Defensive tackle Jordan Hill is arguably the best player on the current Penn State team (assuming Silas Redd leaves as he’s rumored to be doing so). Hill was at Big Ten Media Day, so I asked him other than wins how does this team heal?
“Being together, being through this.ย Going out and just playing football. You know if we just sat there and gave up, we would regret it for the rest of our lives. We keep looking forwardย and just being around each other and sticking together. Thatโs all we really need,” he answered.
Coach Bill O’Brien, who left the New England Patriots to come to a program hit hard with NCAA sanctions has told his team that every game this year will be their bowl game since they arenโt allowed to go to one.
“Every gameโs gonna be our bowl game. Especially as a senior every gameโs a big game for you. Itโs your last year, as a senior class, we want to win every game,” Hill said.
Even though the program is disgraced, and seems to be despised by everyone outside of the state of Pennsylvania (with good reason) it’s believed they’ll still sell out every game.
“No doubt, theyโre more supportive now than ever,” said OL John Urschel.
“Iโve been hearing from people who havenโt come to a game in a decade saying theyโre coming to every single game to support us.ย I think weโre going to have a tremendous amount of support behind us,” he continued.
You would never believe this, but the junior guard has somehow found a silver lining in all of this. He’s actually found some positives to the sanctions. It’s a bold exercise in spin!
“Well, itโs been a little tough but at the same time itโs a blessing in disguise that we have the opportunity to go out and show the world that Penn Stateโs still strong and that we have a chance to represent our university, a university thatโs given us a great deal, a good education, blessed us with scholarships to come play football in front of 108,000 for some of the best fans in the nation. Itโs good that we canย come out here and try to show all the good that Penn Stateโs done and all the good that Penn State will continue to do,” Urschel said at media day.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. Heโs also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Fox Sports, MSN, Walter Football and Yardbarker
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and heโs a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too
