published independently by students at penn state
TRANSCRIPT
Published independently by students at Penn StateHOME GAME SPECIAL: NEWS COVERAGE INSIDE
Graphic by Carson Schultz
Photos by Lily LaRegina
The Daily CollegianVERSUSPage a2 | Friday, SePt. 10, 2021
No. Name Position/Elig.0 Chris Agyemang DL/Sr.0 Jalen McGaughy WR/So.1 Nic Jones CB/Jr.2 Malcolm Lee S/Sr.3 Amechi Uzodinma II CB/Sr.4 Trevor Hohlt WR/Sr.5 Bryce Cosby S/Sr.5 John Paddock QB/Sr.6 Jaylin Thomas LB/Sr.6 Yo’Heinz Tyler WR/Sr.7 Brandon Martin LB/Sr.8 Cody Rudy FB/Sr.9 Christian Albright LB/Sr.9 Drew Plitt QB/Sr.10 Elliot Charlebois QB/Sr.10 Derin McCulley CB/So.11 Justin Hall WR/Sr.12 Thailand Baldwin CB/Fr.12 Jayshon Jackson WR/Jr.12 Mark Nondorf QB/So.13 Jordan Williams TE/Sr.14 Eddie Schott QB/So.14 J.T. Wahee S/Sr.15 Lucas Borrow P/Fr.15 Red Potts CB/Jr.16 Brady Hunt QB/Fr.16 Hassan Littles WR/Sr.17 Chayce Bishop CB/Fr.17 Justin Campbell WR/Fr.18 Kiael Kelly QB/Fr.
No. Name Position/Elig.18 Jordan Riley-Scott CB/Fr.19 Seth Dunnuck S/Fr.19 Jonathan Hagee K/Sr.20 Donny Marcus RB/So.20 Latrelle Smith CB/So.21 Jordan Marshall S/Fr.22 Jack Blanco S/Sr.22 Kyrin Perry RB/So. 23 Brett Anderson II S/Sr.23 Markavun Brownlee RB/Fr.24 Will Jones RB/Sr.24 Alex Stirn CB/Fr.25 Keionté Newson LB/So.25 Dean Tate WR/Jr.26 Trenton Hatfield S/Sr.27 Jimmy Daw LB/Sr.29 Harold Jones S/So.30 Tye Evans RB/Jr.31 Anthony Ekpe RB/Jr.32 Clayton Coll LB/Jr.33 Carson Steele RB/Fr.34 Rico Barfield RB/Fr.34 Brayden Evans S/Fr.35 Justin Morris LB/Fr.36 Charlie Ely LB/Fr.37 Vaughn Pemberton RB/Fr.38 Nathan Snyder P/Sr.38 Jerwuan Thomas CB/So.39 Nate Pedraza CB/So.40 Cole Pearce LB/Jr.
No. Name Position/Elig.41 Ben Egenolf S/So.42 Jack Beebe LB/Fr.42 Jake Chanove K/Sr.43 Rae’Quin Lee RB/Fr.44 Brock Burns LB/Sr.44 Drayton Charlton-Perrin TE/Fr.45 Jimmy Boso FB/Jr.45 Isaac Daniels K/Fr.46 Jacob Lewis K/So.47 Mitchell Carter TE/Jr.48 Isaiah Dunnuck TE/Jr.49 Dylan Seiler LS/Fr.50 Seth Schmidt OL/So.50 Jackson Wiegold LB/Fr.51 Brandon Berger LB/Fr.52 Tavion Woodard DL/So. 53 Jaylen Turner OL/Jr.54 Ethan Crowe OL/Fr.54 Kyle Lozen LB/Fr.55 Dalton Elrod LB/Fr.55 Damon Kaylor OL/So.56 Joey Stemler LB/Fr.57 Nathan Reichert DL/Fr.58 Jalen Johnson OL/Fr.61 Javon Rodgers OL/So.62 Curtis Blackwell OL/Sr.63 Tommy Lorincz OL/Fr.65 Matt Phillips OL/So.70 Caleb Murray OL/Jr.71 Kevin Meeder OL/Fr.
No. Name Position/Elig.72 Anthony Todd OL/Sr.73 Aaron Porter OL/Fr.74 Porter Haught OL/So.75 Corey Stewart OL/Fr.77 Kaleb Slaven OL/Sr.78 Julian McBride DL/Fr.79 Joseph Boggs OL/Jr.80 Jaret Frantz TE/Fr.81 Ryan Lezon TE/Fr.82 Qian Magwood WR/Fr.83 Cam Gillentine WR/So.84 Chevalier Brenson WR/Fr.85 Darian Hanley WR/Fr.86 Austin Hill WR/Fr.87 Casey Coll TE/Sr.88 Dylan Koch TE/Sr.90 Joshua Tarango DL/Jr.91 Tony Schott LB/Jr.92 Kendal Kendrick DL/Sr.93 Kyron Mims DL/So.94 Jack Sape DL/Fr.95 Drew Hughes DL/Fr.95 Emeka Jillani DL/Jr.97 Ayden Doyle LS/Fr.97 John Harris DL/So.98 Justen Ramsey DL/Jr.99 Jordan Ward
No. Name Position/Elig.0 Jonathan Sutherland S/Sr.1 Jaquan Brisker S/Sr.2 Ta’Quan Roberson QB/So.2 Keaton Ellis S/Jr.3 Johnny Dixon CB/Jr.3 Parker Washington WR/So.4 Kalen King CB/Fr.5 Tariq Castro-Fields CB/Sr.5 Jahan Dotson WR/Sr.6 Cam Sullivan-Brown WR/Sr.6 Zakee Wheatley CB/Fr.7 Jaylen Reed S/Fr.8 Marquis Wilson ATH/So.9 Joey Porter Jr. CB/So.9 Christian Veilleux QB/Fr.11 Daniel George WR/Jr.12 Brandon Smith LB/Jr.13 Ellis Brooks LB/Sr.13 KeAndre Lambert-Smith WR/So.14 Sean Clifford QB/Sr.14 A.J. Lytton CB/Jr.15 Evan Clark QB/Fr.15 Enzo Jennings S/Fr.16 Ji’Ayir Brown S/Sr.16 Khalil Dinkins TE/Fr.17 Arnold Ebiketie DE/Sr.17 Mason Stahl QB/Fr.18 Davon Townley Jr. DE/Fr.19 Jaden Dottin WR/Fr.
