Courtesy of wpsu.orgCalling all sports fanatics and memorabilia collectors: If JoePa is known for anything other than his football tactics and khaki pants, it's probably the dark-rimmed glasses he's been sporting for most of his career.

Now, WPSU, Penn State Public Broadcasting, is giving you what could be a once in a lifetime chance to own JoePa's glasses and see the world through his eyes.

Through an online auction, fans can bid on the glasses, which are autographed and come in a shadow box along with a picture of the Nittany Lion's famous coach.

But it will cost you.

The glasses have been up for auction for a week, with the highest bid currently at $5,050. Seven bidders have been keeping a watchful eye on them, and the online auction goes until noon on Feb. 17.

After the online auction, the glasses will continue to be auctioned during Penn State Broadcasting's 18th Annual Connoisseur's Dinner and Auction on Feb. 20., along with other donations that will all benefit WPSU.

Other items include an autographed Derek Jeter bat with a current bid of $400 and a day of fly-fishing on Spruce Creek with a current bid of $350.

Tickets for the dinner are currently sold out, and online bidding may be the only way to get a hold of these collector specs, said Senior Promotions Associate Bianca Barr.

"I think its one of those things you look at Coach Paterno, an icon for decades, and knowing that when you look at him you are going to see him in a very specific kind of glasses," she said Monday. "There will never be another pair to have as a collectible."

Photo courtesy of wpsu.org

--Jourdan Cole

After Kyle Johnson got the call, his transition to the team wasn't exactly seamless.
By joining the team midway through the year, Johnson said he missed out on valuable bonding time. It was tough at first to assimilate with the guys.

"The reason the team is so close is because of all the hard work we have to do together," Johnson said. "We all wake up at 5 a.m. for workouts. If you're ever walking by Holuba Hall at that time you'll just see a bunch of zombies. We're all in it together, though. That's why we have great camaraderie."

***
Johnson said that his extensive preparations for try-outs -- which included Googling everything from new workout regimens to stretching techniques -- actually helped him with his school work.

Johnson is a kinesiology major and said he retained a ton of information from his research that has helped him in the classroom.

***
Ryan Curran is persistent. After not making the team in the fall tryouts, Curran would e-mail Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary about once a week.

"Man, I was probably a pain in the butt to a lot of members of the coaching staff," Curran said. "But I just wanted to keep up the repetitiveness and get my name out there."

In the emails, Curran would ask McQueary to help him make up work out routines, ask if there were any openings on the team, or just ask how things were looking for the aspiring linebacker.

***
Curran recognizes the role that most walk-ons have on a team.

"I watched the games this year from the stands," Curran said. "And I know that as a walk-on I would probably be just doing the same thing -- watching -- just from the sidelines."

Yet Curran knows the process is all about baby steps. He said it would be a dream just to walk through the tunnel.

"Thinking about getting playing time, that's a whole other dream," Curran said. "I have to be realistic. I think I'm at the caliber where I can play DI football. But thinking about starting? Yeah, that's a whole other issue."

***
David Adewumi is dedicating his tryout to his good friend, Matt Richardson, who he served in the U.S. Army with. Richardson went on to serve in Iraq and was paralyzed from the chest down. Adewumi visited Richardson in Florida earlier this year, and watched his friend play wheelchair rugby.

"That is what gave me true inspiration," Adewumi said. "Because I know ultimately, others have it way worse than I do and have suffered greater than I have, and still they champion on."

-Emily Kaplan

With Bobby Bowden's retirement after this past season, Joe Paterno was ensured of holding on to his record for career victories in major college football.

But it turns out Paterno's gap will widen just a bit even before the 2010 season kicks off, as ESPN has reported that Bowden and the Florida State football team will vacate 12 victories (five from 2006 and all seven from 2007) as part of an academic fraud scandal that involved other sports. Paterno's 394 victories now top Bowden's adjusted 377 total.

