After 11-1 Season, Penn State Is Back Among Elite
By Marc Carig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Joe Paterno leans back after sipping his second cup of coffee and easily shares his thoughts on everything from Tolstoy to the T-formation.
On the fragility of life: "I do a lot of walking, and every once in a while, I step on an ant. And I say to myself, 'You know, we ain't nothing but ants.' "
On the proliferation of online recruiting Web sites: "I don't have a computer. I don't fool around with Web sites. And I don't get into this, what do you call it, text messages?"
On CBS news anchor Katie Couric: "Katie who?"
These days, it seems Paterno has all the right answers.
Penn State ended a lean streak in Happy Valley by storming to an 11-1 record last year, a season in which the 79-year-old Paterno wiped out talk of the game having passed him by.
He returns for his 41st year as Penn State's head coach with high hopes and no hint of a retirement plan. While much of last year's senior-dominated Orange Bowl championship team is gone, the Nittany Lions return star linebacker Paul Posluszny and mammoth tackle Levi Brown.
If the young defense matures and quarterback Anthony Morelli can step in for the explosive Michael Robinson, the Joe Paterno Redemption Tour could roll on for another year.
"I'm very confident in our chances this year," said Brown, a 6-foot-5, 328-pound senior. "We might be young and inexperienced in a couple of places, but I think those guys are ready to take on the challenge. They're all hungry because everybody's saying the inexperience is going to cause problems. So they have something to prove."
Nobody has more to prove than Morelli, a junior who steps in after Robinson racked up 3,156 total offensive yards while giving the Nittany Lions a Vince Young-like look on offense.
A highly touted recruit out of high school, Morelli becomes the starting quarterback after throwing for just 155 yards on 13-for-20 passing in limited action last season.
"He's better than that," Paterno said of Morelli's numbers.
Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel, who recruited Morelli for the Buckeyes, has seen Morelli's abilities up close.
"We got to know him pretty well," Tressel said. "He is a bright guy. He knows the game."
And he has a dynamic pair of sophomore wide receivers in Derrick Williams (Eleanor Roosevelt) and Deon Butler (Hylton).
As Morelli adjusts to the starting job, he should get some help from the rushing attack, led by Tony Hunt (T.C. Williams).
Converted from wide receiver before last season, Hunt led Penn State with 1,047 rushing yards. When Hunt went down before the Orange Bowl, backup Austin Scott rushed for 110 yards, proving he could provide depth.
Meanwhile, the return of Posluszny bolsters what would otherwise be a young defense.
"We're solid at linebacker, and I think they help each other," Paterno said. "Paul's not the kind of guys who says, 'Hey I'm the big shot.' Paul's a great team player, and he's a great friend to the squad."
Posluszny led Penn State with 116 tackles en route to winning the Butkus and Bednarik awards in addition to earning first-team all-American honors.
"Anytime a player is able to achieve that kind of stuff, with the all the awards and whatever it just goes to show how well the team does. And how well the defensive unit does," Posluszny said. "One player can't succeed without the other 10 guys on the field; each guy doing their specific part to win."
Posluszny could easily be in an NFL training camp. But a knee injury suffered in the Orange Bowl brought him back for his senior year. Meanwhile, some Heisman Trophy watchers have already tabbed Posluszny a dark horse candidate.
"We'll leave that to them," said Posluszny, referring to the quarterbacks and running backs that usually take the award.
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