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Notebook: Nittany Lions promise to police themselves on and off field
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.
"There's a different attitude now," defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy said. "Guys are saying, 'We're not partying. If you're partying, you're getting kicked off the squad — not by Joe (Paterno), but by the players.' We have a lot of rules and a lot of goals this year."
Five players have had high-profile brushes with the law over the two years. Three players — quarterback Rashard Casey, tight end R.J. Luke and linebacker T.C. Cosby — were involved in brawls. Linebacker Tim Johnson and safety Yaacov Yisrael were charged with drunk driving.
Casey, Luke and Cosby eventually were exonerated, although their incidents had a disruptive effect in the locker room. Cosby, the only one of the three still at Penn State, is not listed on the team's preseason depth chart.
Johnson, who will be a redshirt sophomore this fall, is yet to play a down. He is listed as the backup to starting inside linebacker Sam Ruhe.
Yisrael hid his arrest from Paterno until after the season was over. At the start of spring drills, Paterno said he would suspend Yisrael — one of the few experienced players in secondary — for the first five games this season.
Now, it seems Yisrael will draw a lighter penalty.
"I'm not set on anything," Paterno said last week at Big Ten media day. "Yaacov's done an awfully good job academically and done a good job this summer. There's an old saying: Youth's a disease, but it can be cured."
Part of the cure, Kennedy said, was getting away from the bad influences of some former players.
"There were a lot of young players looking to older guys who've had success doing things the wrong way," Kennedy said. "Those guys had nice cars, nice house, they were coming back (to campus) and partying, they had women hanging on them and stuff.
"The young kids wanted to do it the wrong way instead of conforming to what Joe Paterno believes in. That really dragged us down the past few seasons."
A WEIGHTY MATTER
Recently, ESPN.com ruled Penn State's no-nonsense, blue-and-white home uniforms were the finest in all of college football. However, there is one change Kennedy would like to make.
"I like the all-blue look," Kennedy said. "It would make me look leaner. I'm dead serious. I'm tired of those white pants that make my butt look big."
Kennedy weighed more than 360 pounds when he arrived at Penn State out of high school. He's played much of his career at around 340, but showed up at the Big Ten meetings at a svelte 308.
"I don't know how long it's going to last, though," Kennedy said. "The old man (Paterno) is still trying to get me up to 330. Two weeks ago, I was 303. I know if I show up for camp at 303, he'll go crazy."
Kennedy said there was only one time Paterno razzed him about weighing too much.
"It happened my freshman year, in front of Mrs. Paterno," he said. "She brought me some cookies that she had baked. Joe saw that and said …"
Kennedy paused, cleared his throat and did an impersonation of Paterno's high-pitched Brooklyn accent.
"He said, 'Sue, what are you doing? This guy's gonna be an all-American for us. You can't give him cookies. He's got his weight up now.'"
CHECK THE CALENDAR
Penn State will hold its annual media day Saturday, and will begin preseason practice next Sunday. The Nittany Lions, ranked 24th in the coaches' poll, open the season Aug. 31 at home against Central Florida.
HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE
In his final season, fifth-year senior Matt Schmitt would like to finally settle in at one spot on Penn State's offensive line.
Schmitt (Hampton) has been used at guard, center and tackle during his career. On the latest depth chart, he is the starting left tackle. Gus Felder, who must pass summer school to be eligible this fall, and Eric Rickenbach also are listed at the position.
With three veteran upperclassmen at the same spot, it's a good bet there will be some lineup shuffling before the season opener Aug. 31 against Central Florida.
"I think right now I'm going to stay at tackle," said Schmitt, who sat out most of last season while recovering from mononucleosis. "Your guess is as good as mine. It all depends on what goes on through preseason and where I'm needed."
BREASTON GETS NOTICED
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr did not see the Big 33 Game, so he missed the dazzling performance turned in by wideout Steve Breaston.
Even so, Carr is well aware of how well his prize recruit did in the game. During the Big Ten Football Kickoff Luncheon last week, Carr said several Wolverines fans in Pennsylvania mailed him copies of newspaper articles about the Big 33 Game.
"They're all excited," Carr said, smiling. "We're expecting big things from Steve."
Carr said Breaston (Woodland Hills) has a good chance of getting some playing time this fall. But the coach cautioned that people should not expect too much too soon.
"The thing about a receiver coming out of high school, he's going to line up against cornerbacks who are two or three years older and much stronger," Carr said. "The real challenge will be to see how he gets off the line of scrimmage.
"That's typically the biggest problem for a young receiver. It isn't that they can't run or that they can't catch the ball. Getting off the line of scrimmage is the problem."
Carr outmaneuvered several coaches — including Penn State's Joe Paterno and Pitt's Walt Harris — to land Breaston. In the past few years, Michigan has begun to make an impact on the recruiting wars in Pennsylvania.
"Penn State coming into the conference made it easier to recruit, not only in Pennsylvania but in the East," Carr said. "All of those guys know that a lot of those games are going to be televised on the East Coast, so it's not like they're going to go away from home and never be heard from again."
OH, BABY!
Associate commissioner Sue Lister, who handles media relations for the Big Ten, was expecting her first child five days before the start of the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon. Wearing a pair of comfy sneakers, she ran the show both days of the event.
"When we were planning this, I told all the schools' athletic directors to make sure their coaches brushed up on the Lamaze method — just in case," she said with a laugh.
Lister, a native of Wheeling, W.Va., was sports information director at Duquesne before moving to the Big Ten job.
