Chapter 21

I wasn't surprised that campus was nearly deserted on a Sunday morning during the summer semester. I parked my car in the lot near Pollock Commons and headed inside to the housing office to sign in and pick up my room key. I moved my Golf over to the parking lot closest to Hartranft Hall to unload.

I parked beside a true classic automobile, a 60's era bright orange Ford Mustang convertible. I looked it over before I carried my first load inside. The car was immaculate. Someone had taken great care to restore this car to its original glory.

I stopped in the first floor of Hartranft and grabbed one of the carts so I could move my things up to the fourth floor. I was loading up my cart when Jay Nicholson walked up to me.

"Hey, man, it's great to see you!" Jay gushed. We high-fived, and did a hand clasp, shake and knuckle bump in greeting.

"I'm glad to see you too," I replied.

"Did you have lunch yet?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, I replied. "I ate at Mickey D's in Lewistown on the way here."

"We'll catch up at dinner," Jay said.

I started loading my cart again. I noticed Jay pop the trunk of the orange Mustang beside my car.

"This is your car?" I asked incredulously. "You have this great ride?"

"Yep," Jay confirmed. "It was a piece of junk when I bought it in high school. My dad has been helping me restore it for four years. We finished it earlier this summer. What do you think?"

"It awesome, man," I answered. "I can't believe you have such a nice car. You're a lucky guy."

Jay loaded his cart up with things from his trunk. I finished loading the cart with the first load of my things. Jay and I wheeled our carts over to Hartranft and took the elevator to the fourth floor.

Jay was in room 413 again. I was in 407. I unlocked the door and pushed the cart inside. Damian's part of the room was empty. He hadn't made it back to school yet. I unloaded the cart and headed back to the elevator for another load.

I was facing the elevator waiting for it to arrive when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Hey, Kyle, welcome back!" I recognized the voice. I turned to see Anders Voight standing behind me.

I greeted my friend warmly and then asked, "What the hell are you doing in the dorm this afternoon?"

"Me?" Anders replied with a sly grin. "I'm the Welcome Wagon." I looked at him blankly. Anders explained, "I'm the resident assistant. I'm in charge of you clowns this year."

"RA? Are you kidding?" I asked. "Why aren't you over in Nittany Apartments like most of the juniors and seniors?

"I still get a private room," Anders answered. " ... and they pay me too. I can't beat the offer. Anyway, my roommates graduated last spring. I didn't feel like breaking in new roommates."

I remembered that Anders had roomed with Jeremiah Nowak, Derek Whitaker and Gerry Oliszewski last year. Anders and I talked for a couple minutes about our summer activities before Anders had to get back to work helping Tony King with a room key problem. I headed downstairs to my car for another load of my things.

Damian arrived with his dad as I was unloading the final load of things from my car. Mr. Thompson was very cordial when we met. I helped Damian and his dad move his things in from the parking lot. They invited me to get ice cream with them at the Creamery. I met them there after I took my car to the East Parking Deck.

I enjoyed spending time with Damian's dad while we had our ice cream. He was a funny and entertaining guy. I could see where he would be very successful dealing with customers at his restaurants. He told us some tales about his exploits as an undergrad here at Penn State. He warned Damian that the stories were not to be repeated in front of his mother. Mr. Thompson headed home to Erie around three o'clock.

Damian and I headed over to the player's lounge at the Lasch Building to find out who was around. We ran into a lot of our friends at the lounge. We spent our time swapping stories of our summers. The guys teased me for missing the Lift for Life cancer fundraiser event early in July. I explained that I didn't have any time off from my job at scout camp.

Chip Brinton, David McCall, Jared Cantrell and more guys I didn't recognize came in awhile later. After we greeted each other, Chip introduced me to his roommate, Matt Frye. Matt's a cornerback from Milford, Pa. Chip introduced me to Jared Gray, our new back-up kicker and his roommate, Bruce MacCauley. I remembered Bruce from his visit last fall after he was introduced. Bruce was a wide receiver. They introduced me to Joe Ricci, a linebacker from Media, Pa. All the new guys with Chip were rooming on fourth floor Hartranft – Chip and Matt in 411, Jared Gray and Bruce in 402. David and Jared Cantrell were on the third floor in room 317.

