Blue White Illustrated

file series. He did, however, post a position-best 127-inch broad jump and finished in the top 10 in the ver- tical jump (39.0 inches) and 60-yard shuttle (11.36 seconds). At Penn State's pro day on Holuba Hall's notoriously fast track, Robin- son improved his numbers substan- tially. His hand-timed 40 speed ranged from 4.42 to 4.47 seconds, and he ran a 6.53-second three-cone drill. He also had a 42.0-inch vertical jump and a 131.0-inch broad jump. Robinson called the day "produc- tive" but added that numbers don't necessarily reflect a player's true speed. "You see guys like De'Anthony Thomas from Oregon, who runs a 4.5 at the combine, and you see him on film and he's absolutely lightning. It's amazing," Robinson said. "There are a lot of factors that go into it, a lot of technique things. A lot of it is just being a technician in your start in the 40, really locking in and focusing on the technique that you practiced." Robinson has embraced an under- dog mentality, one that he first adopted in high school, saying that he's accustomed to skepticism and that the process hasn't affected his spirits. If Kiper's final evaluation is any indication of the opportunity that lies ahead, the former Nittany Lion has plenty of reason to feel opti- mistic about the future. "With him, you like the size, you like the ability to go down the field in traffic," Kiper said. "When he's one- on-one with the corner, he's going to outduel that cornerback to the foot- ball. He did that time and again this year. Speed and separation [are the things] he's going to have to continue to work on, but guys can get faster, they can improve their explosiveness out of the break. "He's going to have to keep working on that, but he's a kid I thought with another year at Penn State would have been a late-one, early-two. So if you can get Allen Robinson in the third round, I think you can get some nice value there." – NATE BAUER F O O T B A L L Group planning Paterno statue During the darkest days of the Sandusky scandal, Joe Paterno's statue outside Beaver Stadium became a flashpoint for Penn State. On July 13, 2012, it came down, and it hasn't been seen since, its pavilion having been bulldozed and replaced by a grassy embankment and a row of saplings. But tempers have cooled in the two years since the statue vanished, and while the university has not announced any plans to bring it back, a group of Paterno loyalists is taking matters into its own hands. The group is planning to put a new statue of the longtime Nittany Lions coach outside the Tavern Restaurant in downtown State Col- lege across from campus. One of the leaders of the group, Ted Sebastianelli, told On- ward State that the project was inspired by the university's decision to dismantle the original statue. "There's been some level of frustration among Penn Staters with what happened with the statue at the stadium," he said. "We wanted to come up with a way to honor Joe for all that he did for the State College community. It wasn't just the university he impacted – it was the whole town." The statue is to be sculpted by Zenos Frudakis and will be modeled after a well- known photo of Paterno seated alone on a bench near the Creamery. Often celebrated for his appreciation of classic literature, Paterno will be depicted holding a copy of "The Aeneid." Organizers are looking to raise funds for the $300,000 project via a Kickstarter campaign that is set to begin in July. In addition, the Porterfield Group is planning to donate a portion of the DVD sales of its latest Paterno-themed movie, "The People's Joe," which will be released in November. The Paterno family is not involved in the statue project. Organizers have received the necessary permits and hope to have the statue in place by November 2015. Sebastianelli, a former president of the Football Letterman's Club and a candidate for the board of trustees, told Onward State that the location works well because the Tavern is a gathering spot for alumni when they visit Penn State. "It really will be a wonderful addition to the community," he said. ■ Danielle Blasser

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