Updated at 2:05 p.m.
Bill O’Brien faced about 200 reporters Thursday to kickoff a daylong media event at Beaver Stadium, and, predictably, football took a back seat to the postmortem in the wake of the NCAA sanctions levied on the program.
Clearly O’Brien, Penn State’s first-year coach, is ready to move forward.
‘We’ve had a fun camp, we’re very positive, we like to laugh,’ O’Brien said. ‘There’s chop busting going on. It’s football. We have fun. We compete. As it relates to everything that’s gone on around here, we’re mindful of what happened here, but this is just my opinion, it’s time to stop the dour attitude.’
OK, then. Sept. 1 is three weeks.
What to expect in 2012 and in the years ahead?
- O’Brien did not disclose details about how he plans to manage the roster over the next four years, when he is docked 40 scholarships over that period.
- O’Brien praised the strong senior leadership of the team but also said members of the sophomore and freshmen class has shown strong leadership qualities as well.
- Starting QB Matt McGloin has made a ton of progress since the spring and named his competitiveness, smarts and ability to read defenses as his strengths.
- Matt Marcincin and Alex Butterworth will compete in camp for the starting punting position. Sam Ficken, the placekicker, has looked good, O’Brien said.
- O’Brien is optimistic WRs Allen Robinson and Shawney Kersey can stretch the field vertically. He added slot men Alex Kenney and Eugene Lewis had strong starts to camp as well.
- On if O’Brien is nervous for the Sept. 1 debut against Ohio: ‘Do I look nervous?’
- O’Brien reiterated captains would be on a game-by-game basis. Permanent captains will be named before the season finale against Wisconsin.
- Second-team QB Paul Jones will play this season, O’Brien said, but did not go into detail about how often.
The big-picture message O’Brien sent:
‘When we play football we’ll have a chip on our shoulder just like every team should,’ he said. ‘But at the end of the day, it’s not us against the world. It’s about Penn State.’
