Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/99533
O'Brien at the pro level. "Knowing Bill, he has too much integrity to leave those kids," the executive said, "but he's eventually going to be a very successful NFL head coach. He's very tough and organized and he's a winner." Losing its coach to the NFL or – shudder – another university would deal a blow to Penn State's sense of itself. Joe Paterno's longevity created an image of Penn State as a final destination, not a steppingstone. In July 2011, the Nittany Lions' head coaching position ranked eighth in Sports Illustrated's list of college football's most desirable jobs. Andy Staples described it as "the last of the true destination jobs." "The Nittany Lions have the best Qrating of all the schools in a huge swath of recruit-rich territory," he wrote. "Their hunting grounds include all of Pennsylvania and the Eastern Seaboard from the District of Columbia to New York. In the Big Ten, only Ohio State has a firmer grip on a talent-rich area." For years, Penn State had one of the great bargains in college sports. Even at the end of his long career, Paterno was not making the multimillion-dollar salary that his counterparts at other universities were receiving. Penn State has a bargain in O'Brien, too, but maybe not for long. His original fiveyear contract was for $12 million, and some of the incentive clauses that were included in that deal, such as $104,500 for making a bowl game, $76,000 for winning the Big Ten championship and $85,500 for winning the national title, are not available to him because of the sanctions. When Arkansas dangled a reported $27.5 million offer in front of LSU's Les Miles in November, it was only the latest reminder of how expensive it's become to compete at an elite level. The cost is well above what Penn State is accustomed to paying, but if the university wants to hold onto O'Brien – and it certainly does want to hold onto him in the wake of an eight-win season that few thought possible only a few months ago – it will have to open its checkbook. LOOKING AHEAD BWI's Phil Grosz projects the Lions' 2013 depth chart * DEFENSE OFFENSE QUARTERBACK LEFT END 12 Steven Bench (6-2, 204, So.) – Tyler Ferguson (6-4, 190, So.) – Christian Hackenberg (6-3, 215, Fr.) 86 C.J. Olaniyan (6-3, 248, Jr.) 31 Brad Bars (6-3, 254, Jr.) LEFT TACKLE TAILBACK 28 Zach Zwinak (6-1, 232, Jr.) 1 Bill Belton (5-10, 202, Jr.) 22 Akeel Lynch (6-0, 209, Fr.) 84 Kyle Baublitz (6-5, 287, Jr.) 53 Derek Dowrey (6-3, 311, Fr.) 72 Brian Gaia (6-3, 271, Fr.) RIGHT TACKLE WIDE RECEIVER 8 Allen Robinson (6-3, 201, Jr.) 7 Eugene Lewis (6-1, 199, Fr.) 80 Matt Zanellato (6-3, 198, So.) 91 DaQuan Jones (6-3, 324, Sr.) 99 Austin Johnson (6-4, 297, Fr.) RIGHT END WIDE RECEIVER 18 Deion Barnes (6-4, 246, So.) 98 Anthony Zettel (6-5, 253, So.) 85 Brandon Moseby-Felder (6-2, 195, Sr.) 21 Trevor Williams (6-1, 186, So.) OUTSIDE LINEBACKER TIGHT END – Y 43 Mike Hull (6-0, 228, Jr.) 8 Gary Wooten (6-2, 230, Fr.) 89 Garry Gilliam (6-6, 262, Sr.) 18 Jesse James (6-7, 264, So.) INSIDE LINEBACKER TIGHT END – F 87 Kyle Carter (6-3, 247, So.) 82 Matt Lehman (6-6, 258, Sr.) 83 Brent Wilkerson (6-3, 239, Fr.) 40 Glenn Carson (6-3, 235, Sr.) 5 Nyeem Wartman (6-1, 235, So.) 49 Brennan Franklin (5-11, 220, Fr.) OUTSIDE LINEBACKER LEFT TACKLE 38 Ben Kline (6-2, 224, So.) 5 Nyeem Wartman (6-1, 235, So.) 76 Donovan Smith (6-5, 316, So.) 70 Nate Cadogan (6-5, 293, Sr.) LEFT CORNERBACK LEFT GUARD 3 Da'Quan Davis (5-10, 161, So.) 14 Jordan Lucas (6-0, 188, So.) - Jordan Smith (6-0, 180, Fr.) 65 Miles Dieffenbach (6-3, 300, Jr.) 60 Ty Howle (6-0, 298, Sr.) CENTER 66 Angelo Mangiro (6-3, 291, So.) 55 Wendy Laurent (6-2, 278, Fr.) RIGHT GUARD 64 John Urschel (6-3, 307, Sr.) 56 Anthony Alosi (6-4, 295, So.) RIGHT TACKLE 58 Adam Gress (6-6, 311, Sr.) 75 Eric Shrive (6-6, 305, Sr.) FREE SAFETY 10 Malcolm Willis (5-11, 205, Sr.) 23 Ryan Keiser (6-1, 200, Jr.) STRONG SAFETY 7 S. Obeng-Agyapong (5-10, 207, Sr.) 14 Jordan Lucas (6-0, 188, So.) RIGHT CORNERBACK 4 Adrian Amos (6-0, 209, Jr.) 39 Jesse Della Valle (6-1, 190, Jr.) *Class standing cited above reflects players' eligibility status during the 2013 season.