James Franklin’s contract status has been widely discussed for the past year. Franklin went from approaching the hot seat to landing in the catbird seat. On the heels of consecutive 7-6 seasons that were understandable in the wake of the sanctions yet still frustrating, Franklin opened ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — It’s easy to tell when a tight end is good at catching the ball, and after a tough 2015 season, Mike Gesicki rebounded with a stellar 2016 campaign by hauling in just about everything thrown near him. Those pass-catching abilities make the 6-foot-6, 257-pound Gesicki a ...
James Franklin is now the fourth-highest paid coach in college football after agreeing to a new six-year contract with Penn State that will guarantee him $34.7 million. A contract extension seemed to be a given after Franklin led the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten title, 11-3 record and top 10 ...
Preseason longshots the past two years have ended up winning the Heisman Trophy. Last year, Louisville’s Lamar Jackson had 50-1 odds when practices started. Jackson quickly became the odds-on favorite though after his performance in the first three games where he accounted for 18 ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — Special teams were a major obstacle for Penn State not that long ago, then it all changed last season when a special teams highlight turned into the program’s most important play in many years. Marcus Allen’s blocked field goal and Grant Haley’s touchdown return led ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State junior quarterback Trace McSorley claimed a spot on the Manning Award watch list. It is McSorley’s sixth watch list appearance (Maxwell Award, Wuerffel Trophy, O’Brien Award, Walter Camp Award and Unitas Golden Arm Award). Prior to the 2004 college ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State has selected Justin Hundley as coach of the men’s rugby program. A Penn State graduate, he will begin his duties in late August. Hundley brings 10 years of high school and collegiate coaching and administrative experience to the Nittany Lions’ men’s rugby ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — Brandon Smith said he can’t run for miles and miles at a time like he could do back in the day before practice as an all-state wrestler at Lewisburg High School. But as a Big Ten linebacker Smith, now 23 and married, has traded that for added strength as he enters his ...
By Neil Rudel nrudel@altoonamirror.com UNIVERSITY PARK — The top priority for Penn State opponents this year, of course, will be to stop or at least contain Saquon Barkley. First, though, they’ll have to find him. The Nittany Lions could well field the tallest offensive line in ...
By Philip Cmor pcmor@altoonamirror.com Aeneas Hawkins might not be the recruit who generates the most buzz in Penn State’s 2018 class, but his addition to it on Thursday was a perfect example of just how far Nittany Lion recruiting has come under James Franklin and his coaching ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — First, starters Jason Cabinda, Nyeem Wartman-White, and Brandon Bell were all out with injuries. Then, reserve Brandon Smith was ejected for targeting in the second quarter before reserve Jan Johnson went down with a season-ending knee injury. It couldn’t get much worse ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — John Reid is injured and 2,700 miles away from the rest of Penn State’s players, but he’s still doing everything he can to be a great teammate. Reid has been a big part of the Nittany Lion program the past two years, and he would have been a very valuable component ...
Penn State ran near the top of the list for blue-chip recruit Sam Mustipher three years ago but came up short in the end, and Mustipher wound up signing with Notre Dame. The Nittany Lions were able to seal the deal with Mustipher’s younger brother, P.J. With spots in Penn State’s 2018 ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — Kevin Givens was asked a simple question about how he thought he played last season, and it became a funny moment when he turned the tables on the reporter. “Well, what did you think?” Givens asked his interviewer during Penn State’s media day Saturday. The Altoona ...
NASSAU, Bahamas — The Penn State men’s basketball team prevailed, 109-105, over the New Providence Basketball Association All-Stars in a double-overtime thriller in the first game of the “Summer of Thunder” tournament in the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium Sunday afternoon. ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — Saquon Barkley can actually still improve his all-around game, which if you think about it, is a scary notion. No sooner than he sat down for his media day press conference Saturday afternoon did Barkley receive a question about the Heisman Trophy. “The Heisman award ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — Of all the great recruiting James Franklin has done since arriving here, a case can be made that no one has made a bigger one-year splash than Joe Moorhead. Never mind that he’s not a player but the Nittany Lions’ offensive coordinator. Moorhead took a dormant ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — The old saying goes that “the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra,” and that’s how Penn State coach James Franklin says this year’s team can improve on the 2016 Big Ten championship season. It comes down to the little things that ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State started off 2-2 last season, and the Nittany Lions went on a remarkable nine-game winning streak and won the Big Ten Conference championship before losing a wild 52-49 Rose Bowl game to USC. Now what? How will the Lions, who have most of their starters back from ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State women’s hockey team released its schedule for the 2017-18 season, as announced by first-year coach Jeff Kampersal. The Nittany Lions’ sixth season as a varsity program features 15 home games inside the Pegula Ice Arena. “September can’t come soon ...