Blue White Illustrated

Shane Conlan's enshrinement into the College Football Hall of Fame was long overdue. Conlan, who was honored at Beaver Stadium during half- time of the Ohio State game, is only the third Penn State line- backer inducted into the Na- tional Football Foundation's pantheon and the first in 19 years following Jack Ham (1990) and Dennis Onkotz (1995). For a school rightfully honored as Linebacker U, it may seem like a snub that only three of Penn State's bona fide first-team All-America lineback- ers are in the College Football Hall of Fame. Yet, only one other team has three linebackers in the hall: Alabama with Cornelius Bennett (2005), Woodrow Lowe (2009) and Derrick Thomas (who also was inducted this year). Four schools have two linebackers: Ohio State, Tennessee, Kansas State and Dartmouth (which is in the Football Championship Subdivision). In fact, only 49 linebackers have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and only 36 are from the Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision. With those numbers, former All- America linebackers are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be se- lected to the hall. That means some great Penn State F O O T B A L L Hull, Amos to play in Senior Bowl Two standouts on Penn State's nationally ranked defense were among the first players to accept invitations to play in the 66th Reese's Senior Bowl. Safety Adrian Amos and line- backer Mike Hull have accepted in- vitations to participate in the na- tion's premier all-star contest on Saturday, Jan. 24. Kickoff is at 4 p.m. ET at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala. The NFL Network will televise the contest. Amos and Hull are the 29th and 30th Nittany Lions selected to play in the Senior Bowl in the past 15 years. Penn State defensive tackle DaQuan Jones played in last year's contest, defensive tackle Jordan Hill played in the 2013 Senior Bowl and defensive end Jack Crawford, cornerback D'Anton Lynn and guard Johnnie Troutman played in the 2012 Sen- ior Bowl. With the selection of Amos and Hull, a total of 110 Nittany Lions all-time have been invited to play in the Senior Bowl. Amos and Hull have played an in- strumental role in helping Penn State rank in the top 10 in the Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision in rushing defense, total defense and scoring defense. HALL OF FAMER Conlan was honored during Penn State's game against Ohio State. Photo by Patrick Mansell L O U ' S V I E W >> L O U P R A T O O N P S U F O O T B A L L H I S T O R Y Conlan's induction puts PSU in exalted company

• Cover