When the introductions were done I asked, "You guys have free time now?"

"Yeah," Chip answered. "There isn't anything on the schedule until dinner time."

"Did you get playbooks last night?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure," half a dozen guys answered at the same time.

"Do you know everything in them?" I asked, staring straight at Chip.

"No, of course not," he answered defensively. "It's six inches thick. I can't learn all that overnight."

"It doesn't sound like you have free time," I replied. "This isn't high school anymore. In a couple days the coaches will expect you to run those plays in practice. You damn well better know what is going on. Coach Burton and Coach Schroeder won't spoon feed the plays to you."

"The rest of the guys here are relaxing?" Chip answered. "What's wrong with us having down time?"

"They rest of us already know what's in the playbook," I countered. "Except the ten or twenty new plays I expect we'll get from the coaches tomorrow or Tuesday."

J. T. Hill overheard us. He stood up and came over. "Listen to my little buddy here. It's part of what it takes to play here." J. T. may not actually be taller than me at 6'-2" but at 295 pounds he does make me look small.

"C'mon, guys," Chip conceded. "Maybe we better go back to our rooms and study." The freshmen headed out of the lounge.

"Weren't you being a little hard on the new guys?" Damian asked after they left.

"I don't think so," I explained. "I have high expectations from Chip Brinton and the other guys. I think it's useful for them to understand how much work they need to do." Turning to face Damian, I asked, "What did you do that first Sunday afternoon last summer?"

"Um, G. J. and I spent the afternoon in our room trying to understand the playbook," he admitted.

"So did Christian and I," I replied.

Damian and I hung out with our friends, enjoying a fun afternoon. We beat a few guys when we teamed up for a foosball tournament. Damian and I got trashed when we took on Karol and Cuch in pool. Damian and I went back to our room after that, around a quarter after five in the afternoon. We killed time organizing our things until it was time to head to the Training Table for the first team dinner.

Jay and Shawn Byrd stopped by our room about 5:45 to see if we were ready for dinner. Damian, Jay and I travelled our floor, picking up our usual dinner gang. Jay found Christian and G. J. in room 410. Trevor Conwell and Tony King were down in 418 this year. We ran into Anders with the six freshmen living on our floor when got to the elevator. Our big group headed to Pollock Commons together for dinner.

I ended up beside Chip in line for food. "I hope you don't think I was being a hard-ass this afternoon when I chased you and the other guys out of the player's lounge," I said.

"I didn't think that," Chip replied.

"You have no idea how much work it is to play Division I football," I explained. "I want you to do well."

"I'm beginning to see that," Chip replied. "How long did it take you to learn everything?"

"Learn everything?" I answered, laughing. "I'll let you know when I'm done learning it." I saw from the way Chip's face fell that I needed to clarify myself. "I expect that the coaches will hand me a bunch of new plays to learn tonight, or maybe tomorrow. I learned most of the book in about nine months. I took it home this summer and committed the rest of it to memory while I was at scout camp."

"I knew this would be hard," Chip admitted. " ... but I didn't think it would be this difficult."

"If you work at it every day, you'll get there, Chip," I answered. "If you find yourself being overwhelmed, come talk to me. I'll be glad to give you some tips. You can go into see Coach Paterno too. He helped me get myself organized last year so I could get my school work and my football done without harming either."

"That's good to know," Chip said. "I guess Coach Paterno is still active with the team?"

"He helps out with counseling and academics," I replied.

"That's cool," Chip responded. "I'm glad Coach Paterno is still involved."

We reached the head of the line and started selecting our dinner entrees. "Make sure you eat up, Chip," I teased. "You don't want to get hurt when one of those Big Ten linemen catches you. I can just see you in a few years when Michigan's William Johnson is chasing you. William's a big boy. I think he is around 330 pounds."

"I can out-run someone that size," Chip answered as he grabbed a salad.

"You would expect so..." I replied. " ... but you'd be surprised. William is fast."

