Blue White Illustrated

biggest knock is that he uses that sidearm motion when throwing the ball. You can see that on film, so the Penn State coaches already know they���re going to have to work on it.��� Despite the fact that College of Sequoias is some 2,260 miles from Penn State���s campus, Pankey was not surprised when Nittany Lions head coach Bill O���Brien telephoned in mid-December and said he was interested in Ferguson. Pankey said more Division I teams are looking at junior college players than in the past, and it doesn���t matter where the junior college is located. ���Colleges understand that most freshmen who come in are not able to start, but if they start their sophomore year and have a good year and then another in their junior year, then they���re gone,��� Pankey said. ���They���re not getting kids to stay for their senior year because the money [in the NFL] is too big to pass up. So by taking a junior college kid sometimes, you get a guy who���s been playing ball for those two years, has been coached well and might have an opportunity to come in and compete for a starting job or, at least, be a solid backup.��� Until recent years, Penn State had not often looked to junior colleges for those types of experienced players. Yet it was more than 40 years ago, when Joe Paterno was seeking a placekicker, that assistant coach John Chuckran found Al Vitello, a native of Naples, Italy, at Nassau (N.Y.) Community College, who had set a junior college record with a 60-yard field goal. Vitello became Penn State���s first soccer-style place-kicker and the first to kick with his left foot. He broke most of the school���s place-kicking records in his first season, 1971, when he hit 59 of 62 extra points and 5 of 13 field goals for 74 points. He wrapped up his career the following season by setting a Cotton Bowl record with three field goals in Penn State���s historic 30-6 upset of Texas. Vitello���s success led another Nassau Community College player to Penn State in 1973: Rich Mauti, the father of 2012 standout linebacker Michael Mauti. Injuries wiped out Rich���s first season and most of the 1974 season. He evolved into solid backup tailback and spot receiver and led the team in kick returns in 1975 and 1976 and punt returns in ���76 before embarking on an eight-year NFL career. Nine years later, Penn State���s third recruit from Nassau Community College, receiver Mike Alexander, came aboard. Alexander played sparingly in 1985, sat out in 1986 to concentrate on his academics and in 1987 developed into the team���s second-leading receiver, behind tailback Blair Thomas, with 20 catches for 286 yards. Based on this writer���s research, after Alexander, Penn State didn���t sign any more junior college players until 2007, when it landed Nerraw McCormick of Nassau and Ako Poti of San Francisco Community College to beef up its offensive line. As anyone who follows Penn State football knows, it was a dearth of quarterbacks on the preliminary 2013 roster that brought Ferguson to campus in January. With little-used sophomore-to-be Steven Bench the only experienced quarterback on the spring practice roster and highly regarded recruit Christian Hackenberg not enrolling until the summer, Penn State scoured the junior colleges for a quarterback. If the No. 1 junior college quarterback of 2011, Jake Waters of Iowa Western Community College, had not spurned a Penn State offer in early December to play for Kansas State, it���s doubtful Ferguson would now be at Penn State. That led the Nittany Lions to pry Ferguson away from his verbal commitment to the University of Houston. Of course, these seemly unethical lastminute flips by recruits and coaches are a perfect example of how razor thin and mercurial recruiting has become in the modern era. Ferguson was rated only a threestar prospect by Rivals. But recruiting expert Mike Farrell said he believes Ferguson has great potential, particularly under the tutelage of O���Brien and Penn State quarterbacks coach Charlie Fisher. ���He���s physically ready,��� Farrell said of the 6-foot-5, 210-pound Ferguson. ���The biggest thing is his interceptions and decision making. ��� He has a big arm, but he tends to use that arm to force things too much.��� Ferguson played only one season at Sequoia and probably would not have needed to go the junior college recruiting route if he hadn���t broken his collarbone midway through his senior season at Bakersfield Ridgeview High School in 2011. ���Bakersfield is about 70 miles south of Sequoia,��� Pankey said. ���A lot of colleges were on him after his junior year but they kind of backed off after he broke his collarbone, and we went down and got him. He knew if he had a good season here, he���d have an opportunity to leave after one semester.��� Ferguson remembered his high school recruiting travail the day he signed with Penn State. ���Coming out of high school and seeing 180 quarterbacks getting a scholarship, I thought, ���What the heck?��� ��� Ferguson told the Bakersfield Californian. ���I actually thought about playing Division III basketball. But I���ve had that extra year to mature instead. I���m really happy with the way things worked out.��� Although Sequoia was winless in the six-team Valley North Division of the Northern California Football Association, it won four nonconference games for a 4-6 final record. Ferguson completed 55 percent of his passes for 2,614 yards and 22 touchdowns. Pankey said Ferguson made sure coach-

• Cover