Morning Cup of Joe: Penn State players raise $119,303 for cancer research

54 days until Penn State at Temple

Penn State players got together for another year of the Lift For Life event. The offense nudged by the defense thanks in part to a key tug-of-war victory. Penn State says 2,500 fans came out to watch the event. The goal was to raise $100,000. They got there, with Greg Pickel reporting via PennLive the total raised was $119,303 for cancer research. Kudos to all involved on this most worthy effort.

PENN STATE AND NEUTRAL SITE GAMES The other day I saw a story about Michigan turning down a neutral site game invite (more on that down later), and it got me thinking about the possibility of Penn State playing in one of the marquee neutral site games in the future. It would not happen for at least four or five more years, and there is not a very good chance Penn State would give up a home game in order to play in a neutral site game unless it happens to be within a relatively close proximity. So forget the Chick-fil-A Kickoff and Cowboys Classic. Think Meadowlands, Baltimore and Washington D.C.

TALKING 10 PREVIEWS PENN STATE Our good friends over at Talking 10 spent a good chunk of last week talking about the Nittany Lions. First was a look at how James Franklin breathed new life into the program and a look at Franklin’s work on the recruiting trail. There were some good things to say about the defense too. And that was capped by a prediction for the 2015 season. Quick spoiler alert: third place in the B1G East.

ICYMI When was the last time Penn State was a dominant force in college football? James Franklin is working to ensure high school kids actually remember Penn State in that way… Via Athlon Sports, Franklin is steering the Penn State program in the right direction.

Recruiting Updates

Have you gotten enough of kicker Quinn Nordin’s commitment video yet? The nation’s top-ranked kicker announced his commitment to Penn State on Friday, with a 30-second music video to go with it. It generated quite the reaction and people were retweeting my link to it all day on Friday. Once you get past the music video hoopla and take a look at Penn State’s Class of 2016, you see right away the improvement to be expected on special teams. Penn State has added a high-quality kicker and punter in the recruiting class, and that should lead to some big changes on special teams in the next few years.

Meanwhile, Class of 2016 quarterback Jake Zembiec was among the future Nittany Lions gathered in Oregon for The Opening and Elite 11 camp, and that means swag.

https://twitter.com/jakezembiec/status/619629565736939520

Zembiec did not make the Elite 11 cut when all was said and done, and Paul Myerberg of USA Today suggested he was trying too hard. That’s always better than not trying hard enough, right? Three future Big Ten quarterbacks did earn Elite 11 status; Dwayne Haskins (Maryland), Brandon Peters (Michigan) and Anthony Russo (Rutgers).

Looking ahead to the Class of 2017, Blue White Illustrated highlights several Class of 2017 targets landing on the Rivals 250 for 2017.

Around The Big Ten

James Franklin likes to sell the thought of playing in front of 110,000 fans every weekend. Only Michigan can pack in more fans for a home game, and that appears to be reason enough for interim AD Jim Hackett to turn down some neutral site invitations. That includes a supposed offer to play in front of 160,000 fans. Where that game would have taken place is beyond me, although keep in mind Tennessee and Virginia Tech will be playing at Bristol Motor Speedway next year and they could potentially set a new attendance record of all of the seats can be filled.

Nittany Lions Den Podcast

Last week saw the debut of the brand new Nittany Lions Den Podcast. I like to think it came out alright despite being a 30-minute solo adventure for the first episode. Feel free to share your feedback with me, as it will be your feedback that helps me fine tune the podcast moving forward to make it a more enjoyable listening experience. This week will see another new episode go live on Wednesday, and hopefully I will have an update on the iTunes status, as well as the status of the Nittany Lion Sports Radio app from VSporto. If you missed it last week, here is the first episode.

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