No. Name Position/Elig.19 Jace Tutty CB/Fr.20 Adisa Isaac DE/Jr.21 Noah Cain RB/Jr.21 Tyler Rudolph S/So.23 Curtis Jacobs LB/So.23 John Lovett RB/Sr.24 Jeffrey Davis Jr. CB/Fr.24 Keyvone Lee RB/So.25 Daequan Hardy CB/Fr.26 Caziah Holmes RB/So.26 Jaden Seider S/So.27 Aeneas Hawkins DT/Jr.27 Ethan Susen CB/Fr.27 Bobby Walchak S/Fr.28 Devyn Ford RB/Jr.. 29 Sebastian Constantini S/So.30 Kaleb Brown CB/Fr.32 Dylan Farronato S/So.33 Bryce Mostella DE/Fr.34 Dominic DeLuca LB/Fr.36 Zuriah Fisher LB/Fr.37 Drew Hartlaub S/Sr.38 Tank Smith RB/So.39 Robbie Dwyer LB/So.40 Jesse Luketa LB/Sr.41 Kobe King LB/Fr.42 Jamari Buddin LB/Fr.43 Tyler Elsdon LB/Fr.44 Joseph Appiah Darkwa DT/So.
No. Name Position/Elig.44 Tyler Warren TE/Fr.45 Charlie Katshir LB/Jr.46 Nick Tarburton DE/Jr..47 Alex Furmanek DT/So.48 Tyler Duzansky SN/Fr.48 Cody Romano LB/Jr.49 Michael Wright SN/Fr.50 Max Chizmar LB/Sr.50 Will Knutsson OL/Jr.51 Hakeem Beamon DT/So.51 Jimmy Christ OL/Fr.52 Jordan van den Berg DT/So.52 Blake Zalar OL/So.53 Fred Hansard DT/Sr.53 Rasheed Walker OL/Jr.54 Derrick Tangelo DT/Sr.55 Fatorma Mulbah DT/Fr.55 Anthony Whigan OL/Sr.56 Amin Vanover DT/Fr.57 Ibrahim Traore OL/Fr.58 Landon Tengwall OL/Fr.59 Kaleb Konigus OL/Jr.66 Nick Dawkins OL/Fr.68 Eric Wilson OL/Sr.70 Juice Scruggs OL/Jr.72 Bryce Effner OL/Jr..73 Mike Miranda OL/Sr.74 Olumuyiwa Fashanu OL/Fr.75 Des Holmes OL/Sr.
No. Name Position/Elig.77 Sal Wormley OL/So.78 Golden Israel-Achumba OL/Fr.79 Caeden Wallace OL/So.80 Malick Meiga WR/Fr.84 Theo Johnson TE/So.85 Harrison Wallace III WR/Fr.86 Brandon Strange TE/H/So.87 Ben Knapp TE/Fr.87 Benjamin Wilson WR/Sr.88 Norval Black WR/Sr.89 Winston Eubanks WR/Sr.89 Grayson Kline TE/H/Jr.90 Rafael Checa K/Jr.90 Rodney McGraw DE/Fr.91 Chris Stoll SN/Sr.92 Jake Pinegar K/Sr.92 Smith Vilbert DE/So.93 Spencer Perry DE/Fr.93 Bradley King P/Sr.94 Jake Wilson DE/Fr.95 Cole Brevard DT/Fr.95 Vlad Hilling K/Jr.96 Barney Amor P/Sr.96 Mitchell Groh K/Fr.97 PJ Mustipher DT/Jr.98 Jordan Stout K/P/Sr.98 Dan Vasey DE/Jr.99 Coziah Izzaed DT/Fr.99 Gabe Nwosu P/Fr.
By Seth EngleTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN
“That’ll do it.” Gus Johnson made the call as
Ji’Ayir Brown ran past the 10-yard line, ball in hand, to close out the season-opening victory for Penn State over Wisconsin.
To Brown’s side stood All-American safety Jaquan Brisker, who just three years prior was like most other junior college ath-letes, fighting for the opportunity to play Division I football — not worried about what could come after that.
“In junior college, your goal is always to make it to the highest level in college football,” Lacka-wanna College defensive coor-dinator Bill Reiss told The Daily Collegian.
A year after Brisker accom-plished his goal, moving on from the Lackawanna program to join the Nittany Lions, a new face emerged in the Falcons’ secondary: Brown.
Sharing a similar goal as Brisk-er to make it to a Power Five pro-gram and beyond, Brown began his journey to Division I as soon as he stepped foot on Lacka-wanna’s campus in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
“When you go to Lackawanna, you have to become a man as soon as possible,” Brown said. “You have to be able to manage your time, your body, all that on your own without the proper resources.”
According to head football coach Mark Duda, players go through a “tough regiment” as soon as they’re enrolled.
“Everything here is manda-tory. There are no voluntary situations,” Duda told the Colle-gian.
“So there are long days and hard days, but there is a reward system for doing well.”
The reward? Playing time.Lackawanna is no ordinary
junior college, and its recent success sending players to re-spected Division I programs has continued to grow the college’s legitimacy as a pipeline.
In the past three years, Duda has sent seven players to Power Five programs — four of whom have landed with his longtime
friend James Franklin in Happy Valley.
“We're comfortable sending our players anywhere,” Duda said. “But we're a little more comfort-able sending them to Penn State because we've had a track record with them.”
With three of the four Nittany Lions who went through Lacka-wanna currently in the starting lineup, the track record between the two schools speaks for itself.
But how the connection be-tween a small Scranton com-munity college and one of the largest four-year universities in the country devel-oped comes down to Duda’s 25-year relationship with Franklin.
According to Duda, Joe Pa-terno's “preroga-tive” was never to recruit junior college players, so it wasn’t until Franklin took the Penn State job in 2014 that the Lackawanna-to-Happy-Valley pipeline was truly born.
“He has a top-level community college in his backyard,” Duda said. “Franklin decided he would get the top two players from Lackawanna every year.”
On top of the almost obvious logistics that come with recruit-ing high-level community college players from a local source, Duda has a positive relationship with a good portion of Penn State’s coaching staff.
Duda coached at East Strouds-burg, Franklin’s college home, one year after the blue and white coach left. Current Penn State de-fensive coordinator Brent Pry’s dad also coached alongside Duda at East Stroudsburg.
With two more L a c k a w a n n a products set to join Franklin’s program in 2022 — Tyrece Mills and JB Nelson — the future of the pipeline from Scranton to State College looks as bright as ever before.
On top of that, 2022 will almost
certainly see the first Lackawa-nna Falcon turned Nittany Lion selected in the NFL Draft in Brisker.
While he had the opportunity to enter his name in April’s NFL Draft following his true senior season, Brisker made the de-cision to return to Happy Val-ley for his coronavirus-granted
“super senior” season.Although one season of eligibil-
ity may be daunting for someone likely hoping to make himself a first-round NFL Draft pick, Brisker said his “ultimate goal” remains taking it “day by day.”
“I’m thankful to be here,” Brisker said. “I’m embracing it.”
Embracing the moment is a challenging feat, but according to Duda, Brisker had fallen in love with grind and rigor Lackawanna required. He excelled at embrac-ing the day-to-day challenges on and off the field, too.
