The week in review, July 30

The past 10 or so days have been very interesting for me, to say the least. But things are settling down, and I can get back into the swing of things here at ZN. To kick off what should be a blitz of posts the next 48 hours, I'll wrap up the news that you've already heard, but I wasn't able to cover here.

The Big Ten Media Days...

• Hail to the Orange gives us classic Joe Paterno at the Big Ten Media Days, complete with tablecloth doodles. It's a must-see over at HTTO.

• Black Shoe Diaries informs us that "James Laurinaitis was retroactively awarded 32 solo tackles by the statisticians in Columbus, bringing his total to 4,835 for the 2008 season," following the selection of Terrelle Pryor as the Media's Offensive POY.

• Lake the Posts gives a big ol' tip of the hat to Joe Paterno, for his performance at the Big Ten Media Days.

• ESPN's Adam Rittenberg wraps everything up.

In other news...

• The Nittany Line discusses the week in Penn State arrests. On the stand: Ako Poti and Glenn Carson.

• Penn State was named No. 1 Party School this week.

• Nittany White Out (as the name would suggest) was all over the full-stadium WhiteOut for Iowa this season.

• Happy Hour Valley throws down a little "goo punch" for TE Kevin Haplea, who committed to Penn State this week.

I've got plenty more stuff to post between today and tomorrow, so stay tuned. First Look: Michigan Wolverines, poll results, recruiting updates (Dakota Royer came aboard today!), and some other stuff is all on the way!

More below the fold...

Penn State Verbals for 2009

Here's who Penn State landed so far, for it's 2009 class. I'll have another post today or tomorrow, listing the Nittany Lions' top prospects who have not yet given verbals to any schools.

Name___________________	Stars	Committed	HT/WT/40	Hometown/School
OL Eric Shrive	5/4	5/15/08	6'7"/290/5.1	Scranton/WestScranton
LB Glenn Carson	4/3	9/29/08	6'3"/220/4.6	Manahawkin(NJ)/Southern
DB Darrell Givens	4/4	5/10/08	6'1"/178/4.5	IndianHead(MD)/Lackey
OL Mark Arcidiacono	4/2	4/30/08	6'5"/285/--	Philadelphia/St.Joe's
RB Curtis Dukes	4/3	7/2/08	6'2"/235/4.5	Philadelphia/IndianRiver
K Anthony Fera	3/3	10/22/08	6'2"/230/--	Houston(TX)/PiusX
OL Ty Howle	3/3	3/23/08	6'2"/290/5.4	Bunn(NC)/Bunn
DL Sean Stanley	3/4	Soft	6'1"/247/4.81	Gaithersburg(MD)/Gaithersburg
TE/DE Gary Gilliam	3/2	11/13/08	6'7"/245/4.80	Hershey/MiltonHershey
CB Derrick Thomas	3/4	5/12/08	6'0"/173/4.48	Greenbelt(MD)/E.Roosevelt
CB Stephon Morris	3/3	5/26/08	5'9"/175/4.4	Greenbelt(MD)/E.Roosevelt
CB/QB Curtis Drake	3/2	6/11/08	6'0"/170/4.68	Philadelphia/WestPhila.Cath.
OL Adam Gress	3/3	7/2/08	6'7"/290/5.22	WestMifflin/WestMifflin
DB Stephen Obeng-Agyapong	3/3	5/9/08	5'11"/185/4.5	Cheektowaga(NY)/JFK
WR Brandon Felder	3/3	5/27/08	6'3"/165/4.5	OxonHill(MD)/OxonHill
DB Malcolm WIllis	3/3	4/29/08	6'1"/185/4.65	IndianHead(MD)/Lackey
OL Nate Cadogan	3/3	7/11/08	6'6"/250/5.0	Portsmouth(OH)/Portsmouth
WR Devon Smith	3/3	10/1/08	5'8"/145/4.34	Waldorf(MD)/Westlake
OL Frank Figueroa	2/2	5/15/08	6'4"/275/--	Alexandria(VA)/Edison
WR Christian Kuntz	2/2	7/4/08	6'4"/190/4.46	CampHill/Trinity

More below the fold...

Oh yeah, PSU still has to recruit

Via Blue White Illustrated:

"Linebacker U" has picked up a verbal commitment from one of the top players in the Northeast at the position, as Manahawkin (N.J.) Southern Regional inside linebacker Glenn Carson has decided to end his recruitment and pick Penn State, several local media outlets have reported."

This is outstanding for Penn State, to land a highly-recruited prospect just after a nationally-televised win over a ranked Illinois team.

"The 6-foot-2, 225-pound prospect made the call following an unofficial visit to Happy Valley this past weekend."

And just who do you think landed this fantastic linebacker? Why, who else?

"He was recruited by linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden, and attended camp at Penn State this past June."

Yeah, so South Jersey isn't really New Jersey. But I think I can get over it. Plus, he does wear No. 40, so that's a start right there.

More below the fold...