High in Winchester, Va., except for a brief
stint at running back during the latter
half of his senior season. But he also was
a two-time ;rst-team All-State choice
on defense and the Northern Virgina Dai-
ly's Defensive Player of the Year, and when
he was being recruited, he made it clear
that he wanted to play defense at the col-
lege level. Said Dowrey, "I guess I always
wanted the glamour of the D-line."
But there was nothing glamorous about
the lower rungs of the depth chart, and
Dowrey began to suspect that he might
be better o< on oy,
and I was always ;ghting that. That was
always my weakness as a defensive line-
man. Now I can play to my strengths."
A>er the 6-3, 323-pound Dowrey
switched, he had a few meetings with of-
fensive line coach Herb Hand to begin the
transition. He drew on his experience as
a high school lineman
and began studying Penn
State's playbook in
preparation for spring
drills. If the switch had
happened earlier in his career, before the
Lions had made their coaching change
and began revamping their terminology,
he might have had an edge in scrimmages.
"It sucks a little bit, because if we'd had
the old sta<, I would have known their
defense," he laughed. "They could have
made a call and I would have known it."
He could have also traded intelligence
with his roommate, Gaia. The 6-3, 291-
pounder from Pasadena, Md., was still a
member of the defensive line when Dowrey
switched, but that changed when players
was enlisted to lead Make-A-Wish families
around the Lasch Building as part of the
football team's annual walk-through held
in connection with THON.
But as with any serious injury, the reality
set in a>er the shock subsided. And for
Penn State, the reality is that life without
Dieer all. But even he regards the
Nittany Lions' situation on the oed away, they held true to their com-
mitments throughout the Sandusky scan-
dal and enrolled at Penn State in 2012.
Dowrey had played on the o
