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Penn State's Chisley making up for lost time
Rob Biertempfel is the Pirates beat writer. He can be reached via e-mail. Also check out Biertempfel's blog, Pirates Q&A or follow him on Twitter.
Chisley, Penn State's starting right defensive end, never played the game until he was 12 years old. Before that, he was interested only in basketball.
"It was my first sport ever," he said. "I still love basketball and I play it anytime I can."
However, Chisley's football bloodlines proved too strong for his hoop dreams. He wound up on the gridiron at the urging of three of his uncles, all former NFL players.
One of them is Jimmy Williams, who now is an assistant coach at Nebraska. Saturday will be a reunion of sorts for Chisley and Williams, when the 18th-ranked Cornhuskers (2-0) play host to the Nittany Lions (1-1).
"Everybody in the family is looking forward to it," Chisley said.
Williams declined interview requests this week.
Williams played defensive end for the Huskers from 1979-81, and is one of six players in team history to go from being a walk-on to an All-American. His 4.6-second time in the 40-yard dash remains a team record for defensive linemen.
The Detroit Lions made Williams a first-round pick (15th overall) in 1981. He also played for the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After spending last year as an assistant at Toledo, he is in his first season as the Huskers' linebackers coach.
Williams' younger brother, Toby, walked on at Nebraska and played defensive tackle from 1980-82, then went on to the pros.
Growing up, Chisley spent a lot of time hanging out in locker rooms and watching his uncles play. Football did not come easily to Chisley, though, and he did not like it even after he started to play.
"It took probably two years to get used to it," Chisley said.
Even so, he developed into a standout at Westlake High School in Waldorf, Md. He was recruited by Penn State assistant Larry Johnson Sr., who used to coach high school football at McDonough High, one of Westlake's rivals in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference.
The Williams brothers tried to coax their nephew into continuing the family tradition at Nebraska. But Chisley wanted to stay close to home, and said Penn State was "the perfect environment" for him.
Last year, as a redshirt freshman, Chisley recorded 12 tackles -- including a season-best three stops against Nebraska -- one interception, and one forced fumble.
"My uncles give me a lot of pointers," he said. "They're always calling me after games to point out stuff that I did wrong or what I did right. The most important thing they taught me is to have pride in what you do."
Through two games this year, Chisley has eight tackles, including a pair of sacks. The bulk of that came in the season-opener against Temple, as he had just three tackles in the 27-14 loss against Boston College.
"I was disappointed in him in some areas last week because I don't think he was aggressive enough," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "Now, that will come as he gets more experience. He's got a chance to be a really good player."
Chisley has great size -- he's 6-foot-5 with a long wingspan -- and speed, but wants to build up his strength and endurance. He said the biggest obstacle will be adding more bulk without losing his speed.
The coaches would like to see Chisley add another 10 pounds, but he prefers to play at 260. He's already added about 50 pounds since graduating from high school.
"At the training table, they make me eat three or four times a day," he said. "What's a typcial meal for me? Whatever they have there. Everything and anything I can put on my plate."
When someone mentioned how Paterno is always harping on many of his players for being overweight, Chisley laughed.
I see that a lot with the offensive linemen, but that's never happened to me," he said. "They usually put food on my plate. Those other guys hate me."
