So, as has been speculated, Kevin Newsome has decommitted from Michigan and is now back on the market.  Brian has been following this rumor for a while now because of the implications it will have on their ability to land another top dual threat QB, and "all the eggs in one basket" Penn State target, Tate Forcier. 

The implications of this could be "grrrr" for Penn State recruiting fans.  Forcier has been eyeing Michigan for a while now, with an official scheduled for their game aginst Utah.  It has been speculated that the one thing holding him back from signing a letter with RichRod is the fear of competition with Newsome, who is ranked a little higher on Rival's dual-threat list.

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Links from around our digital world...

• You've seen the BSD Blogpoll ballot, and this past week the rest of the voters have posted their preseason looks.  Brian ranked Penn State at #9 because he "can’t come up with anyone else to insert"...probably a fair comment.  LTP agrees.  Eleven Warriors calls Penn State a three loss team, ranked at #19.  Interesting to note that all three have the Buckeyes ranked #1.
  

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In 11 days, all your quarterbacks are belong to Linebacker U

They were the best players on their teams in high school. But they didn't come from high profile programs, or they didn't do the combine circuit, or they suffered serious injuries, or they were too short or too small. For whatever reason they didn't get noticed in the recruiting process. Some of them had opportunities to get free educations. They could have gone to Div. I-AA or a respectable MAC school and been the big men on campus. But they chose another path. They chose an uphill struggle where the odds are stacked against them. They will most likely spend the next four years taking a beating on the practice field with the scout team never getting to strap on the pads on game day. But they chose this path because they want to compete with the best. They have a dream of putting on the Blue and White and running out of the tunnel in front of 110,000 people. They came to Penn State to play for a living legend in the twilight of his career. They have dreams of becoming the next Ethan Kilmer or Josh Hull. Whatever their reason for choosing Penn State, they are the walk-ons, and you are now privileged to know them.

Matthew McGloin - #12

 
Position: Quarterback
Hometown: Scranton, PA
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 190 lbs
Forty: 4.7

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In 12 days the ghosts of legends past come to life.

Your semi-regular scavenger hunt for Penn State news items on The Internets.

Western Kentucky, Here We Come: Steve Koreivo is a simple man, really.  A Penn State season ticket holder, a father of two, and a slightly dedicated football fan who has seen every Division 1-A football team in person...and knows how to pick a woman:

"Me and the kids know that this is Steve’s passion," Laurie Koreivo said. "It’s the one thing in life he truly loves."

She found that out the hard way in 1987, on a cold snowy day at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa. Koreivo did not budge until Penn State had defeated Notre Dame, 21-20.

"We were just dating at the time," he said. "She stayed throughout the game, which weighed heavily in my decision to marry her."

She may have had no choice. "I just remember being too cold to move," Laurie said.

Better Than Crap?  Awesome!:  The Penn State previews keep coming, but here's something slightly more interesting from MLive.com -- teams who will be better than you think:

8. Penn State: The preseason mag that I'm glancing at right now (Sporting News) has Penn State seventh in the Big Ten. I just don't see it. Whether Darryl Clark or Pat Devlin starts at QB, the offense should be able to move the ball with Evan Royster at RB and the great WR group. There are questions on defense, but not enough for a horrible year. Bank on this: PSU will be 4-0 and ranked in the top 15 when Illinois visits on Sept. 27.

Okay, "better than The Sporting News thinks" might be more appropriate.  I'm not sure anyone in a reasonable frame of mind thinks that Penn State will be the #7 team in the conference.  And if they're not 4-0 heading into the Illinois game, well, there's going to be much more trouble than just living down to TSN's expectations.

Welcome To My Hell, Coastal Carolina:  The Chanticleers (I know, I know...) are preparing for the noise at Beaver Stadium by, you guessed it, blaring annoying techno music into their little stadium:

The stadium and portable speakers were again blaring with a mix of techno and crowd noise during CCU's scrimmage Saturday. The noise attributed to a high number of false starts and miscommunication for the offensive line.

CCU offensive linemen Seth Smalls told Coastal coach David Bennett that one such mistake was related to the noise in Brooks Stadium. Bennett responded by saying he better watch the ball at Penn State. The problem with watching the snap is it gives the defense an advantage on what could be a very tough day for Coastal Carolina quarterbacks.

"We have to learn to communicate by signals, sign language," Bennett said.

Don't worry, Coastal.  The crowd won't be into it by halftime.  Meanwhile, the Chants are still looking for a quarterback.  Techno should be the least of their concerns.

Now is the time on Sprockets vhen ve dance!

Fullback?  I Still Get Paid, Right?:  Tony Hunt has impressed Andy Reid enough to be tried out at another position of need for the Philadelphia Eagles:

The Eagles will have a new fullback taking some of the reps with the first team offense today at practice. His name is Tony Hunt, the team's third round draft pick in 2007. Hunt has impressed head coach Andy Reid with his play on offense and, more importantly, on special teams in recent weeks.

On the surface, some may see this as a demotion, but Hunt has obviously made enough of an impact on Reid that the coach seems to be looking for a solid excuse to keep him on the team.  He'll see the ball a lot more at fullback (think lots of check-down passes and goal-line playaction stuff) than he would as the #4 running back.  Hope it works out for him.

In Scores From Other Games:  A chance to bid on a football autographed by Joe Paterno and some guy who used to beat up on the University of Mexico and Millington Naval Air Station.  Austin Scott is hoping to get a few carries tonight against the Giants.   Evan Royster is pretty good.  Dan Connor gets adjusted to the NFL.  A great story about a former Penn State player who lost a leg at war...and still wanted to come back and play after being released from a German POW camp.

So I've listened to everyone's input and put together as solid a preseason poll as you're going to get. Which means it's still a crappy preseason poll.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida	25
2	Oklahoma	24
3	Ohio State	23
4	Georgia	22
5	Southern Cal	21
6	Missouri	20
7	West Virginia	19
8	LSU	18
9	Clemson	17
10	Texas	16
11	Auburn	15
12	Kansas	14
13	Texas Tech	13
14	Virginia Tech	12
15	Wisconsin	11
16	Tennessee	10
17	South Florida	9
18	Penn State	8
19	Arizona State	7
20	Illinois	6
21	Oregon	5
22	Brigham Young	4
23	Michigan State	3
24	Wake Forest	2
25	Alabama	1

Dropped Out: N/A

The Contenders

Florida - I put Florida first based on the fact they return a ton of talent including a Heisman Trophy quarterback. But I wouldn't be surprised if they struggle and drop as they seem to be going through ACL's like underwear.

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Just 13 days until endzone celebrations are severely frowned upon.