When Joe Paterno sat down in front of reporters yesterday, he reflected on the past month and decided that it was the most unusual preseason he's ever experienced.
It just felt "unusual," he said, to schedule preseason practices around late-running summer session classes.
"You can't talk out of both sides of your mouth," Paterno said. "You can't say, 'Hey, you have to go to school, but I'm going to practice X number of hours twice a day.' "
Summer session classes ran deeper into the summer this year than they have in recent years, and much of the team was enrolled in classes. The team was allowed to practice twice per day, but Paterno sometimes opted not to, trying to walk a thin line between stressing academics and preparing for Florida International.
"I hope we're ready to handle all the things we may get because I'm not sure what we're going to get," Paterno said.
But the 80-year-old coach should be accustomed to difficult circumstances. He's had to discipline a team that was involved in an off-campus fight in April and had to keep more tabs on them after two players were cited for underage drinking.
"You intend to make kids aware of the fact there are some responsibilities they have," he said.
The opener
No. 17 Penn State has spent the preseason getting ready for a team and a coach it has never faced before. Mario Cristobal, FIU's first-year head coach, spent a few years at Rutgers, working with offensive linemen and tight ends, so the Lions watched tape of the Scarlet Knights, looking for possible clues about Cristobal.
"I've tried to do all of the research that we could possibly do on what the new coach might want to do with his football team," Paterno said.
Starting at tight end?
Sophomore Mickey Shuler and junior Jordan Lyons are listed as the Lions starters at tight end in a depth chart that the athletic communications office released Monday night. Both have seen playing time, but haven't caught a pass.
Schuler's father, Mickey Sr., played for Penn State in the mid-1970s and was drafted by the New York Jets in the third round of the 1976 NFL draft.
The elder Schuler worked hard to become a star tight end.
Schuler Jr. has impressed Paterno with the same work ethic his father showed more than 30 years ago.
"He's a lot like his old man was," Paterno said of the younger Schuler. "His old man, when he first came here, was a guy that if he dropped a pass, he was out at practice the next day getting somebody to throw him the football."
Position switches
Jerome Hayes, a reserve middle linebacker last season, will be shifting to the outside linebacker position, Paterno said.
"We've been trying hard to get him in the game where he can do some things that would make us more productive," Paterno said.
The secondary is also shuffling around a little. Lydell Sargeant, the openeing day starter at cornerback, is also working as a nickel back, cornerback Justin King told reporters yesterday.
When Sargeant, a junior, plays nickel back, A.J. Wallace, a sophomore, will play corner, King said.
