According to Nittany Nation, ESPN is not a media network...
According to ESPN, PSU no longer Linebacker U
- Thread starter Achowalogan
- Start date
I think Micah Parsons has something to say about that.
When the notable LB list does not include Sean Lee or Navarro Bowman, I think it is biased to intentionally justify a lower ranking.
Only we are allowed to speak about this program in less than glowing praise. Anyone else who does it should go to hell.
So including the player, Dan Connor, (of those 3) that had the best college career is “intentionally biased”?
Wait until we expose their LBs this year with our three headed monster.
It was a ranking of which program had the most talent at each position since 98. At LB, it was Georgia.
But when you glance across at the other side of the ball, the Bulldogs have been equally blessed at linebacker. In the past five years, they have produced seven NFL draft picks at either inside or outside linebacker. Go back seven years, and that number jumps to 10 linebackers taken in the NFL draft, including four first-rounders.
It's ESPN and clickbait. Who cares? It's some arbitrary designation that IMO still applies.
Considering the running backs we have had the last three years, and what we have in the stable, I would be OK if we were considered Running Back U.
Still ranked #5, despite the sanction years factored in. We’ve also loaded up at LB once again, so PSU will likely have one of the elite LB corps in the nation the next few years once again.
BTW, Penn State is ranked #3 at DLine talent in the same ESPN ranking, with a long list of top end collegiate and NFL Defensive linemen.
We’re just lucky to have linebackers.
This program hasn't been LBU since Joe was finishing up his prime. Since then it's been a few successes with mostly nothing else to brag about.
No, but it avoids putting more recent examples on the list. None of the guys they include are in the league. Plus I didn’t even list Derek (Cameron) Wake who has garnered as much NFL recognition as any of the others.
So who are our top 3 linebackers of the past 21 years?
Based on college accolades, it’s LaVar, Poz, and Connor (and it’s not particularly close). It’s quite a reach to think that listing those 3 guys as our top three is some intentional slight at us.
I'd think that Arrington and Poz are obviously the top 2. Connor was a Bednarik winner and two time 1st team all-American.
Though I'm sure if their 3rd guy was Wake, we'd hear about how biased ESPN is to include someone who was so underwhelming in college as compared to guys like Connor and Lee.
Not sure exactly what the criterion is here, but are you forgetting NaVorro Bowman?
Kenny Mayne is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
There beneath the blue suburban skies
Nope.
Connor holds our school record in tackles, won the Bednarik (and finished 2nd in the voting another season), was a consensus All-American (and made some other AA lists another season), Freshman All-American, 1st team all-Big Ten twice, etc.
While Bowman had a great career at PSU (and had the better NFL career), I think people forget how good Connor was in college (partly because he played in the same era as some other great LBs).
I will caveat it with the fact that Bowman left after his Junior year, so he didn't have the same opportunity that Connor had for that special senior season. But, based on their time at PSU, I don't see how anyone could argue that Bowman (or Wake) were so much better that putting Connor on here is an intentional slight against PSU.
We kind of feel your pain. Minnesota (and probably every other University in a state that begins with the letter M) was called the U. Along comes the rise of Miami (Fl) football in the 1980's and all of the sudden they are the only U?
Anyway, back on topic. Any true college football fan knows that Penn State is Linebacker U! Period.
Yeah, and there will be more in the future. There may be some pretty special LBs on the team right now actually.
Good. I am still hoping they have an off day in November, but otherwise good!
You know STP Gohper, you're alright. If it wasn't for 1999, I wouldn't even hate you guys.
This is actually not that far off of a statement. With the limited amount of scholarships, there were pressing needs at a ton of other positions. Hell, there were games I believe we started two different walk on LB in the past few years. We're finally getting back to blue chip recruits at the position.
Connor was a two time All-American. Lee was never 1st Team All-Big Ten (he was second team twice). Again, much more success in the NFL than Connor, but Connor is underappreciated for how good he was at PSU.
All of your own data points even more to justification of a higher rating. I really don't care if the article is from ESPN, SI, or the Paducah Tribune. Penn State is the original Line Backer U, and has continued to produce elite NFL talent at the position - since the name was originated.
All you have to know is that if you gave any NFL GM the ability to create a 2-deep roster at the linebacker position, using only LBs from a single university (in their prime within the arbitrary timeframe the ESPN article selected), I find it hard to believe any school could produce a better roster. If you choose a team that runs a 3-4, the data would point even more substantially to PSU. 1st string 3-4 Arrington, Lee, Poz, Wake and 2nd string Bowman, Connor, Hodges, Hali (Mauti, if you can't count Tamba as a LB).
If you give 2 or 3 more years for some of the young talent to grow, I think the hypothetical 2-deep could change at multiple spots!
They don’t hate Meeechagin either. In fact, they love them.
I learned a long time ago to not give a hoot about any opinion stated by any person in any capacity at espn.
Wasn't that the network that had mark may and lou holtz stand at podiums and do some kind of faux legal debate to try and prove an opinion? Whomever came up with that idea should be drawn and quartered.
Wasn't that the network that had mark may and lou holtz stand at podiums and do some kind of faux legal debate to try and prove an opinion? Whomever came up with that idea should be drawn and quartered.
none of it matters...its like saying that New York City is no longer the Big Apple....things like that just don't change that way
This seems to be a matter of opinion.
And my opinion is that Connor may have been over-rated, and was not as good as Bowman or Lee.
But, back to the present, I think we're on the verge of a new era of Linebacker-U.
LBU is a moniker honed over a long period of time, it has “historical” significance when you talk about a school like Penn St. There’s an ebb and flow to it, can anyone in college football consistently live up to that standard on a “year to year” basis? Of course not. Sure it may be Alabama or Georgia now but go back 50 years and see what program has churned out All Americans and All Pros at a dizzying pace. There is only ONE program that can meet that historical standard and we all know who that program is.
Reminds me of the same argument OSU was making when they, too, were claiming to be LBU. It was when they were churning out guys like James Larienitus a few years back. So the former editor of Penn State’s Scout site Mark forget his last name, anyway, he’s at 247 now. So he did the historical comparison of Penn St/OSU and it wasn’t even close in terms of numbers of All Americans, All Pros, and numbers that eventually played in the League. Man I loved that article, should have saved it for future reference.
I wonder if anyone on here might have remembered the piece?
