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Some notes to digest as the Nittany Lions gear up for their first College Football Playoff appearance:
n This is attrition season in college football, and it started for Penn State on Thursday with the announcement that safety Kevin Winston Jr. will enter the NFL Draft.
Winston missed almost the entire year with a knee injury that required surgery after he left the Bowling Green game on Sept. 7.
He was voted a team captain as a junior after a strong 2023 season, and his presence with Jaylen Reed gave the Lions two dynamic safeties.
Winston's absence was particularly noticeable as the Nittany Lions' secondary was torched against Oregon in the Big Ten championship game last week.
Reports indicate Winston has been cleared to start working out on March 1 in preparation for the NFL Draft.
Underclassmen must declare their intentions by mid-January, although the deadline is fluid to allow flexibility for players on teams in the College Football Playoff.
Abdul Carter, the reigning national defensive player of the year, is also a strong candidate to come out.
n Penn State did get a dose of good news when Andy Kotelnicki announced via Twitter that he plans to return in 2025.
The Lions' offensive coordinator brought an air of spread-the-field creativity to the program and, save for the goal line vs. Ohio State and Drew Allar's final interception against Oregon, did a very good job overall.
Kotelnicki had interviewed with West Virginia, which wound up bringing back its former coach, Rich Rodriguez.
n The Big Ten didn't waste time in announcing its schedule for next year, and Penn State's home highlight is a Sept. 27 matchup with Oregon that has already been confirmed as a noon kickoff for Fox.
n Most fans are not happy with Fox and its noon kickoffs -- preferring the later starts, especially when factoring in opponents for the whiteout games.
n The upside of the Nits' schedule is it features open dates prior to both Oregon and the Nov. 1 visit to Columbus.
n Bill Belichick going to North Carolina is fascinating and should be a major boost to the Tar Heels, the ACC and the college game in general. It's not a huge risk to North Carolina, which hasn't won a conference title since 1980. My reservation on projecting CFP success for Belichick is that NFL coaches focus mainly on Xs and Os while college head coaches must wear multiple hats. Excellence in one isn't guaranteed in the other.
n It's kind of humorous that while he coached the Patriots, Belichick didn't have a general manager (he performed that task himself) but he'll have one (Mike Lombardi, no related to Vince) at UNC, a new trend in college football because of NIL, shared revenue and the transfer portal.
n Unfortunately for Pitt fans in this region, the Tar Heels are not scheduled to play the Panthers next season.
n How long Belichick will stay at North Carolina will be an ongoing question. For now, one season seems assured as his contract buyout is $10 million until June 1, 2025 and then just $1 million thereafter, which any NFL team willing to hire him would absorb.
n Virginia Tech's 6-6 season has forced Brent Pry to fire several coaches, and the Altoona native unfortunately will enter 2025 on the hot seat.
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.