Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1518105
A P R I L 2 0 2 4 17 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M By The Numbers 1 s t Micah Parsons' spot on the list of top-selling jerseys at Lids, the national sports apparel retail chain. The former Nittany Lion and current Dallas Cowboys All-Pro line- backer saw more of his No. 11 jerseys fly off store shelves during the 2023 season than any other player, with quarterbacks Pat- rick Mahomes of Kansas City and Jalen Hurts of Philadelphia finishing second and third, respectively, ahead of Pittsburgh linebacker T.J. Watt and Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott. Parsons took the No. 1 spot even though his jersey was the top seller in only one state — Texas. Hurts, by contrast, had the top- selling jersey in 13 states, the most of any player in the league. 4.48 CHOP ROBINSON's 40-yard dash time at the NFL Scouting Combine on Feb. 29. The 254-pound defensive end dazzled onlookers in Indianapolis by posting the ninth-fastest time in combine history by a defensive end. According to ESPN Stats & Information, his 1.54-second 10-yard split was tied for fourth since 2003 among defensive ends weighing 250 pounds or more. Robinson's performance at the combine, which included a 10- foot, 8-inch broad jump that was tied for this year's best among defensive ends, was seen by many as vaulting him into the first round of the upcoming NFL Draft. Dane Brugler of The Athletic had him going 29th overall to Detroit, while ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. had him going to San Francisco with the 31st pick. 7 t h Penn State's place in ESPN's SP+ football rankings as of mid-February. The brainchild of veteran college football analyst Bill Connelly, the SP+ rankings seek to quantify such factors as returning production, recruiting success and recent history. Connelly updates the rankings throughout the offseason to account for player movement. 1 3 t h Penn State's spot in ESPN.com's ranking of the 86 teams that spent at least one week in the top four of the College Football Playoff poll during the past 10 seasons. Writer David Hale gave the Nittany Lions a B+ grade for their performance during that span. "Penn State would seem to be the team that spent the most time knocking on the door of the four-team playoff without ac- tually making it, and therefore should be the team that benefits the most from playoff expansion," Hale wrote. "But it could also be the Nittany Lions have benefited already from a weak Big Ten outside of the top two teams, and there's a clear line of demarca- tion between Michigan and Ohio State and everyone else." 8 4 . 4 The Lady Lion basketball team's scoring aver- age during its 29-game regular season. It was the fourth-highest average in program history and the team's best since the 1989-90 season, when it averaged 84.6 points. Penn State ended its regular season with a 90-34 romp over visiting Minnesota on March 3. The Lady Lions' 56-point margin of victory was their largest against a Big Ten opponent since Jan. 2, 2000, when they defeated Northwest- ern by 65 points, 114-49. 1 7 0 . 5 Penn State's winning point total at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, the highest in program history. Even with the Nittany Lions forgoing any team points at 174 pounds due to senior Carter Starocci's knee injury (he defaulted twice in order to preserve his eligibility for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament field), coach Cael Sanderson's squad claimed five individual titles March 10 in College Park, Md., and outdistanced second-place Michigan by 47 points. 2 0 0 Career points for men's lacrosse standout TJ Malone. With a first-quarter assist against Cornell on March 9, the graduate attackman became only the fourth player in program history to reach the 200-point plateau. PHOTO BY KEVIN SABITUS/NFL