Just some quick Nitt Picks for you this morning.

There was an article last week about Daryll Clark making an appearance at a charity function. While there he made some comments about the upcoming season.

" I am absolutely confident that [we] can do well again next season. The workouts have been going really well. I will be a captain along with linebacker Sean Lee," said Clark, who was a special guest and honored Thursday night at the annual United Way "Champions Among Us" dinner at Mr. Anthony’s.

But he said there will be challenges. "We have lost a lot of veteran receivers but we still have some [receivers] coming back and also we will have some freshmen."

Nothing earth shattering there. But still nice to read.

It's no secret that Penn State's secondary will determine the success of the team this year. We need some players to step up particularly at cornerback, and last week Rivals had a chance to interview Knowledge Timmons who realizes this season is his last chance to get it done.

"Yes, it is my last year," he said. "I am either going to continue to play football in the NFL or my football career will be over after this year, and I don't want my career to be over. There is a crazy sense of urgency."

For Timmons, that meant an intense winter workout session and spring practice. Solely focusing in on his cornerback skills, Timmons made his best effort at accomplishing the things Paterno zeroed in on for him.

"I got stronger, faster and worked a lot on my cover skills," Timmons said. "I became more of a student of the game. I watch film and watch other guys on the team practice. I put a lot more effort into this spring than my past four seasons. I think I am going to be ready for the season."

 Finally, I stumbled upon a Bleacher Report article on the basketball team. By now you should know that this blog takes anything written on the Bleacher Report with a grain of salt. They basically let anyone say anything they want, and you have to know that name of the game is bringing in the traffic hits.

So with that, here is a loosely thrown together Bleacher Report post on the basketball program. I'm not exactly sure what the point of the article is. I can't tell if it was written to mock Penn State...

"We're No. 66!"

Penn State received the wonderful honor of winning the postseason tournament that declares them the 66th best team in the country.

Or rip Ed DeChellis...

While DeChellis has been a splendid ambassador for the school and the program, he must use this newfound success and turn it into better players. He needs to move this program a step forward.

But DeChellis has never figured out how to bring big-time players into Happy Valley. He has to compete with Big East schools located in every direction imaginable for players. He has yet been able to lure players to compete in the slower, more boring brand of basketball that is the Big Ten instead of the more up-tempo, offensive minded style of the Big East.

What's with this "newfound success" business? Did DeChellis just hit the lottery or something? Did the basketball fairy just drop in and give him a 27 win season out of nowhere?

I think Ed has busted his tail on the recruiting trail and on the practice court and in the film room to take this team from a stinking pile of crap to an NIT championship. To suggest now is the time to move the program "a step forward" is an insult to the previous 1000 miles we've traveled on this journey.

The author does say some nice things about Penn State, but I don't know. When I read through the article it just rubbed me the wrong way much like anything else I've ever read on Bleacher Report.

In Scores of Other Games

Imagine that. They tie the student tickets to the ID cards and demand for tickets goes down.

Myford could not provide exact numbers but said "just under 40,000" students registered this year, while "more than 40,000" students registered last year. There are only 22,000 tickets available for students every year.

He believes the change this year from paper tickets to storing tickets on student ID cards is responsible for the decrease in pre-registration. It eliminated students who were purchasing tickets only to resell them for profit, he said.

Florida State is still fighting their sanctions.