Blue White Illustrated

UP CLOS E & P ERS ONA L HUNTING FORinSUCCESSat Penn State Lineman Brendan Mahon overcomes setback time for his arrival BY TIM OWEN owen.tim.bwi@gmail.com rendan Mahon calls himself an "outdoorsy" type of guy. Having grown up along Shongum Lake, a near-400-acre body of water in Randolph, N.J., Mahon is an avid fisherman, and he recently took up archery hunting as well. When he moves to central Pennsylvania this summer – to begin his career as a Penn State student-athlete – he plans to continue that lifestyle, if time allows, of course. In fact, future teammate Christian Hackenberg is also an outdoorsman, and they have scoped out places to fish and hunt in Centre County. "Me and Hackenberg already have our hunting spot up there," Mahon said. "We have our spot like five, 10 minutes away from Beaver Stadium, so we're set with that." When they're not in the woods, Mahon will be responsible for protecting his five-star hunting buddy on the football field. According to scouting services, Mahon is a stalwart. A four-star offensive guard, he is ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 2 recruit in Penn State's Class of 2013 and the 58th-best overall prospect in the country. He's also considered the third-best guard in the nation and the second-best senior in the Garden State. As has been widely reported, Hackenberg will be in a heated battle for playing time when he arrives on campus this summer. Mahon, too, is eager to get on the field and display his potential,. But he must first overcome a setback that has hindered him for the past eight months. Since the beginning of his senior year, Mahon has been bothered by a seemingly never-ending sinus infection. The infection has clogged up his nose, causing breathing problems and B THE MAHON FILE HONORS Played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl... Rivals.com ranks Mahon a four-star prospect, the No. 3 offensive guard in the country, the No. 58 player overall and the No. 2 player in New Jersey... Named to the New Jersey Football Coaches Assocation Super 100 Team even bouts of pneumonia. He finally had surgery in April, which caused him to miss his scheduled visit for the Blue-White Game, but he said he's already feeling relief and should be fully healed by the time fall camp arrives. "I was sick throughout my whole senior season, so I kinda just got used to playing with it," Mahon explained. "I really couldn't breathe at all. ... It was something that was with me for so long that I kinda just became accustomed to it, [before] finally I went to a specialist and he figured out the problem." Partly due to the infection, the 6foot-5 Mahon has slimmed down during the past few months. He weighed nearly 315 pounds before his senior season, but was down to 295 by the time he had the sinus procedure. "I've been pretty limited with everything," he said. "Every time I would begin to work out, I would just keep getting worse and worse, so I've had to rest for a little while. Now that the surgery is over, I'm 100 percent and ready to go." The weight loss might not be a bad thing. Scouts who saw Mahon in action at the U.S. Army All-American Game in January said he appeared to be quicker than before with better balance and footwork – and they weren't aware that he was being hindered by a nagging illness. Mahon's versatility also stood out. He played mostly at the right offensive tackle spot for the Randolph Rams but is expected to be a guard for the Nittany Lions. In addition, he has shown the ability to play center, too. At the All-American Game, Mahon volunteered to play center out of necessity. He had never snapped the ball in a game until that week in San Antonio, Texas. But facing the top high school talent in the country, Mahon fared well, scouts said. "He's a big, physical kid," said Rivals national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell, who attended the All-American Game. "He likes to get his hands on you and he likes to move you around. He's a road grader at guard and he's showing he can play center at the next level as well." Penn State offensive line coach Mac McWhorter told Mahon that having the ability to play center will only increase his chances of seeing early playing time. "He said that the more positions you can play, the more valuable are," Mahon recalled. Mahon is hoping that he proves valuable enough to earn a spot on the travel squad as a true freshman. "[The coaches] pretty much left it up to me," he said. "They said when I come into camp it's all up to how I perform. If I come out and do my best, the sky's the limit. They haven't directly said if I'm going to be a redshirt or not, so its really up to me at this point."

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