Blue White Illustrated

FAMILY TREE Irv Pankey plays a role in his alma mater���s latest recruiting effort as a coach at College of the Sequoias t may seem improbable to tie in a Bakersfield, Calif., high school standout who is Penn State���s first junior college quarterback with the outstanding 1978 Penn State team that was the first to become No. 1 in the polls. But when Penn State decided in midDecember to offer a scholarship to Tyler Ferguson of College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Calif., it had help from Irv Pankey, the starting tight end on that ill-fated ���78 team that lost the national championship to Alabama, 14-7, in the Sugar Bowl on New Year���s night. Pankey, who went on to play 13 years in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams and Indianapolis Colts, has been an I WEST COAST OFFENSE Pankey has been coaching at College of the Sequoias since 1998. His focus is the offensive line. Photo courtesy of College of the Sequoias assistant coach at College of the Sequoias since 1998. His official title is assistant head coach, and his prime responsibility is the offensive line. However, when you are one of two full-time coaches on the staff, with seven parttime assistants, and you coach the offensive line, you spend a lot of time with the quarterbacks and running backs. ���I didn���t coach [Tyler] personally,��� Pankey said, ���but I told him to correct a few things. I���m not a quarterback coach, but I���ve been around the game long enough [that] I know a lot about certain things a quarterback has to do. I told him how to handle offensive linemen and what he needed to do now and then. Because I���m the assistant head coach, I put my two cents in, and he took criticism well. ���He���s an intelligent kid. Sometimes he gets a little lazy with his throwing motion, but I think that���s his only weakness. He���s a good football player, and he���s a tall kid so he���s rangy. He moves very well in the pocket, very smooth, and he doesn���t panic. My

• Cover