June 5, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - ESPN.com recently ranked the top 30 Big Ten football players for the 2009 season and Penn State led all schools with six selections, including five of the top 12.
Adam Rittenberg, ESPN.com's Big Ten football blogger, unveiled his last two selections on Thursday, including Nittany Lion senior quarterback Daryll Clark (Youngstown, Ohio) as his No. 2 player in the conference. ESPN.com ranked four Penn Staters among the top seven players in the conference, as junior tailback Evan Royster (Fairfax, Va.) was No. 4, junior linebacker Navorro Bowman (District Heights, Md.) was No. 6 and senior linebacker Sean Lee (Pittsburgh) was No. 7.
Senior defensive tackle Jared Odrick (Lebanon) was ranked No. 12, giving Penn State five of the top dozen players in the Big Ten. Junior center Stefen Wisniewski (Bridgeville) was No. 27, becoming the sixth Nittany Lion in the rankings. Iowa was second in the conference with four players in the ESPN.com's top 30.
Bowman, Clark and Odrick were first team All-Big Ten in 2008 and Royster and Wisniewski were on the second team, helping Penn State to its second Big Ten title and Bowl Championship Series berth in the past four years. Lee was an All-Big Ten selection in 2007 and is returning after missing last season with a serious knee injury.
Penn State has earned one of the nation's Top 10 records since the start of the 2005 season, posting a 40-11 (78.4) mark, good for No. 9 nationally. The Nittany Lions finished No. 8 in the nation last year with an 11-2 record, earning its 22nd Top 10 finish under Coach Joe Paterno.
Entering his 44th season as head coach and 60th on the Penn State coaching staff, the Hall of Fame coach returns 37 letterwinners and 10 starters for the 2009 campaign. The Nittany Lions host Akron on Sept. 5 to open the season.