Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/199173
GETTING OUT OF THE PENALTY BO The NCAA's unexpected reprieve gives Penn State new hope as it strives for a post-scandal revival | T alking to Penn State players about the NCAA's decision to relax some of its penalties against the university's football program, you could be excused for wondering what all the fuss was about. The news had begun circulating on social media, appearing first on the Facebook page of Penn State trustee Barbara Doran and going viral within minutes. As it made its way across the more blue-and-white-tinted corners of the Internet, you could practically feel the wires crackling with a combination of excitement and surprise. But if the Nittany Lions themselves were fazed in any way, they quickly recomposed themselves. Focused on the season at hand, not the ones to come, they displayed the sort of excitement that one might associate with a 4-yard gain on first down or a successful PAT. "You're just going through your daily routine, no matter whether the sanctions get lifted or not," shrugged junior kicker Sam Ficken. "We're not going to practice any different. We're not going to play any different. We're not going to train in the off-season any different. For us, there's no real change. " Maybe not. At least not immediately, and the need to refocus on the here and now helps explain why coach Bill O'Brien warned reporters earlier this month, "I wouldn't bother asking our players about that. They won't answer it, I promise you." But for the program as a whole, a program that had been left for dead in July 2012 when NCAA president Mark Emmert announced a range of unprecedented penalties against the school's athletic department, this was the most welcome piece of news in a long, long time. On Sept. 24, the NCAA announced that it was going to ease the sanctions it had levied in the wake of Jerry Sandusky's conviction and the release of Louis Freeh's devastating report on the university's handling of allegations against the former assistant coach. Citing the positive reviews that Penn State has received from former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, who has been serving as an independent