Blue White Illustrated

practice squad after a strong preseason camp. Although Wartman-White was not being called upon to equal Hull's prodi- gious tackling numbers, he had some at- tributes that made him well-suited to the congestion in the middle of the field – perhaps even better suited than his predecessor. Hull played at about 230 pounds last year, while Wartman-White was 20 pounds heavier heading into the current season. As Franklin noted, "Ny- eem is about a cheeseburger away from 250 pounds." Because he was a prototypical middle linebacker, Wartman-White didn't have to rely on any of the compensatory tac- tics that made Hull effective in the mid- dle. "Mike was able to get a lot of his stuff done with his movement, his change-of-direction and his quickness and his instincts," Franklin said prior to the Nittany Lions' opener. "So I think in some ways, between the tackles, we may even be more stacked" this season with Wartman-White in the middle. That isn't the case anymore. With Wartman-White relegated to the side- line for the duration of the season, Penn State will have to find a long-term solu- tion, one that works better than the stop-gap measures it was forced to take against Temple. Said Cabinda, "Guys get hurt and there's going to be a group of guys [who have to fill in]. We're going to have to step in and fill that role." Wartman-White, who also missed most of the 2012 season with a knee in- jury, has by all accounts exhibited a firm sense of resolve and a desire to help the team in any capacity he can. "He's taken a positive attitude as ex- pected," Cabinda said. "He's a very positive guy. He's supporting the hell out of us right now." Added safety Jordan Lucas, "He's al- ways going to be there. He's always go- ing to be that leader for us in the middle, whether he's on the field or not. Just yesterday he was watching film with a couple of the freshmen, and you don't see that a lot. He's taking leadership al- ready in the sense that he wants to make sure guys are prepared for the opportu- nities that lie ahead for them. He's a player-coach for us. I'm actually very excited because everything happens for a reason." It might be hard to discern that reason right now, but Wartman-White has a strong religious faith, and he has turned to it to help him rally from his latest ob- stacle. In early September, he posted the following on Instagram, alongside a photo of himself on the turf being treat- ed by medical staffers just after his in- jury: "When I was on the ground I knew I did something bad to my knee. I have the Lord in my corner and that's why I'm smiling because I understand the trials a man must go through. Every- thing happens for a reason. You can count on it that a year from now I will be twice the man I was before I hurt my knee. I'm willing to accept the chal- lenges that I will face and prevail at the end in the name of God. A man must suffer before he can enjoy. Thank you to everyone that sent love & prayers my way and words of encouragement, it is greatly appreciated. I'm coming back stronger than ever!" Wartman-White closed with a biblical verse, Romans 5:3, which seemed espe- cially relevant in the wake of his injury: "We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perse- verance." ■ The 69,176 fans who showed up at Lincoln Financial Field for Temple's home opener against Penn State of- fered a stark illustration of why the Nittany Lions' former Eastern Inde- pendent rivals are so eager to continue scheduling them. But the most storied of those long-running series is appar- ently not going to be revived as an an- nual rivalry game. Penn State is not interested in ex- tending its upcoming four-game series against Pitt, according to a recent re- port in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pitt athletic director Scott Barnes said that he was told by his Penn State counterpart, Sandy Barbour, that the Nittany Lions would not be available after the upcoming home-and-home series concludes in 2019. Barnes said the earliest the series could be resumed would be the mid- 2020s. A Penn State spokesman said that the school would be willing to discuss a resumption of the series af- ter the 2025 season, but for now, the only upcoming games in the series are the four that will begin next season when the Nittany Lions travel to Heinz Field. With Penn State unavailable after 2019, Pitt announced that it had agreed to play a four-game, home-and-home series against West Virginia beginning in 2022. "Our priority was to try and lock in Penn State as much as we could, as of- ten as we could," Barnes told the Post- Gazette. "The second priority was West Virginia." Penn State and Pitt will meet every season from 2016-19. The Nittany Li- ons will play in Pittsburgh in 2016 and '18, and the Panthers will play in State College in 2017 and '19. In addition to the Pitt series, Penn State is scheduled to play Virginia Tech for the first time in 2020 and '25 and renew its rivalry with West Virginia in 2023-24. Penn State will have five Big Ten home games in 2016 as the Big Ten moves to a nine-game conference schedule. The Nittany Lions will play three nonconference games beginning next year. In other scheduling news, Idaho will meet Penn State for the first time when it visits Beaver Stadium on Aug. 31, 2019, in the season opener for both teams. The Idaho game is the second nonconference game announcement for the 2019 season. Penn State will host Pitt on Sept. 14 and has one more game to be scheduled. FOOTBALL PSU nixes extension of Pitt series

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