According to Duda, Brisker would call him late at night and recap what didn’t go well in practice, promising to “get it together.”
In comparison to most 19 year olds, Duda said the majority “ba-sically go through practice and hope for the best.” Brisker was different.
“He was more,” Duda said. “He was thinking ahead before he even got here.”
When Brisker began to think ahead to the future and what his performance at Lackawanna could mean for an opportunity in Division I, his attention to de-tail accelerated, and he began to think ahead on the gridiron and became a leader on and off the field.
One example of Brisker’s de-
veloping football IQ occurred in his sophomore season, in a matchup against ASA College in Brooklyn, New York.
With less than five minutes left in the game, Lackawanna trailed ASA by four.
Over the course of the game, Brisker realized his opponent had been running the same cross-ing route time and again. When he noticed the formation again, he notified his linebacker Dillon Harris.
“He’s about to come across, just step to your left,” Brisker told Harris.
Brisker blitzed, and Harris stood where he was told. Seconds after the ball was snapped, Harris intercepted the ball and took it to the endzone for the win.
“I’d like to say that we called that defense,” Duda said. “But we didn’t. Brisker did.”
Fast forward three years, and Brisker continues to use his foot-ball IQ to better serve himself and his teammates.
Getting taken out of a game is never easy, but getting taken out three separate times and finding a way back to the playing field is nearly impossible.
On Saturday, Brisker did that and came away with a clutch in-terception on 4th and goal with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
“When you get to be with somebody, you realize this guy’s for real, and [Brisker] is abso-lutely, positively for real,” Duda said.
“There are 100 players who would not have come back into that game.”
According to Brisker, he had seen the same play called while he was on the sidelines and knew the formation when he saw it, leading him to notify his fellow defensive backs and eventually make the play.
“It’s just like Madden,” Brisk-er said. “Once I run a play, I’ll run again later in the game if it worked.
“Once [Wisconsin] ran the play at the beginning of the game, I figured they’d run it again… once they like one thing they’ll keep going to it.”
Visit collegian.psu.edu to read the full story.
TIIG & BRIZZYFormer Lackawanna safeties make an impact together with Penn State football
Lily LaRegina/Collegian
Penn State senior safety Jaquan Brisker walks off the field at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Penn State defeated Wisconsin 16-10 on Sept. 4.
“Through the years, playing together, working out together and push-ing each other through adversity, it’s just pulled us closer as brothers.”
Ji’Ayir BrownSafety
The Daily Collegian VERSUS Friday, Sept. 10, 2021 | page A3
By Justin MorgansteinTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN
As Penn State safety Jaquan Brisker made his game-saving interception against Wisconsin, FOX commentator Gus John-son shouted the words that summed up the day perfectly.
“DEFENSE. DE-FENSE.”
Brisker and just about anyone else who touched the field for defensive coordinator Brent Pry played as good as anyone could’ve hoped, bailing out a Penn State offense that didn’t gain a spark until the second half.
The defensive unit pitched a shutout in the first half and displayed some bend-don’t-break tendencies throughout the course of the game.
But while there were times the defense bent and allowed Wisconsin to move the ball down the field, it was able to cre-ate turnovers and win battles that James Frank-lin always emphasizes the importance of.
The big play and turn-over battles are critical to the game of football, ac-cording to Franklin, and he preaches they will usually lead to wins — just as it did in Madison.
“I felt like our guys willed [the win] to happen with their mentality and ap-proach, and I thought we
played really good comple-mentary football,” Frank-lin said in his weekly press conference Tuesday. “We won the turnover battle and the explosive play battle, the two most important statistics in football.”
A big part of winning that battle was thanks to the play of the two safe-ties, Brisker and free safety Ji’Ayir Brown.
Brown had the intercep-tion that officially put the game on ice as the clock hit zero in Penn State’s 16-10 win over the Badgers, and he said he feels the mental-ity that went into the game at Camp Randall is part of the DNA of Pry’s unit.
“It’s just our grit,” Brown said.
“We have a lot of guys who are hungry and eager to get a win. We were not gonna let anything bad hap-pen on our terms. We were gonna control the game on defense. We decided that as a unit, and we went out there and proved it to ourselves.”
A perfect example of that grit was Arnold Ebiketie and Jaquan Brisker — two of Penn State’s top defend-ers — getting banged up Saturday but finding their way back on the field to make an impact.
Brisker may be more notable for his intercep-tion but defensive end and Temple transfer Ebiketie made his presence well known.
Ebiketie, or “AK” as his teammates and coaches call him, made the first play of the game and nev-er looked back, proving to everyone watching that he’ll be critical for the Nit-tany Lion defense moving forward.
However, his teammates have been bullish over the former Temple Owl for weeks now, saying he’s al-ways been ready to play at this level.
“I feel like everybody knew he was going to be a force as soon as he stepped in the building,” cornerback Joey Porter Jr. said. “He’s just a great athlete. Once he got the playbook down, he just wanted to be a freak of nature. [From] the first play, he made an impact the whole game.”
While the individual play among Pry’s group was on point enough to win a critical road game, the collective whole was just as sharp, playing at a level they can only hope to see week in and week out for the remainder of the season.
The Nittany Lions held strong in Madison despite being on the field for over 42 minutes against a brutal Wisconsin rushing attack.
“Our defense played championship-level de-fense all day long,” Franklin said.
To email reporter: [email protected] him on Twitter at @JmoTweets_.
Penn State looks to replicate defense against Ball State
Lily LaRegina/Collegian
PJ Mustipher (97) and Ellis Brooks (13) chase down Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz in Penn State’s Week 1 win over the Badgers, Sept. 4.
Justin MorgansteinTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN
The landscape of college ath-letics has been reformed tremen-dously over the past couple of years due to a number of differ-ent factors. Perhaps none have had as much impact, though, as the motion for student-athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness.
And in a town like State Col-lege where Penn State football means so much to the people who flock to campus each week, many of the Nittany Lions were quick to take advantage of such an opportunity.
One of those players was start-ing quarterback Sean Clifford, who has been seen completing deals with restaurants, stores and is even one of the most pop-ular athletes on the platform Cameo.
One store that has certainly been proud to showcase the se-nior from Cincinnati is State Col-lege stalwart McLanahan’s Penn State Room on College Avenue.
The store has had the opportu-nity to start selling t-shirts with players’ names, something Penn State fans have not been able to purchase until just recently — at least legally, that is.
Even Clifford himself acknowl-edged just how special of an op-portunity it is, as players get to take advantage of all sorts of new possibilities in regards to NIL.
“I think there’s definitely an importance of branding, and that wasn’t able to happen before,” Clifford said prior to the 2021 sea-son. “The NCAA and the commis-sioners have done a really good job of allowing us now to use our name, image and likeness to bet-ter ourselves, to do what we want to do when it comes to being an entrepreneur.”
