here was a lot of talk about shortcuts
on signing day last month – about how
Penn State's coaching sta$ didn't want
to use them, how it didn't want to re-
cruit kids who weren't going to #t into its
culture and how it didn't want to put the kids
that it did recruit onto the #eld before they
were ready to make signi#cant contributions.
Josh Gattis, the Nittany Lions' wide receivers
coach and o$ensive recruiting coordinator, said
that the sta$ was determined to resist the temp-
tation to seek
"instant grati#-
cation" in its
pursuit of victo-
ry.
"We believe in
building a pro-
gram the right
way," he said. "We want a program that is built to withstand
[challenges] and have success for the long term."
It's hard to argue with that sentiment, and given that six of Penn
State's 12 losses the past two years have been by a touchdown or less,
there's a case to be made that the Nittany Lions could have won another
game or two if they had rushed a few of their blue-chip recruits into ac-
tion a bit sooner. Said Gattis, "We easily could have played 10 or 12 more
freshmen last year and found the depth that we wanted."
MYSTERY
MEN
The Nittany Lions
will have their share
of questions to answer
in spring practice
T
S P R I N G F O O T B A L L P R E V I E W
