Blue White Illustrated

SPRING FOOTBALL WRAP | PENN STATE VS. HOUSTON son. During his career at Penn State, he had 113 total tackles, a fumble re- covery, 10.5 sacks and 32.5 tackles for loss. Keeping a humble attitude through- out, Still hasn't forgotten the trials that led to this day. "I have an opportunity to do some- thing that most people don't get to do, and after my two seasons with injuries, I never expected to be drafted in the first round or the second round," he said. "I didn't know how my football fu- ture was going to turn out, so now that I have the opportunity, I'm happy where I went. "I went to a good defensive line with a great defensive line coach and co- ordinator, so I know they're going to help me grow into a better football player." All told, 14 members of the Nittany Lions' senior class will get a shot at the NFL. Along with Still, offensive guard Johnnie Troutman and defensive end Jack Crawford were selected in the fifth round, while linebacker Nate Stupar went in the seventh round to the Oak- land Raiders. Troutman, a 2012 Senior Bowl par- ticipant, was picked by the San Diego Chargers with the 14th pick of the fifth round (No. 149 overall), followed by Crawford, who is headed to Oakland to play for the Raiders as the No. 158 overall selection. Stupar, meanwhile, was taken with the 230th overall pick. In addition, Drew Astorino (Cleve- land), Quinn Barham (Detroit), Stephfon Green (Detroit), D'Anton Lynn (New York Jets), Eric Latimore (Minnesota), Derek Moye (Miami), DeOn'tae Pannell (New Orleans), Chaz Powell (Oakland), Nick Sukay (Buffalo) and Andrew Szczerba (Dal- las) all signed rookie free agent con- tracts. With a multimillion-dollar contract on the books for the Nittany Lions' highest draft pick, Still said he's ex- cited to continue his career while building a better life for his daughter Leah. "I think that's why I feel so good," he said. "Not for the simple fact that I'm a millionaire, but because I'll be able to take care of my daughter and ful- fill her every need and make sure that she goes to school." W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M NELSON FROM PAGE 11 I had to sit down with my family and discuss a few things, and the time to do that isn't in front of the coaches, not when they're sitting right there. I told Coach [Bill] O'Brien I needed a little bit of time. But the next morning, we ended up bringing it up, talking about it a bit, and we all kind of felt like this was the right decision, that every- thing here is right for me. Can you talk more about your relationship with Mac McWhort- er? I did some research on Coach Mac, and he's got some great acco- lades. He received some kind of as- sistant coach of the year award, but he also has a bunch of guys in the NFL, and his previous job at Texas, I mean, that's a great school. So doing research on him, with the help of Coach O'Brien coming from the NFL, that's the kind of staff that could get me to the next level if I commit myself to that. Don't get me wrong, that's not what I'm thinking about right now. I'm thinking about just four or five great years at Penn State. But if I do commit myself and things go right, he's the guy who could help me get that done, so that and his camaraderie with his players, that made things much easier for me. I really am looking forward to getting to know him even more. Hershey had a pretty good sea- CORNER FROM PAGE 9 what blocks they're trying to give him, and then in the weight room he's gotten a lot stronger. So it's helped him out a lot this spring. "He made a lot of plays. In that last scrimmage [before the Blue- White Game] he had a great scrim- mage. He's a great pass rusher, so that's something that we really need." Right now, it looks as though Penn State could enter preseason practice with a five-man rotation at "I told Coach O'Brien I needed a little bit of time. But the next morning, we ended up bringing it up, and we all kind of felt like this was the right decision. son last year, one of the school's best in recent years. How is your team looking so far, and have you set any personal goals? Big 33? All-State? I feel like my team can do just as well as we did last year. I really want to give a shout-out to my teammates, who have been working their butts off in the gym all year, getting ready for this upcoming season. Of course, Big 33, All-State, all of those kinds of things – those are all goals for anyone in my position, but I really do just take it one day at a time to train as hard as I pos- sibly can for the upcoming season. These kids I'm playing with are the same guys I've been playing all kinds of sports with since I was in fifth grade. I really am just looking forward to having a lot of fun this year, enjoying myself, while work- ing our tails off and winning a few football games. Academics are pretty impor- tant to you. Do you see yourself possibly graduating early from high school? No, I'll graduate with the rest of my class at Hershey. defensive end: Stanley and Olaniyan at the weakside position, and Massaro, Barnes and Baublitz at strongside defensive end. That's not something anyone expected at the beginning of spring drills. The one area in which Penn State didn't surpass expectations in spring practice was the secondary. Even with the move of Curtis Drake to cornerback, the Nittany Lions will lack game experience and depth at both cornerback and safety positions. If they are to avoid problems this fall, they will " Do you have an idea what you want to study at Penn State? I think I'm getting it down to do- ing something in kinesiology, or maybe sports medicine, something like that. I'm an athlete, and I think if I could work with athletes my whole life, I wouldn't really [feel like I was] working all that much. So that's what I'm looking at right now. Finally, is there anything else you'd like to say to Penn State fans? If there's one thing I could say, it's just thank you for all the sup- port. That's the thing I've always ad- mired about Penn State: how close-knit the community is. The football program gets a lot of sup- port, but everyone affiliated with Penn State supports a Penn Stater in whatever they do, so that's just what makes me feel so good about my decision. The support I've got- ten is just amazing. It makes me feel great and makes me want to just work all that much harder to make sure that Penn State does great things over the next few years. need Drake, Stephon Morris, Der- rick Thomas, Mike Wallace, Stephen Obeng-Agyapong, Adrian Amos and Malcolm Willis to stay healthy. In addition, freshmen like Malik Golden, DaQuan Davis, Jake Kiley and Jordan Lucas need to emerge in preseason practice to add depth. But one thing's for sure: The outlook along the offensive line, at tight end, running back and at de- fensive end is looking a lot brighter now than it was six weeks ago. J U N E 1 , 2 0 1 2 27

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