Monday Recap: Looking Back On What I’ve Neglected In The Past Week
Didn't think you were ever going to see a picture of Melissa Theuriau open up a post on here again, did you? I hope you're happy to be proven wrong.
The latter half of the past week was a busy one with finals getting in the way. Hence, I missed out on the ability to write about the latest hot topics in the PSU athletics world. Now is the time for me to repent and offer my quick two cents what should’ve been covered last week:
- Hey Tom Lemming, De-Star This! Football recruiting got a boost with the commitments of 4-star tailback Silas Redd and offensive lineman Luke Graham. These commitments helped to strengthen what is already shaping up to be a solid 2010 recruiting class, despite the lack of available scholarships. It’s only a matter of time though before “recruiting guru” Tom Lemming swoops in to do his annual de-grading of highly-rated recruits that end up committing to Penn State (all while bumping up every Notre Dame recruit’s ratings).
- It’s Okay, You Can Step Out Of Your Bomb Shelter Now: Looks like I jumped the gun with regards to last week’s Marijuana-Gate. Turns out that some out-of-town visitor confessed to being the owner of the marijuana found in the apartment of Stephfon Green, Eric Latimore, Devon Still, and Johnnie Troutman. Needless to say, this is one of the few times in my life where I’ve felt elated to be dead wrong on a prediction as I predicted last week that charges would likely be forthcoming and we’d have yet another legal mess for ESPN to create a propagandic “hit piece” about.
- Egads! Another Basketball Recruit! The Fighting DeChellises kept alive the tradition of grabbing out of thin air, one final recruit for the incoming class. In this case though: The late grab of Bill Edwards, Jr. a 6′5″ small forward, turns out to be one that has the PSU hoops fanbase (myself included) excited and intrigued. Here’s ESPN’s nice little description of Edwards:
July, 2008: Edwards had a great tournament (2008 Adidas Take Five), playing with consistent effort throughout the event. He demonstrated a willingness to help his team win and did whatever it took to be successful. This lefty has a nice set of skills beginning with his ballhandling. Edwards can take bigger, slower defenders off the dribble and get to the basket. He utilized his pull-up jumper in the lane as he attacked the basket. What really stood out is that he shot the ball well from the beyond the arc — he also knocked down a few 3s in transition. If he sees a smaller defender on him, he will post him up and score. He is not afraid to go to the offensive glass and rebound. He also gets to the free-throw line for some of his points. Defensively, he has an understanding of help-side defense and will step in and take the charge.
I don’t know about you, but Edwards sounds like the next great “tweener” to suit up for the Blue and White: Much like Jamelle Cornley, Travis Parker, and Geary Claxton before him but perhaps with a better 3-point shot. The problem now though, is the fact that all of PSU’s scholarships are used up through 2010-11. A lot of folks thought we were going to try and land a Center for the class of 2010 to come in with Taran Buie but that no longer seems to be the case, unless of course, some current player on the roster is planning on transferring or graduating early. I’m not going to speculate on anything at this point, but it’s certainly something you should monitor over the next several months.
- USC Moves Up On The PSU “Hit List.” Looks like Iowa isn’t the only team that’s been a thorn in PSU’s side in multiple sports lately. USC’s men’s volleyball team denied PSU a shot at repeating as national champions by winning 3 sets to 1 in the nationial semi-finals last Thursday. The good guys actually won the first set but proceeded to go downhill from there, which just happened to be around the time that I turned the channel over to ESPN2. Instrumental to USC’s victory was a guy named Murphy Troy, a name so shady-sounding and similar to NBA star Troy Murphy that the kid should have his eligibility checked. Granted, it’s a moot point since USC was dropped in the championship game a couple nights later by UC-Irvine.