That’s why partnering with McLanahan’s was a no-brainer for both the store and the Nittany Lion quarterback.
Amber Blose, head of NIL management at McLanahan’s, said this has been a wonderful op-portunity for the business, and it can’t wait for big crowds to be back in State Col-lege for football weekends.
“We can’t wait to see people back in town,” Blose told The Daily Collegian. “Even last weekend, just having the energy of the town is some-thing that we’ve always loved... We’re really looking forward to having even more people back in the area and coming in and see-ing the NIL [apparel] here — and hopefully picking up some of it.”
Among the new arrivals that can be found in the windows of McLanahan’s are Clifford and
Caedan Wallace T-shirts, now with last names on the back and signatures on the front.
The store has even tried to ca-ter to the desires of both the ath-letes and the consumers, but it’s
learning on the fly as they pick up the ins and outs of the new opportunity.
“We didn’t have a definitive plan just because ev-erything was so new and moving [quickly],” Blose added. “It’s been a great experi-ence and a learn-
ing experience for us on how to carry this gear so far.”
While the players and retailers have been reaping the benefits of this new opportunity, James Franklin is also excited about the chance his players are receiving.
He said it’s something he wants his guys to take full advantage of — just as long as it isn’t a distrac-tion to getting a proper education
and playing college football in the fall.
“We’ve embraced it. We want to be bold and aggressive and every-thing we possibly can do,” Frank-lin said at Big Ten Football Media Days this summer.
“For us, it’s really about the student-athlete and making sure that they’re going to have an op-portunity to capitalize on this. I’ve been really proud [of our guys] because I think they’ve shown a very mature approach.”
It’s still early in the process for many of these athletes, and there’s sure to be more clar-ity and knowledge coming to all parties involved.
And for a big name like Clifford, the opportunities could truly be endless for him as he continues to take the offers presented to him with this new deal.
“I’m excited to explore all of the other possibilities with NIL because the possibilities are kind of endless.”
To email reporter: [email protected] him on Twitter at @JmoTweets_.
Sean Clifford, McLanahan’s benefit from NIL
Jeremiah Hassel/Collegian
McLanahan’s is a facet of the downtown shopping scene in State College, Pa. Sean Clifford has partnered with the convenience store after the passing of the NCAA’s NIL agreement.
Lily LaRegina/Collegian
Sean Clifford (14) celebrates after beating Wisconsin 16-10 in Penn State’s season opener, Sept. 4.
“I’m excited to explore all of the other possibilities with NIL because the possibilities are kind of endless. ”
Sean CliffordQuarterback
Page A4 | Friday, SePt. 10, 2021
Max Ralph Guest Picker:Jade CamposWhat to watch
for: Ball State’soffense will test
Penn State’s secondary more than Wisconsin did, while the Nittany Lions will have a
chance to open up their offense more than they did in Week 1. Look for Sean Clifford to have a good day, and Penn State rolls.
Score: Penn State 38, Ball State 17
Ralph
Seth EngleWhat to watch
for: Penn State looks to start 2-0 after defeating Wisconsin Week 1. The Nittany Lions next opponent, Ball State, is looking to
do so as well. The key to this con-test will be slowing a Cardinal offense that averaged 34.2 ppg last year. Don’t sleep on Ball State, but the blue and white likely have this one ine the bag.
Score: Penn State 35, Ball State 20
Justin Morganstein Alexis YoderWhat to watch
for: Penn State will have no trouble with Ball State on Saturday in a packed Beaver Stadium. The defense will continue
its strong performance and the offense will be clicking at home in front of the Nittany Lion faithful.
Score: Penn State 38, Ball State 7
What to watch for: Penn State is coming off one of its biggest wins of the James Franklin era, mainly due to its rock solid defensive effort in Madison
last week. Now Sean Clifford and the offense will need to get going against a team that sturggles with Western Illinois last week. They get it done and win big on Saturday afternoon.
Score: Penn State 34, Ball State 10
What to watch for: It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that Penn State will take down Ball State for its first home game of the
season. The Nittany Lions have the home advantage, with the fans being the consistent tool to every home win. However, Penn State can’t be complacent.
Score: Penn State 34, Ball State 28
the daily CollegianRUNDOWNBy Alexis Yoder
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Mid-American C o n f e r e n c e teams have a reputation for pull-ing off upsets and close games against Big Ten opponents.
Who could forget when Appa-lachian State upset No. 5 Michi-gan in the Big House 34-32 in 2007? What about 2018 Big Ten Western Conference Champion Northwestern’s 39-34 loss to Akron?
And surely no one will forget when Penn State needed over-time to defeat Appalachian State 45-38 in that same year.
The Nittany Lions face an-other MAC opponent Saturday in the form of 2020 conference champion Ball State.
The Cardinals are 1-0 after picking up a 31-21 win at home against Western Illinois.
This Saturday’s tilt marks the first time fans will be in Beaver Stadium since November 2019, and the Cardinals are doing ev-erything they can to prepare for that rowdy environment.
Head coach Mike Neu said the team practices with the loudest of noises and music it can pos-sibly get in an effort to recreate Penn State’s home crowd.
“We want to make sure that we make it as obnoxious as possible where you can’t hear and you re-ally have to focus on silent com-munication,” Neu said in his pre-Penn State media availability. “If you’re one of the players that is lined up out wide — whether it’s on offense or defense — you got to just make sure that you’re watching the ball.
“Every tape that you watch when there is a crowd at Beaver Stadium, the opponent has pre-snap penalties. That’s one thing that we want to make sure we take care of on our end.”
The players bought into the strategy of replicating Beaver Stadium in an effort to prepare for Saturday’s contest.
“We practiced in the stadium a lot, so we can get the stadium speakers on and try to recreate an environment that we know what we’re getting into,” offen-sive lineman Anthony Todd said. “Communication might be a little tough with that many people in that atmosphere, but [Neu] does a really good job of trying to rec-reate what we think we’re going to hear come Saturday.”
Todd is one of 16 “super se-niors” and 20 returning start-ers from a team that won a conference championship last season, so the team has experience
playing in high-stakes games. But it’s never played in a sta-
dium or atmosphere like the one it’ll endure Saturday.
“We played in some big situ-ations,” Todd said. “We’re go-ing to do the best we can to not let that affect us. We’re worried about ourselves at the end of the day. We’re going out there and playing the best we can. If we go out and put the best that we can on the field, then we should be successful as an offense.”
On the same wavelength, Neu feels confident his players will weather the storm in Happy Val-ley, given the preparation in prac-tice and playing against other quality teams — especially a 2018 matchup with Notre Dame.
“We’ve got a veteran group of players here,” Neu said. “A lot of these young men took the field back when we played Notre Dame in that kind of environ-ment. We’ve got to make sure we don’t give them a bunch of rea-sons to be really loud. We’ll con-tinue trying to make it as loud as possible and giving our guys the best chance to go there and have success.”
