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tion, thereby eliminating the need for players to play both offense and de- fense. Linebackers no longer had to be centers, guards or fullbacks but could concentrate on their specialty. For that reason alone, there have been more and more outstanding linebackers coming out of college and becoming stars in the pros. RALPH BAKER But before that rule change, I had a couple of two-way players who I was certain were going to be big-time defensive specialists. One was Ralph Baker, who was on our freshman team in the fall of 1960. Ralph was a nose guard, meaning he played over the center. In the three freshman games we played, Ralph made more tackles in those games than any player that I had ever seen in my 55 years as a coach and player before or since – more than 30 tackles in each of the three games. He had a knack for bring- ing his shoulder and forearm quickly into the center as the ball was snapped, keeping the center from getting to his body as he used his hands on the cen- ter's chest to quickly get off the center's block to either side and make the tackle. This skill was probably a big reason why he later became a great linebacker both for Penn State and then the New York Jets. Ralph moved to defensive end as a sophomore but he was a spot player. But in the spring of 1962, we switched him to linebacker. As the saying goes, Ralph took to line- backer like a duck takes to water. He simply had a knack on both runs and passes to make a lot of plays. Ralph was one of the best linebackers I ever coached. Years later, I would help him become the linebackers coach of his NFL team, the New York Jets, and, subsequently, I would replace him in that same position. But that's another story. STUFFING GLENN RESSLER IN ONE-ON-ONE DRILL The fall of 1961 ended up being the last year I would have to coach the freshman linemen. ... One of the last freshmen I coached became one of Penn State's greatest players of all time, but that seemed quite farfetched when we began practice. Glenn Ressler was a farm boy from a very rural part of north central Pennsylvania and he didn't Radakovich in practice. Penn State Athletic Communications TOUGH GUY Ressler held his own against know a lot about football, but we could see he had raw potential. I started Glenn at middle linebacker in the first freshman game and he blitzed every play, even though no blitzes were called. But at 6-foot-2, 230 pounds he was very impressive physically. At one of the earliest fresh- man practices, I was demonstrating how to stop a blocker from a down lineman position. I had put on a helmet, shoulder pads and jersey. Then, I would go one-on-one against a freshman line- man and get my shoulder and forearm under his helmet, get my hands on his chest, drive my feet and take the blocker backwards. I was only 25 years old at the time and had been demonstrating this way for the last four years and had always stuffed the freshman line- men, even the great All-American Dave Robinson when he was a freshman. Anyway, this practice day I picked Glenn to be the blocker that I was going to demonstrate my defensive skills on. I told one of the graduate as- sistant coaches to give Ressler the snap count. Well, when Glenn started at me, I got my shoulder and forearm under his helmet, got my hands in his chest, and stood him right up. Then he started to walk and he drove me five or six yards straight back. I yelled to the players and graduate assistant coaches, "What did I do wrong? I didn't drive my feet on contact. I didn't accelerate my feet." I then said, "Let's go again, Glenn. Everybody watch me accelerate my feet on contact and stuff him backwards." The second time Glenn started at me, I stood him up again and tried my damnedest to accelerate and drive my feet. But when he started walking, he drove me back again five or six yards. We did it a third time with the same result. By this time the graduate as- sistant coaches were laughing at my predicament. Sometimes, no matter what, a mismatch stays a mismatch. We knew, or at least should have known, right then that Glenn Ressler would be a great player. In his junior season, Glenn was switched to defensive nose guard and center, and became the dominating player on the team on both defense and offense. His blocking for fullback Tom Urbanik earned them a nickname that year as "Paul Bunyan and His Ox" after Glenn's play on offense and defense led Penn State to a stunning 27-0 upset over No. 1 Ohio State at Columbus in midseason. In his senior year he was an All-American and won the Maxwell Award as college football's best player, and then went on to start at offensive guard on the Baltimore Colts' Super Bowl team of 1970. Not a bad career for a former Penn State freshman linebacker. Glenn is now in the College Football Hall of Fame, and all I can say is that he is one linebacker that I'm glad we switched to defensive nose guard aligned on the center be- cause he played that position better than anyone I've ever seen in my 50 years of coaching. A couple of years later, I had another freshman playing linebacker for me in the spring, but Joe Paterno moved him to defensive line that fall, and Mike Reid also is now in the College Football Hall of Fame. So are two of the greatest pure linebackers I ever coached, Dennis Onkotz and Jack Ham. You can read all about them and others in Chapter Ten, "The Phi Beta Kappas of Linebacker U."

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