Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1276571
derson said. "They were both good stu- dents and they worked at it all the time, very conscientious kids and very deter- mined players. "Brad was physically very tight and sti= when he came to Penn State, and he knew that. And he worked and he worked and he worked to get better to the point where he was a pretty darn good player. "Dorney was probably the most relent- less player that we had, very, very com- petitive, and I'm sure that's why he played as long as he did in the NFL. He was not only a hard worker and got him- self prepared, but, boy, he was relentless. "Levi made a sacri;ce for his team a?er his freshman year. He came to Penn State as a defensive tackle and was doing fairly well under coach Larry Johnson. The sta=, led by Coach Paterno, began to dis- cuss Levi's potential as an o=ensive tackle, and a?er many discussions with Levi, he agreed to make the switch. Obvi- ously, it turned out well. Levi was an out- standing person and player." Life after football When their playing days were over, Benson, Dorney and Brown went in dif- ferent directions, but these days they are all involved in the ;nancial world. A?er three years of a semiretired life- style, Brown added a Penn State master's degree in professional studies for human resources and employment to his two un- dergraduate degrees in labor and indus- trial relations and psychology. For the past 18 months, he has been leading a team of certi;ed ;nancial planners and chartered analysts for Surevest Wealth Management out of its corporate o>ce in Phoenix and plans to work on an MBA from Creighton. While Benson was still playing, he >> Former Penn State lettermen D.J. Dozier, Bobby Engram and Steve Wis- niewski have been selected as a part of the ballot for the National Football Foundation's College Hall of Fame Class of 2021. A total of 78 players and seven coaches from the Football Bowl Subdi- vision are on the 2021 ballot. The trio of standouts have an op- portunity to join 19 former Nit- tany Lion players and ;ve Penn State coaches who have been in- ducted into the hall. Also on the Hall of Fame ballot is former Nittany Lion student-athlete Glenn Killinger, who is among the candidates for the divisional coach Class of 2021. Killinger was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1966. Additionally, ;rst- year Penn State wide receivers coach Tay- lor Stubble;eld is on the ballot. Stubble- ;eld was a wide re- ceiver at Purdue from 2001-04 and was a consensus All-American and a ;nalist for the Bilet- niko= Award in his ;nal season with the Boilermakers. The announcement of the 2021 Class will be made early next year. Dozier matriculated to Happy Valley from Virginia Beach, Va., and earned ;rst-team All-America honors from the Walter Camp Football Foundation in 1986. He is the only Nittany Lion to lead the team in rushing four consecu- tive seasons, doing so from 1983-86. He ranks No. 5 on the school's ca- reer rushing yardage list with 3,227 yards, scoring 25 touch- downs and averaging 5.2 yards per at- tempt. Dozier gained 1,002 yards as a freshman and tallied 811 yards and scored 10 touch- downs as a senior and was one of the instrumental players on the Nittany Lions' 12-0 national championship squad. Engram is considered one of the greatest wide receivers in Penn State history. As a junior on the Lions' undefeated Big Ten and Rose Bowl championship team of 1994, Engram won the ;rst Biletniko= Award, which is given annually to the best receiver in college football. When he graduated in 1996, Engram held 12 team receiving records and still holds the records for receiving yards in a ca- reer (3,026) and single season (1,084) and touchdown receptions in a game (four against Minnesota in 1993), a sea- son (13 in 1993) and career (31). Wisniewski was a three-year starter at guard for the Nittany Lions and went on to become an All-Pro lineman in the NFL. He was one of two sophomores to start on the 1986 national championship team and he opened holes for ;rst-team All-America running backs Dozier (1986) and Blair Thomas (1987). One of only four Penn State o=ensive linemen to earn a pair of ;rst-team All-America honors, he was recognized in 1988 by the American Football Coaches Association and The Sporting News. A 1988 team captain, Wisniewski is one of only two o=ensive linemen to earn Penn State's team MVP honor since its creation in 1978. The 2021 College Football Hall of Fame class will be o>cially inducted during the 64th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 7, 2021, at the New York Hilton Midtown. ■ Three Nittany Lion greats on ballot for College Hall of Fame BOBBY ENGRAM Mark Selders