Penn State plans to enjoy its home atmosphere for the first time in two years, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be focused on the
task at hand. James Franklin acknowledged the work Neu has done with his reigning MAC champions, saying they’re a qual-ity opponent that shouldn’t be un-derestimated.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Neu and what he’s been able to do at Ball State,” Frank-lin said. “[They’re] coming back from a MAC championship team, so it’s going to be a tremendous challenge. We look forward to the opportunity.”
Franklin confirmed he believes in “trap game” situations, where an underdog defeats a highly fa-vored opponent, but he refuses to let the Nittany Lions look past the Cardinals. The team will stick to its normal preparations in meeting rooms and practices as it does every week, no matter the opponent it’s facing.
“I believe in teams playing inconsistently because they ei-ther look forward, look back, get caught up in praise, get caught up in criticism or don’t have the correct amount of respect for the opponent or the process,” Frank-lin said. “Our routine and process are really important to me. That’s why we won’t talk about anything else but the game at hand.”
Following Penn State’s upset win on the road at Wisconsin, it’s
natural to feel a sense of relief and confidence heading into the home opener.
While he does believe in the concept of a trap game, Franklin is making sure the idea doesn’t get too much traction in this week’s preparation.
“I do believe in trap games if you’re sending mixed messages and you’re inconsistent in your approach,” Franklin said. “Those things lead to the wrong ap-proach by a group of young men, so we try to avoid that at all costs. I try to make sure that we don’t do that and that the message is consistent.”
Neu and Franklin carry mu-tual respect for each other’s program.
But the five-year head coach knows the Cardinals must stay locked in and focused on the game plan if they’re going to upset the Nittany Lions inside Beaver Stadium.
“This is a great opportu-nity for us as a program to go into a place like Penn State,” Neu said. “Coach Franklin has done a great job with their staff. Our guys are excited about the opportunity here.”
To email reporter: [email protected] her on Twiiter: @AlexisYoder1.
PSU preps for sneaky opponent
By Justin MorgansteinTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN
After pulling out an impressive road in Wisconsin on Saturday, Penn State is set to open up Bea-ver Stadium this weekend as it welcomes Ball State for the home opener.
While the Cardinals may not be as highly thought of as the Bad-gers on a national scale, they are the reigning conference cham-pions in the MAC with talent on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
The last thing the Nittany Li-ons want after a statement win on the road is a letdown against a non-Power Five team — espe-cially with Penn State fans back in the stands for the first time since 2019.
To do that, though, there are a few players James Franklin’s group will have to hone in on to pick up win No. 2 of the season.
Justin Hall, wide receiverBall State’s receiving corps
is likely the team’s best overall
position group, and that starts with veteran wideout Justin Hall.
Hall owns the program ca-reer receptions record with 265 and counting, and he’s likely to break the receiving yards record for the Cardinals this season as well.
He showed just how dominant he can be in Ball State’s first game against Western Illinois, catching eight passes for 137 yards and two scores en route to a 10-point win on Saturday.
Hall has been a first-team All-MAC player for the past two sea-sons and is about as polished of a route-runner as it gets in the college game.
That route running pairs quite well with his incredibly strong hands, as he only needs the slightest bit of separation to go up and make a play — even with his 5-foot-9, 186-pound frame.
Hall and senior receiver Yo’Heinz Tyler will be the main threats on offense, as Joey Por-ter Jr. and Tariq Castro-Fields will look to contain the dynamic playmakers on the outside.
Drew Plitt, quarterbackThe senior presence for Ball
State continues at the quarter-back position: Veteran Drew Plitt is the man under center for the Cardinals in 2021.
Plitt, like Penn State quarter-back Sean Clifford, is now a three-year starter and had a large role in the conference championship won by coach Mike Neu’s team a season ago.
Eleven of his 17 touchdowns in 2020 came in the critical final four games for Ball State, and he was even able to run for four touchdowns in the last stretch of the season.
On Saturday, he threw for 188 yards and two touchdowns in the Cardinals’ season-opening victo-ry and had a much better second half after a slow offensive start to the game.
If he can just allow his dynamic receiving corps a chance to make a play, then Plitt should see suc-cess. And if the Nittany Lions can force him to scramble out of the pocket, that task could become a whole lot tougher.
Brandon Martin, linebacker
Like the offense, there seems to be a group on defense that stands out over the rest: the Ball State linebacker room.
Leading that unit will be Brandon Martin, who is com-ing off a 2020 season in which he was recognized as the MAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year.
After missing the 2019 season due to injury, Martin bounced back last year to lead the Cardi-nals in tackles with 90 and added one sack.
He finished with 5 tackles and a pass deflected in the win over Western Illinois on Saturday and will look to make a splash against a Big Ten offense this weekend.
Martin and senior Christian Albright will be a tandem that of-fensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has to prepare for, and they could make some plays against Penn State if the Nittany Lions aren’t mindful of the two veterans.
To email reporter: [email protected] him on Twiiter: @JmoTweets_.
Ball State players to watch
Carlos Osorio/AP
Ball State head coach Mike Neu talks to his team during the first half of the Mid-American Conference championship NCAA college football game against Buffalo, Friday, Dec. 18, 2020, in Detroit.
Engle Morganstein YoderCampos
Friday, Sept. 10, 2021Vol. 122, No. 4
‘WE ARE TRYING’State College homeless shelters strive to address local housing insecurity, support community through pandemic
By Conner GoetzTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Housing insecurity can affect anyone in a community, regard-less of age, race or gender — and it’s an issue that isn’t foreign to State College.
According to the U.S. Depart-ment of Housing and Urban De-velopment, housing insecurity is “an umbrella term that encom-passes several dimensions of housing problems people may ex-perience, including affordability, safety, quality, insecurity and loss of housing.”
“The general population usu-ally has an assumption of what someone who’s homeless looks like — they think of an older gentleman with long hair on the streets, this sort of stereotypical person,” Morgan Wasikonis, ex-ecutive director of the State Col-lege-based shelter Housing Tran-sitions, said. “They don’t think of families or individuals who have come on hard times, people [who] may get hurt, might not be able to work and lose their car… all those things may affect someone’s abil-ity to pay their rent.”
W a s i k o n i s said she be-lieves guests at the Hous-ing Transitions shelter repre-sent a far broad-er segment of the population than many peo-ple assume. In fact, the most common demographic Wasiko-nis said she sees in the Hous-ing Transitions shelter are 18- to 34-year-olds.
People in this age bracket typi-cally have more tumultuous re-lationships and less stable jobs than their older peers, which can both be sources of housing insecurity, Wasikonis said.
To provide support to this com-munity, concerned Centre County residents who worked closely with religious organizations and local governments came together to found the Temporary Housing Initiative in 1983, which evolved into Housing Transitions in 1999.
