he will have to start from ground zero and rebuild his reputation as one of the best ever at Linebacker U.
As for the next level, Lee would love to play in the NFL. But he’s got some business to take care of first.
“That’s been a dream of mine, but I try not to think about it. I think about what I’ve got to accomplish here. It’s easy to get excited when you see all this stuff in the future,” Lee said. “I really try to keep my head down and work on the basics. If that stuff comes, it comes.”
Another Lady Lion Loss
The Penn State women’s basketball team suffered its worst loss of the year on Sunday, falling to Iowa at home on Pink Zone Day. In the game, the Lady Lions squandered an 18-point halftime lead en route to another home defeat.
There was a time — not all that long ago — when the Lady Lions were nearly unbeatable at home. But those days are long gone and this team is headed for another losing season. With just four regular season games remaining, the Lady Lions (9-15 overall, 4-10 Big Ten) would have to run the table and pull off a couple of upsets at the Big Ten Tournament just to reach the .500 mark.
Sorry, but that’s not going to happen. This program has fallen upon hard times, and it’s going to take a couple of seasons to turn things around. The three freshmen were expected to be key contributors this season, but so far they have not lived up to expectations.
If the Lady Lions win a game at the Big Ten Tournament in March, it will be the surprise of the season.
Talor Battle and the Nittany Lions find themselves on the bubble.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
On the Bubble
The Penn State men’s basketball team took a step in the right direction with a 68-63 win over Minnesota on Saturday afternoon. While the win snapped a three-game losing skid for the Nittany Lions, it didn’t do much to solidify their chances at an NCAA tournament bid.
The Nittany Lions have five regular season games remaining. If they run the table, they certainly help their location on the bubble.
However, with road games at Illinois and Ohio State looming, running the table appears unlikely.
That puts the Lions in a precarious position. They will need to make a run deep into the Big Ten Tournament to impress the NCAA tournament committee.
Penn State’s RPI is in the 80s. Its strength of schedules is 101. In the end, Penn State’s non-conference slate has given the Nittany Lions plenty of victories but may doom them to the NIT.
Chris Morelli is the award-winning editor of Blue White Illustrated, a weekly publication devoted to Penn State athletics. He is also a regular on “Sports Central,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at This column does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of BWI’s writers or publisher.