"It's time to get on board," Penn State coach Bill O'Brien began at Big Ten Media Days. He did not deliver the line with hesitance. "I see it as an opportunity, a little bit of adversity," adding that Penn State still has more players than a NFL team does. Hey, he made a Super Bowl, so.
The rookie coach of perhaps the most troubled program in recent college football history delivered a call to fans and boosters to recognize that there's still a "fast, tough team" that still needs to be rooted for.
He shot down concerns over other schools on his campus picking through his roster (and also denied he was contacted by Illinois' Tim Beckman, who'd said he sent PSU a list of targeted players), then delivered once again his recruiting pitch for current players he hopes to hang onto: excellent academics, top facilities, elite competition. "They can do whatever they want as long as they contact our compliance office," O'Brien said, adding that he wasn't bothered by the Big Ten lifting transfer restrictions.
"The sanctions are what they are," he said regarding a possible appeal. Don't expect one.
He can't comment on the Silas Redd news -- the top running back is reportedly meeting with Lane Kiffin this morning. Later he said he expects Redd to return while detailing his offensive depth. I don't think we should expect that, but we can understand why O'Brien has to say he expects it.
As for roster matters, "we've got depth at wide receiver," "I'm proud to have [Matt McGloin] as our starting quarterback," "our tight end position has decent depth," "our running back position with Silas coming back, we feel good about the depth there." "Defensively, we feel good about the depth there."
"There's a lot of discussions going on with our team," O'Brien said about possible uniform changes this year. Pulling out all the recruiting stops during a troubled time, perhaps.
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