Since then, Housing Transi-tions has expanded its services to better meet the needs of its “very underserved” community, Wasikonis said.
Housing Transitions now offers rapid rehousing, long-term sup-portive housing, individual case management and a food pantry — in addition to its congregate shelter located at 217 E. Nittany Ave.
The shelter houses around 80 guests in a typical year, but last year it saw more than 90, according to Wasikonis.
Even with these supportive resources, Wasikonis said she believes housing insecurity can be a challenging issue to address
comprehensively due to its in-trinsic connection to other social difficulties.
For example, if someone has a felony conviction on their record, they become ineligible for jobs in several different fields such as healthcare, education and civil service, which leads to more dif-ficulty renting homes for people who were formerly incarcerated.
“We’re always looking at root causes… sometimes it’s devel-oping affordable housing for people to stay in — because the financial part is often a barrier — [but] there are all these other barriers,” Wasikonis said. “Stud-ies have shown that if people are at least able to keep a roof over their head, they’ll be able to bet-ter address these other barriers they have to housing stability, so our ideas are to expand on that, to find ways to make things more affordable and still assist peo-ple on remaining stable in their housing.”
In the struggle to address these “systemic challenges,” collabora-
tion is essential, Wasikonis said.
“We have a great network between Hous-ing Transitions, Centre Safe and Out of the Cold, so we are able to help a broad range of the homeless popu-lation,” Vanessa Baronner, Cen-tre County Youth Services Bureau director of resi-dential services said. “However
we cannot fix… the problems as-sociated with getting housing, [but] we are trying.”
While Housing Transitions and Out of the Cold both provide emergency shelters to anyone in need in the State College area, Centre Safe focuses on survi-vors of domestic violence, while the Youth Services Bureau of-fers support programs for young people, according to Baronner.
“[The Youth Services Bureau] is full of community-based pro-grams that work with what the community needs,” Baronner said via email. “The agency was built on the premise that we needed to bring services to the youth and families of our com-munity, so they [do] not have to go somewhere else for those resources.”
One of the “unique” difficul-ties, according to Baronner, in addressing youth homelessness is that minors are often unable to rent apartments or hotel rooms, which limits their access to housing.
“The causes of homelessness for youth are much different than for adults. Much of the reason for youth homelessness is family in-stability and disruptions within the home setting,” Baronner said. “Many have been within the child welfare or foster care system,
[and] our most vulnerable popu-lation is the highest homeless population among youth, which [are LGBTQ people].”
The coronavirus pandemic has made this effort more challenging by adding additional hurdles in accessing housing to an already-vulnerable community, Baronner said.
“With COVID-19, we saw a de-crease in our teen shelter popula-tion… with our teen shelter, many referrals came from outside sources, so that was depleted with COVID because no one was in public school or interacting [with the organizations who usu-ally provide refer-rals],” Baronner said.
Sarah Potter, Out of the Cold program man-ager, said the coronavirus has “pretty much touched every piece of what we do, how we hire staff [and] how we do our day-to-day operations.”
Potter said she was concerned about controlling transmission and maintaining a safe environ-ment because guests who utilize congregate shelters come and go so frequently.
“We’ve done our best to cobble things together over the past year, but it’s still been tough,” Potter said. “Thank God we’ve had no cases in our shelter this entire pandemic, and we were able to serve some individuals who were COVID-positive [since] they were housed in hotels.”
Potter said Out of the Cold also had to expand its roster of full-time staff, since many of its regular volunteers were
seniors — who are in a higher risk category due to their age.
In a “strange but wonder-ful twist,” Out of the Cold was able to garner more donations from the community during the height of the pandemic than pre-coronavirus, according to Potter.
“[Donors] recognized the need… for these essential ser-vices, especially during the pan-demic, when so many businesses and public spaces were closed [and shelter guests] had nowhere else to go,” Potter said.
In addition to the increase of community support, Out of
the Cold has received sub-stantial support from the State College Borough Council.
During a council meeting on Aug. 5, Out of the Cold was al-located $234,000 of Community D e v e l o p m e n t Block Grant funds in or-
der to purchase and renovate its current rented property at 318 S. Atherton St. — The Meetinghouse on Atherton — to fully accommodate up to 30 shelter guests.
“It is a blessing to be in [vari-ous] church homes [around State College] and have them house us, but logistically, it is a lot of work,” Potter said. “We really want to create a permanent shelter space we can use year-round.”
The renovation will include building bunk rooms, laundry fa-cilities and accessible showers, Potter said.
Although Potter said she is optimistic about Out of the Cold’s
future, she also said she is wor-ried the end of the federal evic-tion moratorium will exacerbate housing insecurity.
The moratorium, which al-lowed renters to remain in their homes even if they are unable to pay rent due to income lost dur-ing the pandemic, ended in an Aug. 26 Supreme Court ruling.
According to Potter, this Su-preme Court decision will be a “huge issue for our country,” since 15 million people in the U.S. who were previously protected by the moratorium are now at risk of eviction, according to the Aspen Institute.
“There’s still so many people who’ve struggled during COVID and are at risk of losing their home,” Potter said, “and having an eviction on your record causes years-worth of ripple effects when you try to get back into the world of housing.”
Having an eviction on record makes an individual’s rental ap-plication less desirable — regard-less of the circumstances of their eviction, according to Potter.
“So we need to be supportive of the government in trying to keep that moratorium — to make sure affordable housing is a priority in every community,” Potter said.
Despite potential ramifications of the Supreme Court ruling, lo-cal groups said they will continue to strive to address local housing insecurity.
“In general, as a county, we are doing great things when it comes to addressing homelessness,” Barroner said. “However, we can not fix the housing issue or the problems associated with getting housing, [but] we are trying.”
To email reporter: [email protected] him on Twitter at @cgoetz18.
Regan Gross/Collegian
Out of the Cold provides emergency shelter to anyone in need in the State College area. During the pandemic, it garnered more donations than normal. “[Donors] recognized the need,” Sarah Potter said.
“Studies have shown that if people are at least able to keep a roof over their head, they’ll be able to better address these other barriers they have to housing stability.”
Morgan WasikonisHousing Transitions Director
“We’ve done our best to cobble things together over the past year, but it’s still been tough. ”
Sarah PotterOut of the Cold Manager
First Gen Advocates help students navigate PSUBy Magdalena Nygard
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Being a first-generation college student can come with its own challenges, and at Penn State, the First Gen Advocates seek to advocate and provide resources
for its members.Karissa Romanelli, social me-
dia chair of FGA, said the club has helped first-generation students like herself “navigate through the college experience.”
“[FGA] makes sure that first-generation students have
resources if they need it but also a support network that might be missing that other students that have parents that have gone to college might already have,” Victoria Sharp, FGA’s treasurer, said.
