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Reactions from Players Positive, But Mixed

"Today's announcement by the NCAA is tremendous news. As a staff, we are especially pleased for our players, who have proven themselves to be a resilient group of young men who are able to look ahead, focus and overcome adversity. Penn State has long been known for graduating its student-athletes and providing them with a world class education. The scholarship additions will allow us to provide more student-athletes with a tremendous opportunity to earn that degree and play football for Penn State."--Penn State Football head coach Bill O'Brien

By Cari Greene
Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

I know we're all generally in the "this is positive news" camp (though the positivity is varying by degree) on Tuesday's announcement of the reduced sanctions, but what do we know? We're all just writers and community members of a Penn State sports blog. Let's take the reaction to the people who really matter--the players.

Understandably, the current players have been pretty silent on the issue--no doubt by mandate from up on high (though many did seem to enjoy a tweet from @EvilBillOBrien about Craig Fitzgerald being so excited he was going to bench press the Nittany Lion shrine), but how did former and future players react?

About how you would expect.

Former

"I’m a pessimistic fan by nature, and I was terrified of what this team would look like over the next few years. The reduction of sanctions provides an immediate positive impact to our ability to field a competitive team in the B1G. HOWEVER, I don’t feel vindicated, relieved, happy, etc. I still feel like shit that this all happened at PSU."--Eric Cole

"I think they’re back-tracking. I think they know they made a bad decision. But, either way, as long as we get [the scholarships] back, I always say I don’t care about the wins, I don’t care about the money, I don’t care about the stats, but the bowl ban and the scholarships can only hurt current and future players, which are the most important. They did take a step in the right direction so I was happy to see that."--Drew Astorino

Future*

"I am so excited for the reductions! thats huge for us and says alot about how the penn state community has responded and dealt with the situation. its great news and well deserved."--Troy Reeder

"Now that there's more scholarships it's much better because if someone goes down, you can have back ups. The sanctions really hurt that area. From what I heard it wasn't much contact in PSU practices cause players couldn't get hurt because there weren't any backups. It helps a lot now we can bring more people in to help restore the roar."--Mark Allen

"It's great for Coach O'Brien and the Penn State football team!"--Michael O'Connor

"Very happy to hear that. I'm focused on PSU!!!!"--Marcus Allen

"I'm excited about the sanctions being reduced, it's great for the program and will definitely help recruit more players to play for a great university."--Chris Godwin

"It's awesome! The players could use it as a boost of confidence for them! I am excited for the program."--Jake Cooper

"I feel like it's great, to watch things start to set back in stone just like they once were. It will be nice to see them restore that name as a power house as the competition rises."--Antoine White

*shout out to BSD recruiting guru Nick Polak for reaching out to the future PSUers (and some targets)

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