| Anthony Morelli |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., June 22, 2007 ?C The Penn State Football team was featured on ESPNews?? ??Football Friday?? program previewing the Top 20 teams going into the 2007 season. Friday's show is set to re-air on Saturday from 12-1 p.m. ET.
Senior quarterback Anthony Morelli (Pittsburgh) was interviewed in the preview. ESPNews is Ch. 261 on Comcast in the Centre Region.
In his first year as the Nittany Lions?? starter, Morelli broke school season records with 208 completions and 386 attempts, while his 2,424 passing yards were third-best on the Penn State season list. He became the first Penn State quarterback in the Big Ten era to throw three touchdown passes in his first career start, doing so against Akron. The former Penn Hills High School standout threw for a career-best 288 yards, going 19-of-33 against Northwestern. A Davey O??Brien and Johnny Unitas Award candidate, he had a strong game vs. Tennessee in the 2007 Outback Bowl, going 14 of 25 for 197 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions.
Coach Joe Paterno??s 42nd Penn State team returns 33 letterwinners and 15 starters for the 2007 season, which begins September 1 against Florida International (12:00 p.m., Big Ten Network) in Beaver Stadium.
The Nittany Lions have a blockbuster 2007 home schedule that includes five bowl teams from 2006: Notre Dame (6:00 p.m., ESPN), Iowa (Oct. 6), Wisconsin (Oct. 13- Homecoming, 3:30 p.m., ABC), Ohio State (Oct. 27, 8:00 p.m., ABC, ESPN or ESPN2) and Purdue (Nov. 3). The Nittany Lions will host Buffalo on Sept. 15 for a 12:00 p.m. kick that also will be televised by the Big Ten Network, which launches in August.