Quick Hits with Paterno

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno fielded questions Thursday at the outdoor practice field. See what he had to say about the academic state and injury situation of the team and a variety of other topics.

Coach Joe Paterno took some time on Thursday afternoon to field questions from 40 to 45 media personnel from the Penn State's outdoor practice field after a meeting with the PSU Fantast Campers.

Here are some quick hits from his Q&A session:

• The team is doing really well academically and he is currently pleased where they are with their classes as a whole.
• Injury-wise everyone is scheduled to be back for the season except for Pete Massaro. Brennan asked specifically about the status of DE Jerome Hayes, RB Stephfon Green and WR Brett Brackett and Paterno indicated they are all expected to be back for the coming season.
• Paterno was pressed repeatedly about the soft non-conference schedule and it's possible impact on a potential national title run. He said multiple times in response a lot of things could happen this season, so he's not worried about it at this point.
• He was asked about PSU's strong recruiting in Western Pennsylvania,however Paterno said he did not want to talk about recruiting since the NCAA prohibits it.
• He said everything with Navorro Bowman is fine and he is really stepping up as a "terrific leader." He implied the county let down Bowman by not monitoring his community service more closely.
• He said Daryll Clark and Sean Lee are both natural leaders and easy picks as captains, but that there are four to five other players who are very strong leaders on the team.
• He still has some concerns in the secondary and on offensive line. Brennan asked how he can address them with NCAA limitations during the summer. Paterno said they do what they can within the guidelines but did not have a specific answer since he said the assistant coaches are more invovled at this point in the season.

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