With Bowden gone, the Seminoles look to Jimbo Fisher to lead the once-dominant program. Fisher got off to a good start stockpiling talent last week, as his first recruiting class checked in at No. 10 on both Rivals and Scout. Florida State opens its 2010 season against Samford as Paterno starts his 45th season as the Penn State head coach against Youngstown State.

-Staats

The Super Bowl is only a day away, meaning in just a handful of hours either the Indianapolis Colts will win their second Super Bowl in four years or the New Orleans Saints will take their first title and set off crazy celebrations throughout the city (just go to YouTube to get videos of the celebrations after the NFC Championship win against the Minnesota Vikings).

The highest profile rep for Penn State this year is Jim Caldwell, who coached at Penn State from 1986-1992. Back in December, Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno said he was delighted with how his former assistant was leading the Colts, who were undefeated at the time. Now, just a few months later, and Caldwell could win the Super Bowl in his rookie season as an NFL head coach.

"Jim Caldwell was one of the best assistant coaches I've had at Penn State," Paterno said in a statement. "I thought he did a great job as the head coach at Wake Forest and am pleased to see the success he is having as head coach of the Colts. Jim is a great teacher, has a plan about how he wants to get things done and pays attention to the little details that often times decide a tough football game. Besides being a great football coach, he is a great father and a great guy."

Not surprisingly, there have been some Caldwell-Paterno stories as a lead-up to the big game on Sunday.

But only time will tell if a member of the Penn State family adds a Super Bowl ring to the list of accomplishments by Paterno assistants.

-Staats

I caught Joe Paterno on Wednesday as he made his way out of The Corner Room, where he was meeting with William A. Schreyer. Schreyer and his wife, Joan, endowed Schreyer Honors College and Schreyer graduated from Penn State in 1948.

The first thing I noticed was how the two have no problem joking around with each other:

When asked about his highly regarded 2010 recruiting class, Paterno said "we'll see when they come here."

I got a photo of the two just before they left, but I do apologize for the poor camera work (I blame the cell phone).

-Staats

On a day recruits around the nation signed letters of intent on National Signing Day, Penn State finalized its expected top 10 class.

Besides the seven recruits already enrolled early, the Nittany Lions also received 13 letters of intent, according to Fight On State.

The recruiting class is expected to finish as the top class in the Big Ten and among the best nationally. Some of the highly touted prospects who completed their letters of content include linebacker Mike Hull and quarterback Robert Bolden, who could be competing for the staring quarterback job this upcoming season.

Be sure to check tomorrow's Collegian for more information about the 2010 recruiting class.

Penn State's 20-member class of 2010 (star ratings from Scout.com):
Brad Bars, DE, **, Nashville, Tenn.
Kyle Baublitz, DE, ****, York
Robert Bolden, QB, ****, Orchard Lake, Mich.
Miles Dieffenbach, C, ****, Pittsburgh
Khairi Fortt, OLB, ****, Stamford, Conn.
Luke Graham, OG, ***, Harrison City
Evan Hailes, DT, ****, Chesapeake, Va.
Kevin Haplea, TE, ****, Annandale, N.J.
Mike Hull, MLB, *****, Canonsburg
DaQuan Jones, DT, ****, Johnson City, N.Y.
Paul Jones, QB, *****, McKees Rocks
Alex Kenney, WR, ****, State College
Khamrone Kolb, OT, ***, Burke, Va.
Levi Norwood, WR, ***, Waco, Texas
C.J. Olaniyan, DE, ****, Warren, Mich.
Shyquawn Pullium, CB, ***, Erie
Silas Redd , RB, *****, Stamford, Conn.
Tom Ricketts, OT, ****, Wexford
Dakota Royer, OLB, ****, Manheim
Zach Zwinak, FB, ****, Frederick, Md.

-Staats

...National Signing Day, that is.

Penn State already has a commitment list of 20, including a handful who have already enrolled.

