Shortly before the start of the 2009 season, Joe Paterno lamented the state of his offensive line, saying that “if we had to play this week, we’d have troubles.” A couple of weeks before the start of the 2010 season, the legendary Penn State head coach said that “we’ve got troubles there” when addressing the state of his line.
So, of course, and for at least the third consecutive year, it’s not all puppy dogs and rainbows when it comes to where the 2011 edition of the line stands in JoePa’s eyes.
Following a practice session that forced him to drop a “you hit like old ladies” blast on the unit, Paterno held little back in critiquing the shape of the line to the media.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Paterno said. “I mean, we don’t have the first string offensive line right now. We’ve got a couple good tackles. ...
“The potential is there on the offensive line. That’s a big offensive line with some pretty good athletes, but they’re not ready yet.”
The good news for Coach Paterno and the Nittany Lions is that they return three starters from last year’s line, as well as the fact that the season doesn’t start for another five months. That’s more than enough time for marked improvement and gaining cohesion. And for JoePa to continue to wryly and deftly lament the dire state of a unit that will end up with an above-average offensive line like almost every other year.
