Sept. 11, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Twenty-seven Penn State players were on the rosters of 19 National Football League teams during NFL Kickoff Week, tied for the second-highest total in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions annually are among the top 15 programs nationally in producing players in the NFL.
Tight end Brett Brackett was signed to the Tennessee Titans' practice squad this week, pushing the total of Nittany Lions in the NFL to 28, the second highest in the Big Ten.
The Jacksonville Jaguars feature a league-high three former Nittany Lions on their roster, including Pro Bowl linebacker Paul Posluszny, rookie wide receiver Allen Robinson and tight end Mickey Shuler.
Andrew Quarless
Six additional NFL squads boasted two former Nittany Lions on their opening week rosters: Dallas, Miami, Minnesota, Oakland, San Diego and Seattle.
Five players from Penn State's 2013 squad made NFL teams as rookies: Robinson, linebacker Glenn Carson (Arizona), offensive tackle Garry Gilliam (Seattle), defensive tackle DaQuan Jones (Tennessee) and guard John Urschel (Baltimore). Carson and Gilliam made NFL rosters as free agents.
Third-year defensive tackle Devon Still moved from the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad to their active roster on Wednesday.Among the other Nittany Lions who made the active roster of new teams this season were: Shuler (Jacksonville), Jack Crawford (Dallas), A.Q. Shipley (Indianapolis) and Nate Stupar (Atlanta).
Chicago Bears All-Pro placekicker Robbie Gould is the elder statesman among former Nittany Lions, in his 10th season, and Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro linebacker Tamba Hali is second in longevity, in his ninth season. Posluszny is in his eighth professional season and Rich Ohrnberger (Sam Diego) and All-Pro Cameron Wake (Miami) are in their sixth NFL seasons.
Four Nittany Lions were selected to play in the Pro Bowl after the 2013 season: Hali, Posluszny, Wake and Navorro Bowman (San Francisco). Wake was selected AFC Player of the Week on Wednesday after forcing two fumbles on sacks, leading to 10 points, in Miami's 33-20 win over New England last Sunday.
Penn State has had 36 NFL Draft picks since 2006, including 16 in the first three rounds, and at least three NFL Draft picks 16 times since starting Big Ten Conference competition in 1993. A total of 335 Nittany Lions have been selected all-time in the NFL Draft.
Robbie Gould
Super Bowl XLVIII marked the 43rd time in the NFL Championship contest's 48-game history that at least one Penn State alumnus was a member of one of the participating teams. Former Nittany Lion standouts Jordan Hill and Michael Robinson helped capped off a dominant playoff run for Seattle with a victory in Super Bowl XLVIII over the Denver Broncos. In all, 37 former Nittany Lions have earned a total of 54 Super Bowl rings.
Ten former Nittany Lions are members of NFL coaching staffs: Gary Brown (Dallas, running backs); Bobby Engram (Baltimore, wide receivers); Sam Gash (Green Bay, running backs); Ron Heller (New York Jets, assistant offensive line); John McNulty (Tennessee, quarterbacks); Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Munchak (Pittsburgh, offensive line), Jeff Nixon (Miami, running backs); Paul Pasqualoni (Chicago, defensive line); Darren Perry (Green Bay, safeties) and Mike Wolf (Cleveland, assistant strength and conditioning).
In addition, former Penn State quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell is in his first season as head coach of the Detroit Lions.
Coach James Franklin's Nittany Lions moved to 2-0 last Saturday with a 21-3 win over Akron. Penn State begins Big Ten Conference play on Saturday at Rutgers in the opening game of the Big Ten's 119th season. The game will kick at 8 p.m. and air on BTN, the Penn State Sports Network and GoPSUsports.com.
Penn State football season, single game and group single game tickets are available. More than 6,000 new season, 1,100 partial season and 60,000 single game/group tickets have been sold for this season. Ticket purchases and information are available at www.PSUnrivaled.com or fans can call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Pre-paid single game parking passes for the general parking lots for all home games also are available at www.GoPSUsports.com/tickets.
Penn State Football is on Twitter (@PennStateFball) and Facebook.
Former Penn State players on 2014 NFL Kickoff Week rosters (pro season in parentheses):
Arizona Cardinals: Glenn Carson (1)
Atlanta Falcons: Nate Stupar (3)
Baltimore Ravens: John Urschel (1)
Cincinnati Bengals: Devon Still (3)
Chicago Bears: Robbie Gould (10)
Dallas Cowboys: Jack Crawford (3), Sean Lee (5, injured)
Denver Broncos: Jordan Norwood (6, injured)
Green Bay Packers: Andrew Quarless (5)
Indianapolis Colts: A.Q. Shipley (5)
Jacksonville Jaguars: Paul Posluszny (8), Allen Robinson (1), Mickey Shuler (5)
Kansas City Chiefs: Tamba Hali (9)
Miami Dolphins: Jared Odrick (5), Cameron Wake (6)
Minnesota Vikings: Gerald Hodges (2), Michael Mauti (2)
Oakland Raiders: Matt McGloin (2), Stefen Wisniewski (4)
Pittsburgh Steelers: Derek Moye (3, p.s.)
San Diego Chargers: Rich Ohrnberger (6), Johnnie Troutman (3)
San Francisco 49ers: Navorro Bowman (5, injured)
Seattle Seahawks: Garry Gilliam (1), Jordan Hill (2)
Tennessee Titans: Brett Brackett (4, p.s.), DaQuan Jones (1)