Penn State Linebackers

[Don Wassall]

Penn State will have an all-white starting trio this season that will be topnotch, led by 2005 Butkus Award winner Paul Posluszny. Dan Connor is a highly recruited outside linebacker who has excelled as a starter and will be a junior this year. Senior ILB Tim Shaw is very fast and had 76 tackles and 4 1/2 sacks last year.


With Ohio State's great white LB trio from last year all going to the NFL (along with Mike Kudla), Penn State's linebackers may be just as good this year.





Edited by: Don Wassall

 

[whiteCB]

Don, you honestly read my mind. I was going to do a post explaning how Penn St has taken the torch from Ohio St when it comes to the best LB corps in the country. Penn St's LBs are very good and will do an admiral job replacing Ohio ST as the best LBs in the land.

 

[Don Wassall]

Here's a short squib on Tim Shaw from Draft Daddy. I didn't know he was the Michigan state high school champ in the 100, nor what an amazing career he had as a high school RB. Here's yet another white running back who was totally screwed over, but fortunately Shaw has such amazing athleticism that he should get a shot in the NFL as a linebacker.


LB Tim Shaw ~ Penn State -- Came to PSU as a speedy tailback, after rushing for over 7,600 yards and scoring 131 touchdowns in a remarkable high school career -- 2001 Michigan Gatorade Player-of-the-Year. Just didn't get the chance at running back, so he took a redshirt as a sophomore and bulked up to play linebacker, where he has become an unsung star for the Lions....The media loves to portray Shaw, who was born in Exeter, England, as a try-hard effort player, which is true. But we are talking about the Michigan state high school champion in the 100 meters, so he doesn't lack speed.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

it's so sad that it's funny. regardless of how physically talented a white player is, the media types always resort to the same old and busted cliches to describe their success. why didn't he "get the chance at running back"? hmmm...

where are all our detractors who keep insisting that we're crazy, and that if a white kid was good enough, then he'd get a fair shake?

 

[white is right]

How does a guy bulk up that much and be the same athlete? Also Papa Joe has to be senile at this point, his rants are that of the senile great-uncle at the family gatherings...

Edited by: white is right

 

[Triad]

131 TOUCHDOWNS!!!

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i can't understand what other reason would cause such a gifted running back to have to change positions. i found a recent video interview of him where he breifly touches on the move from tailback to linebacker. check it out here. (click on the Tim Shaw video link)

i found the following remark to be strange: "When i got here i was a stuck-up, stud running back, but i grew out of that... matured."

what does that mean?Edited by: Jimmy Chitwood

 

[JD074]

It means that the white boy learned his place....

 

[white tornado]

It means that the white boy learned his place.... exactly right

I hate how the media loves to create this cleshayd stories about how athletes mature. Its one of the most used cleshays in sports. They act like maturing as you grow up is some kind of major accomplishment.When it's a black guy it normally goes like this, yeah jamal has matured a lot since last year when he was arrested for armed robbery but he's matured and become such a great role model. When it's a white guy its yeah John was really *******y when he got here now he realizes that the only reason he's on the team is to be a hard working role player.

Every year stories come out in the media about how T.O. or Iverson has matured. Every year some criminal gets a fifth chance because they have matured.

I read an article about how J. J. Redick matured while at Duke it seems that when he was a freshman he ate fried chicken and liked to party. The article made it seem like J.J. was some kind of criminal. What a double standard yeah J.J. was a bad person because he liked to party, what a scumbag. I would like to see an article criticizing a black guy for eating fried chicken.

 

[KG2422]

When a black guy is a non criminal Bill walton proclaims him a "magnificent human being". The standard for our behavior is much different. That is a sign that people, deep down, suspect something. I hope so anyway.

 

[whiteCB]

WOW could shaw act like anymore of a white vagina? Shaw stand up and be proud of the athlete that u are. And stop being a **** apologizing for being a stuck up stud RB.

 

[Triad]

His options were probably to "mature" into a defensive player or be a stud running back on PSU's scout team or transfer to Div. I-AA or Div II. Unfortunately, standing up and being white and proud in today's society is generally condemned and to make it worse there will be very few whites you can count on to back you up.

 

[backrow]

to be honest, Shaw probably didn't even have a choice... he might have known he won't get a shot at a runningback, not in Penn State, so he decided to get bigger and play LB... understandable, imo

 

[JD074]

No one's criticizing him for playing linebacker. We're just tired of the White Uncle Tom mentality.

 

[white tornado]

All three of Penn States Lbs were awsome high school Runing Backs.

 

[whiteCB]

And all 3 of PSU's LBs are great athletes but you'll never hear the media say that except for an occasional comment on how quick Pos is.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Paul Posluszny had 14 tackles today, becoming the all time leading tackler in Penn State history! Way to go Paul!

 

[Don Wassall]

Dan Connor is thinking of going pro after his junior year. Draft Daddy thinks he's a better pro prospect than Posluszny, which is saying something:


DD.com Comment: As great as Paul Posluszny has been for the Lions during his career, it's been pretty well known around Penn State that Connor is the Lions top pro prospect at linebacker. His size (6' 3", 225), speed (4.54) and raw athletic ability are exactly what N.F.L. teams look for in a top linebacker prospect.


The obvious question has to be: Is Connor ready to make the early jump to the N.F.L. as a true junior?