Nothing official out of the football program yet, but there is a blog out there reporting that Penn State safety Spencer Ridenhour is going to transfer out of the football program.
This is unfortunate if true, but not completely surprising. Ridenhour was in the mix to get the starting strong safety spot last year but lost out to Anthony Scirrotto. This year he had a chance to earn the spot vacated by Donnie Johnson, but it appeared early on in the spring that the coaches awarded the job to Tony Davis to lose.
Ridenhour didn't help his situation by landing in Joe's doghouse right before the Outback Bowl last year for the dreaded "violation of team rules." Now he finds himself riding the bench behind guys with more eligibility than him. Wall, meet chalk.
Ridenhour will be missed. He was a very talented player who reportedly hit like a very angry man in the backfield. Though he probably wouldn't have seen the field much this year, he still would have provided valuable depth and might have had a chance of seeing the field as a nickel back. I'm sure he'll land somewhere and be a solid player for another team. On the bright side this move will pave the way for young guys like Nick Sukay and Chaz Powell to see more reps in practice.
His won't be a huge loss for the defense in 2007, but you hate to see someone with his talent go. Ridenhour was part of the class of 2004 that included Dan Connor and Anthony Morelli. He joined the team when the program was at its lowest point. He was one of the ones who believed when nobody else did. Loyalty like that should be rewarded. It's too bad his career didn't work out the way he had hoped.
Good luck, Spencer. I feel like we hardly knew you.