Paterno admits Morelli stunk
Not sure why this wasn't made out to be a bigger deal than it was. But at this week's Big Ten Media Days, Joe Paterno said something very interesting--even for Paterno--about former QB Anthony Morelli.
"I thought the kid we were using had the potential to be a good quarterback, and I blew that one."I realize that it's time to move on from years past, but to me this quote was borderline bombshell material. It was not taken out of context. Paterno was discussing Daryll Clark, and how Jay Paterno was pushing for Clark to play more in 2007.
Paterno basically said he should have listened to his son. But because of Paterno's stubborn loyalty to his upperclassmen, he "blew that one."
Just imagine what this team would have been like, if Clark were given really significant playing time in 2007. What if Clark ended up taking over the starting job after the Ohio State blowout (Morelli threw two INTs, one pick-six), and was the starter going into East Lansing? I know, playing the what-if game is pointless now. This is still very interesting though, especially when you tie in Paterno's comments about playing the younger guys.
"We're going to have to take some young people and put them in key spots. There will probably be a couple of kids I haven't seen play yet. But that will go on for a while."It's the first day of August, and already this team's giving me a headache.
3 Commented on this story:
Well done, read over the transcript of his presser at Big Ten Media day and totally missed it. Morelli was a classic cannon for an arm, cannonball for a brain player. Let's hope he put his scholarship to full use and actually got an education his 4 years there. At least that way he might be able to rejoin the work force.
The MSU debacle I blame on the defense for collapsing after we went up 24-7 in the 3rd quarter. The real "what if" applies to the Illinois loss that year: What if Clark replaced an ineffective Morelli in the second half when it was apparent Morelli couldn't take advantage of the continuously excellent field position we kept getting? What if we put Clark in during the Michigan game? I'm wiling to bet we actually would've reached the end zone a couple of times had that been the case.
yeah, the Illinois game would be a better example of where Daryll Clark might have made a big impact on the outcome.
I don't mean any of this to insult Morelli personally. But as a quarterback, he just didn't have everything Penn State needed all the time.
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