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LAST WORD T I M O W E N | O W E N . T I M . B W I @ G M A I L . C O M he first of this summer's newcom- ers is also the oldest. By a long shot. When Penn State's 22 other in- coming football recruits were getting ready for prom and high school gradua- tion, Kevin Reihner was already study- ing for a master's degree. When the freshmen arrive at their dorm rooms this summer, a full career ahead, Reihn- er will already have been living in an apartment, only one season left to be played. They'll have at least four years to contribute; for Reihner, the time is now. And his greatest impact could take place before the season even begins. A degree from Stanford in hand, Reih- ner has been living in the 814 for a cou- ple months now. He was in town to watch much of spring practice from the sideline before officially being added to Penn State's roster in mid-May, when he officially was permitted to begin working out with the team. A 6-foot-3, 312-pound interior offensive lineman, a legacy prospect from from Scranton, Reihner joins PSU at a position of dire need, and it doesn't take a Stanford grad to know the Lions are in need of OL re- inforcements. But after playing most of his first four years at center, Reihner joins a roster that already has an established starter at his position. And that's OK. Even if he never earns a single start in his 12 games as a Nittany Lion, he adds a specific val- ue that was severely lacking a season ago: someone with real-life game expe- rience who is a legitimate and serious contender for playing time at multiple positions. Head coach James Franklin calls it a "bonus" role. "He's an older guy, he's a mature guy and he's a smart guy," Franklin said. "That's valuable alone." With his age, smarts and experience – he has played in 20 games – Reihner is raising the level of competition this off- season just by virtue of his presence at Penn State. Only time will tell if he's able to lock up a spot, or how much playing time he'll see, or even how much of an im- pact his addition will truly have on the unit. No matter what, though, the sum of the parts always creates a greater whole, and in this case, the more parts and the more experienced they are, the better. When, after signing day this past Feb- ruary, offensive line coach Herb Hand offered to Reihner one of the Nittany Lions' remaining scholarships, it came with the forewarning that playing time wouldn't be a given. "If someone beats someone out, or if someone pushes someone and doesn't get beat out, then the team gets better," Reihner said in February. "So I want to go in there and win a job and make the team better." Franklin affirmed in May at a Coach- es Caravan stop that he views fifth- year senior Angelo Mangiro "as our starting center" heading into preseason practice. Reihner is a helping hand to tie the overall improvement of the unit together. If Reihner does, after all, want to become a football coach – he's studying educational leadership as a grad student – this is not a bad place to start. "If Reihner is able to come in and help us, great, but right now he's a bonus," Franklin said. "Anything he gives us more than what we already have, great." The same can be said for the other in- coming recruits. There will be one or two blue-chippers who push for first- team reps from day one, almost certain- ly, but most will simply add an infusion of youthful energy to everyday practice, raising the overall tidemark of talent on Penn State's roster, increasing the sum of the whole. Which, Franklin hopes, will ultimately buoy up the rest of the players – and future teams – to higher reaches of success. Franklin has begun referencing Penn State squads from decades ago, the ros- ters in the 1980s and early '90s that competed for championships and made national headlines. He cites the Miami Hurricanes of those years, too, when even the scout team was littered with future NFL players, sometimes boasting as many as the starting lineup. "Those guys were competing and lit- erally pushing those starters every sin- gle day, which makes them better and makes your team better, no doubt about it," Franklin said. "You want to get to the point where your No. 3s are on the scout team and you're going against a scout team every single day [with players] who are scholarship players across the board. If you don't bring your A game every single day, the scout team is going to get after you." Franklin estimates that Penn State's roster is still about three recruiting classes shy of creating that kind of a system, but he maintains that that's the pinnacle he hopes to reach. The likes of the incoming freshman class or the one that arrived a year ago, however, could be the first legs to get there. Out-of- the-box, short-term additions such as Reihner can help, too. Because when it comes down to it, it's about increasing the sum for a greater whole. ■ Bonus prize T

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