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and is now packing just under 230 pounds on his 6-foot frame. He���s still not the biggest linebacker on the roster, but he is the strongest. ���He���s strong as heck,��� Carson said. ���He���s one of the strongest kids on the team. He���s fast, he���s quick. He pays attention to detail. That���s one of the things that we pride ourselves on as a linebacker crew, attending to detail. He���s a kid who does that in the film room. He takes criticism well. He really looks to get better and improve.��� To enhance his game, Hull has been scrutinizing film of his performances last season, finding subtle flaws that need to be corrected before Penn State takes the field on Aug. 31 against Syracuse. He said he expects to have a more thorough grasp of his assignments this year than he did as a sophomore. ���When you���re unsure of your assignment, you���re hesitating a little bit,��� he said. ���Also, in the run game, you just want to stay low and square when taking on blocks. The more you work on it and are aware of your vulnerabilities, the better you���re going to be as you try to improve.��� Hull, who plans to continue playing on special teams, said he���s eager to step into a starting role on a defense that has developed more than its fair share of NFL-caliber linebackers in the past decade. Under assistant coach Ron Vanderlinden, Penn State has produced a number of standout pros, including Paul Posluszny, Dan Connor, Sean Lee and NaVorro Bowman. Hull said current players can���t help but be aware of the players who preceded them. ���We recognize the linebacker tradition at Penn State,��� he said. ���It motivates all of us to keep working toward the tradition that they���ve left for us.��� The program���s most recent standouts are Mauti and Hodges, players whom Hull is seeking to emulate as he prepares for the upcoming season. ���What I���ve taken from them is basically the way they play the game,��� he said. ���They���re intense, fast on the field, and they have great leadership qualities. That���s how it is at Linebacker U. When it���s your time to step up, it���s go time. It���s your time to shine. I���m ready to fill that spot and help our defense this year.��� SAFETIES FIRST Anthony Midget joins staff to help with secondary | Penn State safeties coach Anthony Midget has only been on Bill O���Brien���s staff for about two months now. But on the practice field and in the defensive backs room at the Lasch Building, the energetic young coach hasn���t seemed like a newcomer. ���If you didn���t know any better, you would think he���s been here for three or four years. He���s really adapted very well,��� senior safety Malcolm Willis said. ���He���s the kind of coach that you like to be around. ���He���s real energetic, he���s enthusiastic, he���s just half a step under Coach [John] Butler as far as enthusiasm goes, so he���s been adapting really well." Recently, the 35-year-old native of Clewiston, Fla., took questions from Penn State beat writers for the first time since being hired by O���Brien in February. His hiring came less than two weeks after he had taken the same position at Marshall University. Midget chose to interview with the Nittany Lions after receiving an unexpected call from O���Brien following the departure of defensive coordinator Ted Roof. ���[O���Brien] asked me if I was interested, and I told him yes, and from there we talked. I interviewed for the job and he offered me the job,��� Midget said. ���A week and a half later, I was at Penn State. It was an opportunity to come to one of the storied college programs in the country and be a part of the staff here, and that���s why I ended up taking the job. ���With Coach O���Brien and what the guys did last year, I wanted to be a part of the staff and be a part of getting this thing turned around and just building on what they did last year and taking this thing to the next level.��� Since his hiring, Midget has made a favorable impression on his coaching colleagues and players. Focusing solely on the safeties, as opposed to the secondary and special teams during his five-year tenure under head coach Bill Curry at Georgia State, Midget quickly acclimated himself to defensive coordinator Butler���s terminology during the few weeks of film breakdown from last season leading up to the start of spring practice on March 18. Midget said he���s appreciated the senior leadership of both Willis and fellow safety Stephen Obeng-Agyapong, who is being held out of contact drills this spring while recovering from shoulder surgery. ���It���s just made the transition that much easier, because those guys are basically coaches on the field and they understand the defense, understand what we want and can help us with the younger guys,��� he said. Midget is a former Virginia Tech All-American who played for a national championship during his career and later had stints with the Atlanta SEE MIDGET PAGE 59

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