"I see you put on the 'freshman fifteen'," Chip teased as he poked my side. He didn't find the usual flab that the freshman fifteen produces.

"I put on about twelve pounds in the last year," I agreed. "It's all muscle. The trainers will get you on a program to get you nice and buff."

"That'll be good for getting chicks," Chip answered. "Are you still with that girlfriend you had in the spring?"

"Kelly?" I replied. "Very definitely. Why look around when you already have the best girl in the world?"

"I'm not sure I've done enough research yet to declare any girl the best in the world," Chip replied. "I think I have a lot more studying to do before I reach a conclusion like that."

"You enjoy your research," I answered. "Just remember what is paying for you to be here. Football and academics come first."

Chip gave me a wink and said, "Thanks, dad, I already know why I'm here. I have goals for myself."

"Good for you," I agreed. We followed the crowd of players to open tables. The guys in the lead of our group, my fellow sophomores, filled up the first table easily. Christian and I had a seat at the next table. Chip, Matt, Jared Gray, Jared Cantrell, Joe Ricci and David McCall joined us.

Christian and I got to know the freshmen better over dinner. Of course we knew Chip quite well from his visits and our time together at football camp. Matt Frye was in awe of this huge crowd of football players. Matt played for little Milford School District. He explained that they had thirty-two varsity players on the team last fall. The Eagles were PIAA Class AA. Everyone played both ways, offense and defense. Matt was a wide receiver in high school in addition to playing cornerback.

I commented that at 6'-0" tall and close to 200 pounds, he must have been one of the biggest guys on his team. Matt laughed and explained that he was what his parents called "a late bloomer." He had grown nearly four inches and added twenty pounds since football finished last fall, though he conceded he had out-weighed some of the linemen and linebackers last fall before he hit his growth spurt.

The coaches kept him at cornerback last fall because of his speed. Matt bragged he had 4.4 speed in the 40. He also ran track in the spring, making the state playoffs. I didn't bother to inform him that I still held the state record in the 100 meters. No one beat my record this past spring.

Joe Ricci's experience in football was quite different. Joe played for the Strath Haven Panthers, a perennial football powerhouse in southeast Pennsylvania. His fans back home were expecting him to carry on the tradition started by Strath Haven's last big star, Dan Conners. Dan, of course, was the stand-out linebacker for the Carolina Panthers in the NFL now. Joe certainly had the size to keep up with Conners. He was 6'-5" tall and weighed close to 250 pounds. He was going to be an excellent addition to our linebacking corps.

At 5'-10" and maybe 180 pounds, Jared Gray looked the part of a kicker – small. He was from another powerhouse AAA football team, the Pottsville Crimson Tide. I told Jared that I knew his team and that I had played them a few years ago in the playoffs. Jared had been in the stands at that game and teased me about my team losing to his. Hopefully Jared would help Andrew Perkins fill Cooper Barnes very capable shoes this fall.

I enjoyed getting to know my new teammates over dinner. The guys seemed like they would carry their weight in a year or two when they learned our playbook. Zack, Karol, and Jake quieted the crowded dining room when dinner was done. It was time to start indoctrinating our new recruits into the Nittany Lion ways.

Our captains called the twenty freshmen up to the front and quizzed them about their knowledge of Penn State lore. They failed the quiz miserably. Zack demanded that they sing the alma mater for the rest of the team. Jared Cantrell and David McCall attempted to lead the group in it, without success. Jake Washington instructed the recruits that their supper on Monday depended on being able to perform the alma mater to the satisfaction of us upper classmen.

Coach Burton reminded everyone that we had a team meeting at seven o'clock in the auditorium in the Lasch Building. We had about twenty minutes to get over there. There was a mass rush to get rid of our supper dishes and get to the Lasch Building. My friends and I followed the crowd as it made its way up the road to our meeting.

I settled in between Jay and Damian when we found seats in the auditorium. Coach Burton took the stage two minutes before seven and called for quiet. The lights went down and clips from the last season came up on the screen.

