Around the Interwebs: Penn State Football Links for 2/25/2009

Lots of information this week! Let's take a look...

• In a recent interview, former Nittany Lion CB Lydell Sargeant lets everyone know he's been training with the one and only "Neon" Deion Sanders for the combine and that the 2008 Penn State football season was a huge success. [Football Review Daily]
• And apparently Sargeant is fast. [2 the Lion Football]
  
• Todd McShay did a video breakdown of former Nittany Lion DE Aaron Maybin, who is projected to go in the first round of the NFL Draft at the end of April. [ESPN]
• Adam Taliaferro is still providing hope and inspiration almost nine years after his unfortunate accident on the football field. [GoPSUsports.com]
• The Pittbsurgh Steelers are interested in former Nittany Lion center A.Q. Shipley, who has raised his stock thanks to a strong combine performance. [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]
• Recruiting is a continuous process. BSD takes a look at the running back position for 2010 and beyond. [Black Shoe Diaries]
• Bill Kline has some video and his own tidbits on what he calls "the Penn State Eight" at the NFL Combine. [Nittany Lines]
• John Sears has a small profile on former Nittany Lion DE Maurice Evans, who is eager to put his past behind him. Unfortunately Evans looked sluggish at the combine and hist stock is falling. [College Football Insiders]
• According to Aaron Maybin, Head Coach Joe Paterno likes to ruffle his players feathers and definitely doesn't act his age. [Pro Football Weekly Draft Blog]
  

  “He tries to hop in our workouts occasionally,” Maybin said. “I don’t think the guy knows his age sometimes. He sometimes forgets the fact that he’s not 20 years old and a young football player. He’ll try to hop into a few of our drills and ends up almost getting trampled.

  "He's a guy that's full of a lot of energy and he definitely inspires us by the way he carries himself."

• As they do every year, Penn State football players made many dreams come true over the weekend for children suffering from cancer during the University's annual Dance MaraTHON. THON raised almost $7.5 million this year for The Four Diamonds Fund. [GoPSUsports.com]
• Could this be true? Maybe, but I think this is just a clever ruse and all about Internet fun. Apparently someone named Goran Mippipopoulos and the group Techno For A More Progressive Europe (TFAMPE) want Penn State to stop utilizing Kernkraft 400's "Zombie Nation" in Beaver Stadium. Mippipopoulos cites "wreckless (sic) and immoral usage" by Penn State and wishes to return the song "back to where it rightfully belongs". President Graham Spanier doesn't seem concerned, at least according to this story I found. [The Scoop and Score]
  

  Not only is their claim ludicrous, we feel it really sets a poor example to the rest of the world. "Zombie Nation" is now and forever will be the worlds song. I don't recall the Baha Men taking such a selfish approach with "Who Let The Dogs Out" and obviously we've all benefitted (sic) from that.

• Budd Bailey has an honest and straightforward look at The Lion in Autumn: A Season with Joe Paterno and Penn State Football by Frank Fitzpatrick. The book is about the 2004 season, which was quite forgettable. Bailey gives it an official "three out of five stars" but says it should be a three-and-a-half (maybe he doesn't utilize halves?) and that, if you're a Penn State football fan it is a four. My interest is piqued. [Sports Book Review Center]
• The spring previews are already rolling out. Here are the first two, with many more to follow (including my own) in the coming weeks. [Bleacher Report] & [Bucks Insider]
• Brian Grummell takes a lengthy look at college football coaching tenure's. No doubt Joe Paterno makes an appearance. Actually, he's mentioned in the introduction. [Fanhouse]
• Coaches take a lot of flak for their salaries which, in all honesty, they don't really control. It's the nature of their business and they get to take full advantage of it. Ron Cook examines coaches and their salaries and examines how Penn State and Joe Paterno are better off for having each other. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
• Back at BSD, Kevin HD examines the first beat writer that takes a stab at Penn State's miserable out of conference schedule for 2009 and the recent Big Ten tie breaker changes. [Black Shoe Diaries]
• What are the premiere gigs in college football these days? Well obviously, according to the ambiguous "coach" Penn State is, or why would I post the link here? He takes into account recent success, tradition, facilities, athletic department, and money. See who else made the Top 12. [Coach Hal]
• ESPNs Mount Rushmore series came to a close recently, with Illinois (Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Ernie Banks, Mike Ditka) taking the title. They received 28.6% of the vote. Pennsylvania (Joe Paterno, Mario Lemieux, Roberto Clemente, Wilt Chamberlain) finished in second, 3.1 percentage points behind Illinois. At least we topped New York (Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, Joe Namath) who finished 4th with 15.4%. [Newsday]
• Joe Paterno is briefly mentioned in a piece about coaches and whether coaching from the sideline or the booth is better. [Rivals]

That's a lot to check out but they come highly recommended by me!