According to its website, FGA defines first-generation students as “any student who is first in their family to either go to col-lege, would be the first to finish college, had a parent(s) who only received an associate’s degree, and we also like to include any student who will be the first in their family to attend college in the United States.”
Sharp (doctorate-biology) said, as a first-generation student her-self, she believes the organization fills a hole for others like her.
The club’s main way it sup-ports first-generation students is through its mentorship program, FGA President Dynisty Wright said.
The program partners under-graduate students with a mentor — either another undergraduate student, a graduate student or a faculty or staff member, Wright (doctorate-biology) said.
“Our mentorship is based on the student’s needs and wants
for the mentorship relationship,” Wright said.
Another resource available for first-generation students is the career pipeline through Price-waterhouseCoopers, Geek Girls and Liberty Mutual, according to Wright.
“We help students try to find jobs in those specific organiza-tions and [PwC, Geek Girls and Liberty Mutual] recruit through our organization with events,” Wright said.
FGA also hosts career sup-port and resources, and vari-ous events can be found on its Instagram page.
For example, its college plan-ning panel strives to help stu-dents determine how to achieve their goals win and after college, Sharp said.
Sharp said she believes the club is supportive of not only stu-dents’ career aspirations but also social wellbeing.
“We try and foster an inclusive, welcoming and fun environment, so if students also want that so-cial connection, they can inter-act with the entire organization,” Sharp said.
Romanelli (junior-public rela-tions) said FGA’s goal for this
year is to grow its membership and “get [FGA] more widely known at Penn State.”
“We are planning to add more career pipelines,” Wright said. “The career pipelines already in existence are mostly aimed toward STEM students.”
To make the career pipelines more accessible to members of FGA in different colleges at Penn State, Wright said she hopes to make partnerships with compa-nies in more fields other than STEM.
On a personal level, Wright, Sharp and Romanelli said they agreed supporting first-gen-eration students through this organization is meaningful to them.
Wright said “helping under-graduate students to overcome challenges” is what FGA means to her.
“It’s encouraging these stu-dents who might not have a lot of encouragement otherwise to re-ally pursue their dreams,” Sharp said.
Romanelli said being a first-generation college student means a lot to her.
Visit collegian.psu.edu to read the full story.
Courtesy of Dynisty Wright
The First Gen Advocates seek to help first-generation students through collegewith resources like a mentorship program.
The Daily CollegianLOCALPage B2 | FriDay, SePT. 10, 2021
FOR SALE57+ ACRE PROPERTY off of Rt 322 just 8 minutes from State College, Pa. Beautiful site, rolling terrain and farmed fields. Forested land with meadow plus a lovely little creek, old barn, corn crib and outbuilding. $895,000. Charles E. Taylor, Realtor 610-566-6366
BUY I TL i o n s l i s t'SE L L I T R E N T I T
Ayden HeroldTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN
With the return of football to campus, Penn State’s Blue Band is back in full force and ready to hype up the crowds of blue and white this semester.
Piccolo Guide Alyssa Graziano described the feeling of being back as “overwhelming.”
“I cannot fully put into words how thankful and excited I am,”Graziano (graduate-special education) said.
Last year, Blue Band practic-es were limited by coronavirus regulations, which included an increase in distance between per-formers’ marching positions and required the use of multiple fields for practice, according to leaders of the band.
Feature Twirler, Penn State’s Blue Sapphire Gillian Brooks said she felt “really fortunate” Blue Band was able to meet at all last year.
“We were still able to have Blue Band in some form last year,” Brooks (senior-health policy and administration) said.
“We still got to meet outside and were masked at all times and socially distanced while
being on the band field.” Graziano said she felt like
something was missing from practices last year.
“I felt like a lot of [practice] was able to translate [with restric-tions], but at the same time, not at all,” Graziano said. “We were able to do marching, but it was all marching in place. Our first years last year never got to take a marching step forward.”
Drum Major Ryan Frist said members of the Blue Band were given special masks to wear if they played an instrument requiring the use of their mouths.
“We had covers that went over our instruments, basically just like a little slit, but there was an overlap slope,” Frist (junior-me-chanical engineering) said. “That way, it was still kind of covered, but you can still play.”
Frist said these regulations and the lack of live performances stand in sharp contrast to the atmosphere of fall 2019.
“I’m not gonna shy away from the fact that not getting to per-form at all or be a part of the foot-ball games was a little disheart-ening last year,” Frist said.
“The environment of being in Beaver Stadium is definite-
ly a thrill that you can’t really replicate anywhere else.”
Brooks said the semester was made even more difficult from “knowing what we were all missing out on.”
“Missing out on football games and all the performances and
awesome things we get to do was definitely hard,” Brooks said. “[Even] something as simple as just singing the Alma Mater… it’s nice just to have those moments again, you know?”
Graziano said she missed the hype of performing for a crowd, being in the stadium and “feeling that energy.”
“Just feeling the appreciation for all the hard work that we put in — it really is a lot of work that everybody is constantly putting in at rehearsal and outside of re-hearsal,” Graziano said. “Watch-ing people get excited for us is probably one of the best feelings I think I’ve ever felt.”
Blue Band President Gabriel Newvine said he missed the simple friendly gestures of Blue Band.
“All these people [who] all I want to do [is] hug, I couldn’t give them a hug, because that was not the safest thing,” Newvine (se-nior-education) said. “So that was the biggest thing that I missed from last year. But again, I still got to see those people, so even that was a blessing.”
Newvine said Blue Band prac-tices have so far “mainly gone back to normal,” and the team is starting to “get back into the swing of things.”
Brooks said the Blue Band is “not 100% back yet.”
“There’s still restrictions in place, but at the end of the day, we’re all just really happy that we’re back together,” Brooks said. “We’re back and getting to make music — or for me — I get to twirl.”
Frist said despite the univer-sity guidelines put into place, the Blue Band is able to have “mostly normal” outdoor practices.
“We do remain extremely con-scious of the fact that the COVID virus is still out there,” Frist said. “But we are able to rehearse back in our normal spacing, [and] most aspects of our performances are going to be back to normal.”
Newvine said no matter what the conditions are on campus, the Blue Band will “continue to grow as a band and continue to work toward the excellence that we’re known for.”
“We just feel so supported by the Penn State community. Whenever [practice] is hard, we just remember how much the Penn State community supports us,” Newvine said. “So, for me, at least, I’m so excited to be able to give that to them and get back to Beaver Stadium.”
Visit collegian.psu.edu to read the full story.
BLUE BAND RETURNS
Courtesy of Blue Band
Even in spite of continued restrictions, many band members are looking forward to returning.
Courtesy of Blue Band
After a year of not playing at Penn State football games, the Blue Band prepares to finally play at the Ball State game.
