Back in the day we had an extremely productive football walk-on reputation.

psuro

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Best walk on will be awarded the Aric Heffelfinger Trophy, i.e. he will be given "The Finger".
 

VaDave4PSU

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Recently we have had Nassib, Johnson, and Smith.

Not bad, but maybe not the NFL all pro some may have desired.
 
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Ceasar

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Yeah, PSU never lost a game during Paterno's tenure in the 4th quarter. My god, some of you can’t get over the past.
Who said anything about losing a game in the 4th quarter? It is well known that for several decades PSU played a defense often referred to as bend but don't break. It drove many fans, including me, crazy over the years and spawned the notion that PSU allowed many QBs to have career performances. But PSU executed that defense extremely well, they allowed yardage between the 20s but not much in the red zone and they got a lot of turnovers. The greatest example was the '86 Fiesta Bowl when Miami moved the ball up and down the field but scored 10 points. Seems like the anti-Paterno crowd often sees things that are not there.
 

bbrown

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Recently we have had Nassib, Johnson, and Smith.

Not bad, but maybe not the NFL all pro some may have desired.
+1. We had a couple of LBrs that I thought were walk ons. Josh Hull or Mike Hull maybe?
And back in The day I think Troy Drayton might have been a walk on.
 
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OaktonDave

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Last year aside, we've had some good running teams. No doubt the OL could be better in recent years.
The OL has been a problem more often than not the better part of two decades. I'm not arguing that it hasn't been an issue in recent years, but it was also a frequent problem the last decade under Joepa. There were too many threads on it and theories on why the problem existed to count. (Anyone care to have an old-fashioned lively discussion on the merits of HIT S&C training?) Watching old videos, I'm starting to wonder if someone placed a curse on the program after '95, because Penn State OLs that could control the LOS since then have been few and far between.

Keeping it on subject, I wonder if television exposure of lesser programs had made kids more willing to take a scholarship from them rather than walk-on. Similarly, I wonder if the proliferation of camps and ease of sharing player videos has made it harder to find players that have totally flown under the radar but still have high end potential
 
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Bison13

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The OL has been a problem more often than not the better part of two decades. I'm not arguing that it hasn't been an issue in recent years, but it was also a frequent problem the last decade under Joepa. There were too many threads on it and theories on why the problem existed to count. (Anyone care to have an old-fashioned lively discussion on the merits of HIT S&C training?) Watching old videos, I'm starting to wonder if someone placed a curse on the program after '95, because Penn State OLs that could control the LOS since then have been few and far between.

Keeping it on subject, I wonder if television exposure of lesser programs had made kids more willing to take a scholarship from them rather than walk-on. Similarly, I wonder if the proliferation of camps and ease of sharing player videos has made it harder to find players that have totally flown under the radar but still have high end potential
you got it with the last part. Anyone can go to a camp these days, more kids being seen and much bigger recruiting budgets to find these kids
 
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OaktonDave

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you got it with the last part. Anyone can go to a camp these days, more kids being seen and much bigger recruiting budgets to find these kids
Nebraska used to take a lot of big farm kids as walk-ons and turn them into tank o-linemen for their running game. I think a lot of those kids are now being seen at camps and through website videos and opting for day-one scholarships from other schools over the chance to earn a scholarship after a year or two at UNL.
 
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psuro

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Well, with the loss of Holmes and Talley, PSU has 82/85 scholarships used, so three are available for good walk on players.
 

Nits74

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Nebraska used to take a lot of big farm kids as walk-ons and turn them into tank o-linemen for their running game. I think a lot of those kids are now being seen at camps and through website videos and opting for day-one scholarships from other schools over the chance to earn a scholarship after a year or two at UNL.
With the help of steroids.
 

Bvillebaron

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I'm with ya LionsAndBears . . . I'm so tired of hearing the OL is going to be better this year (as we have heard the past 8 years). Even CJF has been hesitant on commenting on the OL this summer
Smart move on his part. I am not a big believer in talk any way. Let me see on the field.
 
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Tony 83

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This is a damn good post . Thanks we need some one with the numbers to come up with the answers
Speaking of OL, I think there are a couple of PWO kids that have big bodies at least. Isn't there a 6'7" 290 kid from MD that's walking on?
 

NB4PSU

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s1uggo72

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Thanx, OB... found this on Troy where it references his being a walk on... the article reveals how he felt about putting names on the jerseys... not a fan.

I met Troy in the Grand Cayman airport, he was there putting on a clinic for the Miami Dolphins trying to get the word out on football.
 
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