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Walk-ONs THE RECORD

I got the chance on Saturday to trek out to Altoona's Mansion Park and watch the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association East-West All Star Game.

The press box was air-conditioned, the nachos were decent and who would pass up some good ol' fashioned summer football? Not me.

Unfortunately the game was canceled because of lightening in the third quarter but I got the chance to catch up with two soon-to-be Nittany Lion walk-ons. Quarterback Matt McGloin of West Scranton and defensive back Derek Day of Central Dauphin.

Both played for the East squad which lost 10-0.

McGloin had a respectable day. He completed six of 12 passes for 78 yards, the majority of those coming on a 36-yard strike just shy of the end zone as the first half expired.

He also showed off his scrambling ability on the previous series. On third down, McGloin, was hit by a defender in the backfield but stayed on his feet and managed to get the ball back to the line of scrimmage.

"We were down at that point and I was just trying to build momentum for our team," McGloin said afterward. "I wasn't going to go down that easy. I saw a guy was coming back so I did a spin move, rolled outside and hit [the receiver] on the sidelines."

Here's what McGloin had to say about coming to Penn State this fall:

"There's no other place in the country I'd rather be and the history of the program is great and to be a part of that is a great honor."

East co-captain Derek Day lined up at safety for the majority of the game and played well. All Star rules require defensive backs to play man-to-man, and I didn't see Day give up a single catch.

Day said he didn't get to finish his final high school game because of an injury and said he was looking forward to coming to Happy Valley.

"You can't compare to the atmosphere of Penn State," Day said. "I was on the sidelines for the Blue-White game and I've been to plenty of games. Penn State is huge, and with that opportunity on the table, I'm going to give it my all and take it."

State College defensive back Larry Ryland played for the West unit but I couldn't find him after the game.

-- Travis

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on June 25, 2008 4:55 PM.

The previous post in this blog was Big Mo.

The next post in this blog is Viva Las Vegas.

The Daily Collegian Online

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The Roster

Mug

Matt Fortuna is a sophomore majoring in journalism and a football reporter for the Collegian. He has previously covered the men's tennis, soccer and basketball teams. A traditionalist, he would like nothing more than to see Joe Paterno throw it back to his Brooklyn days and install the single-wing offense this season.

Mug

Nate Mink is a sophomore majoring in journalism and a football reporter for the Daily Collegian and a 5-foot-10 sesquipedalian from Allentown who has tried to grow facial hair for 20 years. Sadly, he has been unsuccessful thus far. He is anxious to get a new driver's license in September and hopes the bartenders at Zanzibar in Ann Arbor believe he's 21.

Mug

Wayne Staats is a junior majoring in journalism and history and is a football reporter for the Collegian. He previously covered the baseball and women's basketball teams. He never made it far playing competitive football, unless Nerf football in grade school counts.

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