Coach Burton didn't start with our best work. He started off with a clip of Zack throwing an interception early in the season. He showed Shawn O'Conner getting stuffed by the defensive line when we played Purdue in the rainstorm. I made the "lowlights" reel when Coach showed me turning the wrong direction on a pass route against Ohio State and causing Zack to throw another interception.

"Ranked #8 in country today," Coach Burton intoned. "Maybe with good cause. We had some issues last season on offense, but we found ways to fix them." Coach showed a clip of Anders Voight bulling his way into the end zone on a crossing route mid-season last year. The next clip showed me skittering through Northwestern's special teams coverage and carrying the ball into the end zone when I scored on a punt return.

The crowd started to get revved up as the clips continued. They showed Zack and me combining for one of our touchdowns against Michigan State, followed by Evan's TD catch the same game. They showed, Anders, Evan, me, Aidan and Christian all catching passes on the way to our Rose Bowl win. He concluded the clips with my final touchdown to clinch the win against USC on January 1st.

"We fought through adversity and improved our offense last season with hard work and study. The offense excites me this season. We have the potential to have the most explosive offense in my time with the Penn State team," Coach Burton explained.

Coach went on to explain how he had seen Todd Blackledge and the 1982 national championship team play on his recruiting visit to the university. We had the potential to be better than them offensively. He added that we could be much better than the 1986 national championship team he was a part of. He allowed that we could be better than undefeated 1994 team led by Kerry Collins and perhaps Phil DiStefano's undefeated national championship team from two years ago. Coach Burton predicted that we would score a lot of points this season, if all of us played to our potential.

Coach briefly reviewed his outlook on our special teams. He expected us to maintain the high level of play that we had last season.

The lights dimmed again and Coach showed us more video clips. The first one was of Aaron Morano intercepting a pass and running it back for a touchdown. "Aaron Morano, All-American cornerback," Coach intoned in his best NFL Films imitation. "Gone!" The next clip showed Pete Klein slashing through a defense and dropping the ball carrier to the ground five yards in the backfield. "Peter Klein, All-American outside linebacker – gone!"

Coach showed a series of clips of Antwaan Booker, sacking the quarterback, manhandling offensive linemen and in general creating havoc in the backfield of our opponents last season. "Antwaan Booker, Outland Trophy winner and All-American defensive tackle – gone!"

"The pundits say we are going to be weak on defense this season, with good reason," Coach Burton said. As the lights came up he continued, "Each of you on defense will need to step up your game a couple notches to cover for the absence of this men. Who will be our next All-Americans?" I noticed Coach fix his gaze on Jake Washington for a moment as he spoke. "Who will live up to that legacy?" Coach asked as he stared at Karol Zizka. "Do we have the talent to cover these losses?" Coach asked as he turned his attention to Dom "Cuch" Cuchiella. "Who will rise to the occasion? Elevate your play so you do not let your teammates and university down."

Coach posted the current depth chart up for the team to see. There weren't any surprises on offense. I was listed first at the slot position and second at the weak side wide receiver position behind Anders Voight. Hassan Jackson had the top spot on the strong side, followed by Aidan Nagy and Christian Hunsecker. Tanner Riggs and Alex Majerowicz backed me up in the slot.

I was pleased to see confirmation that my friend Trevor Conwell was starting at defensive end. He had earned the promotion in the spring. I was surprised to find Josh Bruno and Brendan Hayden were promoted to starters at outside linebacker. That was excellent work for sophomores.

I noticed the freshmen shifting in their seats like they thought the meeting was nearly over. I smiled to myself. I knew better.

Coach Burton was only beginning. He discussed our training schedule for the next three weeks, personal conduct expected of all team members, our drug and alcohol policy, our sexual conduct policy, and how to handle personal confrontations. This had been a concern when some hot-heads had let a sidewalk dispute escalate into a confrontation a few years ago. Coach Burton cautioned us to just walk away from a fight off the field. We had nothing to gain and everything to lose if we confronted unruly fans. None of us needed to visit the inside of a police station and jeopardize our careers or the university's national standing.

Coach Burton reminded us that we were STUDENT-athletes, not simply athletes. The university was rightly proud of our over 80% graduation rate among football players. We had to keep up with our studies while we learned to perform on the football field.