Band members talk excitement over return of in-person marching season
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OPINIONMikayla Brennan
Business ManagerJoe Eckstein
Opinion Page EditorJade CamposEditor in Chief
Mets get 2 thumbs downLet the kids play. It’s the man-
tra surrounding baseball over recent seasons. A new crop of
up-and-coming or established stars have come into Major League Baseball, bringing their bat flips and home run celebra-tions with them.
For many, it’s been a welcomed change after years of fans com-
plaining about the lack of passion and rivalry in the sport. Between the lines, a fiery personality can be an asset to any team, but when players turn their frustra-tion toward the fans, it can make for bad press and a disconnect between the team and the fanbase.
This is exactly the position the New York Mets found themselves in recently after second baseman Javier Baez, shortstop Francisco Lindor and outfielder Kevin Pil-lar all gestured a thumbs down after a win over the Washington Nationals. After the game, Baez said the gesture was a response to the fans after they booed the Mets during recent games.
It was a mistake they lived to regret. There are two constants when it comes to New York sports — the fans are passionate, and the tabloids are
ruthless. Mets fans took to the radio and Twitter in outrage — and rightly so. The team receiv-ing boos is a reflection of poor play and lack of leadership. The Mets were in first place in their division for about 90 days before a three-game sweep by the Philadelphia Phil-lies sent them spiraling.
Lindor has not lived up to the 10-year, $341 mil-lion contract the Mets gave him this past offsea-son, and Baez has done little to move the needle for the team since being acquired. Lindor is batting .227 on the season, and for a player who is supposed to be in his prime, he has not made the best first impression to the fans.
Even though he has been lack-ing in the hitting department, Lindor is still an elite defender and perhaps more importantly, a better leader.
When the trade deadline rolled around, the Mets didn’t pass up the opportunity to reunite Lindor with his World Baseball Classic teammate Baez. This was to the chagrin of many fans who were none too pleased with Baez’s all-
or-nothing approach and strike-out totals.
It’s an experiment that has seen middling success thus far. And with the duo’s recent actions, the partnership resem-
bles two friends getting to sit together in class and causing trou-ble, rather than a harmonic display of on-field chemistry.
Whether ath-letes want to accept it, the fans are the reason they’re in the posi-tion they are. The fans buy the tick-ets and merchan-
dise that pays their salaries, and without fan support, companies wouldn’t be banging down their doors with sponsorship offers.
Just because you aren’t living up to your salary doesn’t mean it’s the fans’ fault — and the sooner athletes accept that the better. Boos are a part of sports — for better or worse — and that’s how it is. Unless the fans tried to harm a player or heckle him about more personal aspects of life such as family or health, which has sadly been more prev-alent post-pandemic, the boos are there to hold you accountable and are wholly acceptable.
Pillar earned his way into Mets fan hearts with his gritty play and the fact that he came back from an extremely grue-some head injury, but this has strained the relationship. Lindor and Baez don’t have a similar signature Mets moment and are also bigger names in baseball, holding them more accountable for their childishness.
The duo each holds one of the most iconic nicknames in base-ball. But for “Mr. Smile” in Lin-dor, his iconic ear-to-ear grin has turned from contagious and heartwarming to smug and immature. And as far as “El Mago” or “The Magician” in Baez, his next trick should be making this whole situation dis-appear ahead of his looming free agency.
Baez and Lindor both back-tracked and apologized for the incident, while Pillar took to Twitter to say the team is “having fun.”
If you’re going to take your aggression out on fans, just come out and raise a middle finger to the crowd and be honest about what you’re trying to say.
James Langan is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism and is a columnist for The Daily Collegian. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @jameslangann.
MY VIEW | James Langan
Langan
“Just because you aren’t living up to your salary doesn’t mean it’s the fans’ fault — and the sooner athletes accept that the better”
James Langan
Following an upset over No. 12 Wisconsin, Penn State football will return to Bea-
ver Stadium at full capacity this Saturday — the first time since Nov. 30, 2019 — where it will play host to Ball State.
After being announced in June, Sandy Barbour, vice president for intercollegiate athletics, affirmed via Zoom on Aug. 21 that the plan to return to 100% attendance was still in place. Barbour also said fans will not be required to provide proof of vaccination and there will be no mask mandate enforced at outdoor events.
Locations inside Beaver Sta-dium that require a mask include the press box and suites, making areas such as the concourse, stu-dent section and all other outdoor seating areas unaffected.
Change has occurred since the initial decision over the sum-mer, where a sense of optimism developed with the distribution of the vaccine. But as the looming threat of the delta variant grew, it was already too late to backpedal. In hindsight, Penn State jumped the gun with its decision to
allow 107,000 people back into the stands.
Not mandating a vaccine for the university is one thing, but football games are a privilege to attend — especially following the debacle with season tickets over the summer. It doesn’t help the school’s case when programs such as Louisiana State, Univer-sity of Oregon and Oregon State are requiring fans to show proof of a vaccine or a negative coro-navirus test in order to enter the stadium.
And concert venues, too, have already set a standard by mak-ing event goers show proof of vaccination upon entering, with some requiring those who are vaccinated to still wear a mask.
Mandating the vaccine seems
out of the question at this point for Beaver Stadium. Tickets have already been sold and travel plans are likely already in place. But that doesn’t mean new pro-tocols can’t be established. A negative coronavirus test is still a viable option that can be ob-tained well prior to kickoff. The Bryce Jordan Center served as a testing center last year and is well within walking distance to Beaver Stadium.
The other feasible option is al-ready in place to an extent with masking. After over a year of re-quired masking, it doesn’t seem like too much of an inconvenience to enforce them throughout the entirety of the stadium, not just the small portion of indoor spaces.
Barbour has put an emphasis on learning from the pandemic, yet considering how transmissi-ble the delta variant is, how much has Penn State learned from the coronavirus? As a university that prides itself on being a research institution, not listening to the research provided by health pro-fessionals and experts seems incredibly backwards.
It also seems contradictory for Penn State to not have a more sound coronavirus protocol in place considering how much it has stressed the return to in-per-son learning and normal campus life. Not having true safety mea-sures in place for a condensed area like a football game goes against that goal.
Penn State owes it to the
community to prevent a possible outbreak happening from the start rather than wait until cas-es rise. And with people coming from different parts of the coun-try to watch the game, the com-munity is being put in a position to simply deal with the aftermath.
Barbour said the coronavirus protocols for all outdoor sporting events could be subject to change if the CDC shifts its stance on the matter.
If seems more like when at this point, but Barbour’s statement offers a small bit of assurance that change is possible, even if a masking mandate is not enough in the first place.
As great as it is to have the 107,000 strong back in Beaver Stadium, people’s easy sense of comfort about getting back into the swing of college football is a problem in itself. Being misin-formed on the state of the pan-demic and acting as if it is still the summertime without the threat of the delta variant will cause harm to others, including members of the State College community.
Beaver Stadium in need of improved COVID mandates
As great as it is to be 107K strong, the safety of community members is more important
OUR VIEW
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