Q: What was the overall experience like?
A: It was fun, there was a lot of pressure to perform well on the field for the fans because everyone is watching and the coaches are getting paid.
Q: How did you balance school with football?
A: Freshman year, there was a mandatory study hall period. You’d have class until like 2:45, then practice from 3-6, then dinner from 6-7, then study hall from 7-9:30. You were basically locked in so it became a habit of making time for school.
Q: Why did you choose not to continue your football career?
A: Well, I had six concussions, my last one was my senior year. I graduated college in three years and I figured I would rather stay sane.
Q: What was the Penn State program like when you played?
A: When I was playing there, I guess it was the same as it was now. It’s very traditional, everyone in the state of Pennsylvania follows what’s going on. They know your name, they know who you are when you walk in the restaurant, it’s a small city but on a state level everyone supports Penn State. There’s lots of high expectations.
Q: What are differences between football then and now?
A: Recruiting, everyone can put a film on Youtube and self market themselves. It used to be through word of mouth and coaches but now a kid can do it themselves. And then, everyone wants to talk about getting paid as an athlete and the goal is to get to the NFL. A recent poll just came out that said that Penn State was number one for graduating football players and disparity between white and black athletes graduating college and playing football. And so they’re a good, top university so I wanted to be a part of that.
Q: Did any other schools offer a spot for you? If so,why did you choose Penn State?
A: I had offers from all the Big 10 schools, Texas A&M, UCLA, Washington and all of the ACC schools. I think I had 50-60 offers. I chose Penn State for the educational value and to play for the legendary Joe Paterno and I couldn’t get that anywhere else, the balance of those two, so I think it worked out well.
Q: What was playing in the Capital One Bowl like?
A: It was neat, playing after the season and going to Orlando and Tampa. We could go to any park with free, all day passes, we were in a parade and could go on rides before anyone else. The drawback was being in Orlando in Christmas; my mom couldn’t come down so I had Christmas dinner at Denny’s. That’s the one thing I remember, the tough thing was not being with family for the holidays.
Q: How has playing for Penn State affected your life today?
A: Even with the Joe Paterno scandal, people still look at Penn State as one of the top programs, and it has been for 60 years, and so people just have a reverence for it playing for Paterno. It’s kinda like what we have at AHS with tradition and things are done a certain way so they know you’re a good, solid person. I also met my wife at Penn State, so that was really great.
-Compiled by Colleen Adenan