The formal meeting finally ended around 8:30 pm. We met briefly with our coordinator. Coach Schroeder handed out updates to our playbooks, as I expected. I had about twenty-five new plays to learn in the next few days before we started practicing.

Zack Hayes invited Jay and me to stop by his apartment after the meeting. He was inviting friends over to relax and shoot the bull for awhile before bedtime. I enjoyed the stories and tall tales we told each other while we relaxed and enjoyed some beer together. Jay and I headed back to the dorm around 11:00 pm.

--oooOooo--

A summer of getting up early made it easy for me to make the team's eight o'clock breakfast. Damian wasn't nearly as alert as he staggered to breakfast with me. We went back to our room and changed into our training clothes left over from last year. A year of working out on Coach Collins' training plan had done its job. Damian and I both filled our clothes to nearly bursting. Thankfully we would be issued new clothes this morning. We grabbed our playbooks and a gym bag of things for our lockers at the Lasch Building and headed out for practice.

Anders Voight had all the freshmen gathered together at the elevator when Damian and I headed out. My buddy was taking good care of his charges. Damian reminded the freshmen that being on time for Coach Burton meant arrive five minutes before the appointed time. Damian and I dropped our bags off at our lockers and then joined the group outside on the practice fields.

The big crowd of players milled around while we waited for the coaches to arrive. Coach Burton told us last night that this year's Nittany Lions had 109 people on the team. Coach Burton, his coordinators and other assistants came out the door from the Lasch Building at six minutes before nine. Our season was officially beginning.

Things started off with warm-up exercises. The coaches split us up into four groups after that so we could take care of assorted tests and housekeeping functions that morning. I was assigned to the group that Karol Zizka was leading. We went inside to the locker room and equipment room first.

Larry Fitzgerald, our equipment manager, issued us the necessary equipment, towels and clothing for the next three weeks of practice. He called the freshman over to pick their jersey numbers.

Chip was ebullient when he returned. "I got to my number!" he crowed. I remembered that Chip wore number 9 when I saw him play in the past. I congratulated my friend. I understood how nice it was to keep the number you were used to. The freshmen looked around the locker room until they found their lockers.

Karol led our group outside when we were done with equipment. Our next stop was testing speed. The coaches ran the group through the 40 yard run, the 100 yard run and the mile run. I was pleased when I matched my best time ever in the 40 – 4.30 seconds. I beat last year's 100 yard time by 0.02 seconds with a time of 9.59 seconds. I improved on last year's mile run time. I did it in 4:42. My year of work-outs was paying off.

Karol took us to the next set of drills that tested agility and leaping ability. I was still able to reach 43 inches in the vertical jump. That was a useful skill when it came time to out-jump the defensive back for possession of the football.

Our final station for the morning was inside in the weight room. Paul Collins, the conditioning coach, weighed and measured us and then tested our physical strength. I was still 6'-4 ½" and weighed in at 208 pounds. Paul was delighted at my strength. He didn't expect that he would need to make many changes to the training program he gave me last winter.

The group headed to the Training Table for lunch and then to offensive or defensive team meetings for an hour. The coaches had us do ninety minutes of stretching and agility drills in the afternoon. They dismissed us around four o'clock. The team dinner was at six o'clock. My friends and I showered in the locker room and changed into clean clothes before we headed back to the dorm room.

The freshmen did a credible job singing the alma mater under David McCall's and Jared Cantrell's direction. The rest of the team allowed them to have supper. I was pleased when Coach Burton announced the fastest members of the team after dinner. I beat everyone with my 4.30 second 40. David McCall was second with 4.31 seconds. Shawn Byrd came third with 4.33 seconds. Half a dozen more guys were within 0.02 seconds of Shawn's time.

We spent half the evening in position meetings before the coaches finally gave us time off. Most of the team headed for the weight room to get some light training in before bedtime.

Tuesday brought more drills and conditioning exercises along with meetings. Kelly commiserated with me when we IMed later in the evening. Both of us were counting down the days until we were reunited.