As for where the Nittany Lions will rank nationally, they figure to be at or near the top. Both Scout.com and Rivals.com rank Penn State in the Top 10, although the exact number could fluctuate a bit tomorrow with it being National Singing Day. After all, some of the top prospects haven't committed yet.

Furthermore, an interesting situation came out today, as Keenan Allen has decommitted from Alabama. The rumor mill has Penn State as a potential destination for Allen, but I talked with Scout.com's Bob Lichtenfels and he said that "he's not buying it." One of the reasons Lichtenfels gave was that Allen wants to play with his quarterback half-brother (who left Buffalo). Considering Penn State already has two highly touted QBs committed, grabbing another "wouldn't make sense." Instead, he sees Allen going with California or Clemson.

Regardless, look for Penn State to remain as one of the stronger finishers in the team rankings. But more will be known tomorrow. Stay tuned.

-Wayne

Six Nittany Lions have been invited to participate at the NFL Scouting Combine, according to the official list.

Navorro Bowman (listed at OB), Daryll Clark (QB), Josh Hull (IB), Sean Lee (OB), Jared Odrick (DT) and Andrew Quarless (TE) are among the long list of total invitees.

The Combine, which is held Feb. 24-March 2, takes place annually in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium. There, prospects will test their readiness for the NFL in such events as the 40-yard dash and the Wonderlic Test. Here is a sample test.

-Staats

Back when the Big Ten announced it would look into expansion options, it was expected to be a long process of evaluation. It would be a 12 to 18 month long process, the release said.

Don't expect that to change.

Recently, there have been rumblings of Pitt leaving the Big East and joining the Big Ten, but any thoughts about such a thing happening so soon have been debunked , even by Panthers' associate AD E.J. Borghetti.

But the fact remains that such a move down the road would be a rather interesting one. Obviously, this would mean a likely return to the Penn State-Pitt rivalry, which ended on the gridiron in 2000. The intrastate foes were both independents until joining the Big Ten and Big East in the 1990s. Both also have great modern success nationally, with each winning at least one national championship since the 1970s: Penn State in '82 and '86; Pitt in '76.

From a football standpoint, adding a team like Pitt (or could there be more teams? No Pitt?) would allow the Big Ten to hold a conference championship game. Just imagine the media frenzy -- and money -- that would create. The championship game would also shorten the layoff between the end of the regular season and the bowl games. Joe Paterno has made it clear about the difficulty of keeping the league relevant when the season ends so early, so having a conference title game would definitely help.

Basketball-wise, Pitt would probably be taking a step down. By no means is the Big Ten a bad basketball league -- in fact it is one of the best -- but the Big (B)east simply dominates. It has five ranked teams -- two in the top three -- and 16 teams overall. Also, one can't forget the big-stage of the Big East Tournament, which is played at Madison Square Garden. Still, adding the Panthers, who were a No. 1 seed in last year's NCAA Tournament and reached the Elite Eight, would improve the Big Ten's basketball stock.

Granted, football is the big money-maker, especially in collegiate sports, so any move could come down to whatever is best for the football program (along with academics). But the fact of the matter is ... no one knows anything for sure just yet.

It's just going to take some patience, maybe even more than another year's worth.

With that, it's time to leave everyone with one of the most memorable PSU-Pitt meetings. This one is from 1981, when the Panthers were unbeaten, No. 1 and led by QB Dan Marino.

-Staats

Josh Hull, Dennis Landolt and A.J. Wallace have been selected to play in the Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Game, which will be played at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6 in El Paso, Texas.

Hull, a former walk-on, led the Nittany Lions with 116 tackles this past season while compiling 8.5 tackles for loss. Tackle Dennis Landolt was a first-team All-Big Ten selection this past season and helped Penn State average more than 400 offensive yards per game. Out in the secondary, Wallace picked off a team-high three passes, including one against LSU to assist in the close win in the Capital One Bowl.

The three push the number of Penn State representatives in All-Star games to seven, joining Jeremy Boone, Daryll Clark, Jared Odrick and Andrew Quarless.

-Staats