CHICAGO -- A day after Joe Paterno hinted that Abe Koroma would not be back with the team for the 2009 season, the Penn State football coach confirmed the defensive tackle would not play this season.
"We're going to lose Koroma," Paterno said. "Koroma's going to drop out for a year."
Paterno added that it was a "personal decision," and did not elaborate on whether the redshirt junior would be back for his final year of eligibility in 2010.
The 82-year-old coach also said senior cornerback A.J. Wallace is still in some hot water because of academic work. Paterno said Wallace has yet to complete a course he took in the first summer session.
"I'm not going to let him go until he gets that thing done," Paterno said. "I haven't let him out. I think he'll get that done, he'll get it done this week, and I think he'll be all right."
Rival roommates
Quarterback Daryll Clark spent last week at the Elite 11 Quarterback Camp in Aliso Viejo, Calif., where he worked as one of seven counselors to some of the best high school quarterbacks in the nation.
He roomed with Juice Williams, whose Illinois squad will play the Lions on Oct. 3 in Champaign.
"We're basically the same person," Williams said. "Same size, same type of game-playing, we both went to the Rose Bowl back-to-back years, so it was pretty good. I was able to work out with him, to get to know him as a person and that's another friend that I made for life."
Williams led the Big Ten in passing yards per game in 2008 and said he spent much of the week picking the brain of Clark, who was last season's first team All-Big Ten signal caller.
"We can learn a lot from each other, watching plays, seeing what he does that works, seeing the problems that he's struggled with and kind of go from there," Williams said. "He's a phenomenal player. He's a guy that I expect to dominate this conference this year. Hopefully he don't dominate our defense when we play him."
In hindsight
Paterno admitted Monday that he was wrong in not listening to his son, quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, in 2007 when the younger Paterno suggested playing Clark more because of Anthony Morelli's struggles.
On Tuesday, the head coach further explained the situation.
"Morelli was kind of a little bit tough, did not quite have the confidence in himself that I felt he needed and that I thought he would develop," Paterno said.
Paterno was nervous about putting Clark in the game, he said, even if it was only for a couple series.
"Looking back I probably should not have done that," Paterno said. "I probably should have just told Anthony, 'Look, you gotta compete,' and you know, we're gonna give Clark a shot at it."
Clark said the 2007 season is now behind him. He added he did not feel at liberty to voice his frustrations from the sideline when the team was struggling, and he was still a backup quarterback.
He felt being inserted for spot duty in the Alamo Bowl that season was a huge vote of confidence. He said it prepared him mentally for the battle with former Penn State quarterback Pat Devlin to win the starting job the following offseason.
"I remained patient, I remained quiet, didn't really have a problem with it when Morelli was playing quarterback," Clark said. "I was a fan because at the end of the day we're all teammates. But it all worked out. We had a successful season last year and hopefully we can do an encore performance this year."