Football and conditioning drills continued into Wednesday morning. After lunch we finally started practicing plays. I worked with Zack and the first team most of the time in the slot. Occasionally I was sent to Jay and Glenn to work at the weak side receiver spot with the second team. The ninety minute afternoon practice was a walk through without pads. I enjoyed it anyway. It felt like we were really doing some football work. Thursday, Friday and Saturday brought more of the same – drills, walk throughs and meetings.

I went in to see Coach Burton after Friday's practice. I nearly forgot my promise last May to try to get tickets for the Phillies' Chase Utley to bring his nephew to one of our games in the fall. After confirming that I hadn't done anything improper like exchanging favors for these tickets, Coach Burton agreed to arrange to get him and his nephew access to a university box for either the Illinois or Michigan State games. I sent off a letter to the Phillies second baseman that evening inviting him to be the university's guest at one of the games.

I received e-mails from Jeremy, Ed, Hal, Jake and Drew over the weekend. Their first week had been similar to mine. Ed had excellent news from Coach Meyer. He was in the running to back up Elijah Carter, Florida's Heisman hopeful and starting quarterback. I fired off an e-mail congratulating Ed. Jeremy's news was good too. He was practicing with the first string at Notre Dame as the weak side linebacker.

Zack Hayes and his roommates invited some of the team for a quiet party on Saturday evening to help everyone unwind. We had some beers and munchies while we hung out and talked. Zack made sure the freshmen were invited. He wanted the new guys to feel like a part of our team.

Monday morning we received pads, helmets and game uniforms. It was time for some hitting! I worked with the Zack Hayes and the first string in the morning. I made some good catches when it was my turn. I split time during the afternoon practice between the first string and the second string. Surprisingly, I had more luck catching passes against the first string defense than the second string. David McCall was lined up on me when I played the second string. His speed cut down my possibilities a lot.

Tuesday afternoon was our first special teams practice. I took about a third of the punt returns. My blocking looked a little ragged, but that was to be expected. About half the members of the return team were freshmen. They would need time to get their assignments down. Christian Hunsecker and Jared Cantrell took the remainder of the punt returns in practice. They did a good job with their returns.

Tanner Riggs and David McCall split the kick returns with me. Tanner looked solid on the returns. David had trouble adjusting to the ball. I found out that Jared Gray, our new kicker, had a strong leg. He booted a couple kick-offs into the end zone. He would be a good back up for Andrew Perkins.

The first string offense improved as the week's practices continued. Zack perfected his timing with Hassan, Anders, Evan, Shawn and me. We could beat our first string defense deep consistently by the end of the week. That was good for our offense but not so good for our team. The other Big Ten teams would test our defense deep too.

Saturday afternoon's scrimmage went well for me and my friends on offense. I made six catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns in the three quarters I played in the game.

Our offense was nearly unstoppable. It wasn't surprising. Except for me, everyone on offense had been playing together for at least a couple years. Zack Hayes was in complete command in the huddle. Everyone knew their responsibilities and executed them properly. All the parts of our offensive machine meshed and functioned as one.

The afternoon felt perfect. You could feel the joy at playing football that all of us shared in that huddle. The last time I had this same feeling was three years earlier when I was in eleventh grade and our team was on its way to winning the state championship. The feelings of camaraderie and trust were there just like with Ed, Drew, Greg, and my high school teammates that year before I blew out my knee.

The downside of this was that the first string offense thrashed the first string defense thoroughly. They were going to have to improve their game this summer if they were to do their job in the fall.

I was in a good mood when I was finishing dressing after my shower that afternoon. Ryan Reynolds, one of our grad assistants, came out and collared Anders and me.

"Coach Burton wants to meet with the two of you at 8:30 Monday morning in his office," Ryan explained.

"What's up?" Anders asked.

"Anything to worry about?" I added.

"You guys know as much as I do now," Ryan replied. "I'm just the messenger."

Anders and I talked about what the coach might want, but neither of us had any idea. Anders and I finished dressing and then headed back to Hartranft Hall. The coaches had given us the rest of Saturday night off. Some of the guys from our floor decided to go downtown for dinner.