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The Good
Penn State cornerback John Reid, who suffered a season-ending knee injury this time last year is back in spring practices, and ready to rumble. Reid is expected to lead a deep, talented cornerback class in the Blue-White Game and onward into the fall 2018 season.
Former Penn State football head coach Bill O’Brien was welcomed back to State Collegefor Penn State’s Chalk Talk – where middle and high school coaches had the opportunity to talk football with Penn State and other coaches, including O’Brien, who served as the keynote speaker. O’Brien had high praise for current head coach James Franklin along with the Nittany Lions team and called Penn State “college football heaven.” But we already knew that.
One of Bill O’Brien’s favorite Nittany Lions players, linebacker Michael Mauti, got some great news this week: the New Orleans Saints are bringing him backfor a one-year deal. Congratulations!
In other sporting news, Penn State wrestling alum David Taylor led the U.S. team to a Freestyle World Cup title, and two Nittany Lion gymnasts, Brennan Pantazis and Stephen Nedoroscik, gained first team All Big-Ten honors.
The Bad
The Big Ten Network published a roundup of way-too early 2018 college basketball polls and man, there’s not a lot of love for the Nittany Lions hoops team. But they’ve been an underdog before and ended up winning the NIT, and do well when they have something to prove.
The Ugly
Apparently, there was some movie on HBO this weekend that referenced Penn State, or something. With the release of the HBO “Paterno” movie, starring Al Pacino, Penn Staters had the opportunity Saturday to relive the heartache of 2011. With the scandal back in the public eye, at least temporarily, the movie might also be reviving more than just heartache but also the debate over Paterno’s role in Sandusky’s crimes.
Apparently former Penn State football lettermen were so upset about the Paterno movie that more than 300 of them signed a statement in opposition to the movie, calling it “wreckless” with “shameless liberties” and “inaccuracies that were libelous if Joe were alive today.”