Blue White Illustrated

October 2012

Penn State Sports Magazine

Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/83706

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 35 of 67

what play we had just run. But I felt my head, and then I looked down at my glove and there was a good bit of blood on my glove, so that's when a couple of guys like Donovan Smith and a couple of the other linemen told me [to not move]. The docs came over and made sure that I wasn't con- cussed." As it turned out, Day hadn't been concussed. He came off the field telling teammates, "Those guys don't hit very hard." And after having his scalp stitched up, he went back into the game and finished as the team's sec- ond-leading rusher with 36 yards on eight carries. He started the Nittany Lions' game the following week at Vir- ginia and "ran very, very tough," Bill O'Brien said – so tough that he even- tually had to leave the game with a shoulder injury. Day's hard-charging mentality is just what Penn State will need in order to prosper in the face of major NCAA sanctions. The senior from Central Dauphin High in Harrisburg, Pa., came to Penn State as a walk-on, forgoing similar offers from the likes of Delaware and New Hampshire. He knew that he wanted to see ac- tion on Saturdays, even if it was just on special teams. He also knew his best opportunity to do that would be to im- press the coaching staff with his dedi- cation in practice and in the weight room. "I wanted to be on the field and be a contributor in games," Day said. "As the years went on, I got more confident and developed my skills. My goals in- creased a little bit more as time went on." ward. They are being forced to trim their roster to 65 scholarship players, a limitation that will be in place for four years. They will be allowed to sign no more than 15 players per year starting in February. That's a major problem for a team that typically as- pires to compete for Big Ten champi- onships, and it means the Lions will have to scour their traditional recruit- ing territory for diamonds-in-the- rough, guys who may have only gotten two or three stars from the recruiting services but have the drive and desire to compete at an elite level. Because the NCAA is forcing Penn State to give up 40 scholarships over a four- year period, many of those players will arrive on campus as walk-ons. Wait… did someone say walk-ons? Strike that. "We call them 'run-ons' now. We've changed the name," O'Brien said. Why "run-ons"? Because the Nittany Lions' first-year coach has been looking to set a positive tone throughout the program. He's calling the scout team "the Dirty Show," a name he borrowed from the New England Patriots aimed at building camaraderie among the MATT McGLOIN "Walk-on is a stupid term to begin with. I don't agree with it, and I don't agree with the meaning behind it. If you're a Penn State football player, you do the same exact things that everybody with a scholarship does." Day will wrap up his Penn State ca- reer this season, but the Nittany Lions are looking to find a few more players with his mind-set as they move for- guys whose work usually goes unno- ticed by the game day crowds. And the run-ons? Their title reflects the gung-ho mentality that guys like Day have brought to the program. Also, O'Brien said, it's ac- curate. "These guys don't walk; they run on the field, they sprint on the field, they bust their butt on the field," he said. "These guys are not walk-ons; they are run-ons. I know that goes against everybody's term for nonscholarship players for the past 100 years of college

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Blue White Illustrated - October 2012