Welcome to our daily Nittany Notebook. This post will be updated frequently throughout the day with news, notes and sometimes entertaining info. So be sure to check back often to stay on top of everything that’s going on with Penn State football and athletics, plus other sports of interest in central PA.
Update: 8:30 p.m.
**Penn State missed out on another top recruiting target Monday as 4-star DT Rayshaun Benny announced his commitment to Michigan State. The Spartans were clearly the frontrunners for Benny, who’s from Oak Park, Mich., just 80 miles from the East Lansing campus.
PSU ranks 31st in the 247Sports team recruiting rankings for the class of 2021. The Lions have only 14 commits, and it’s getting down to crunch time as mid-November approaches.
Committed #gogreen 💚🤍 pic.twitter.com/u35YZNQJGq
— Rayshaun Benny (@rayshaun_benny) November 9, 2020
**Update 1:12 p.m.
The AP preseason Top 25 basketball poll includes seven Big Ten teams, including three in the top 10.
5 Iowa
7 Wisconsin
8 Illinois
13 Michigan State
23 Ohio State
24 Rutgers
25 Michigan
Gonzaga is No. 1 in the poll, followed by Baylor, Villanova and Virginia.
Update: 12:40 p.m.
**Preseason Big Ten honors are in for Penn State hockey senior Alex Limoges.
From PSU’s press release:
Senior captain Alex Limoges(Winchester, Va.) landed on the Preseason All-Big Ten first team as announced by the league office on Monday morning.
An All-B1G honorable mention last season, Limoges ranked sixth in the conference with 32 points on 11 goals and 21 assists in 30 games while his 1.07 points per game was good for second in the conference and 26th nationally. In Big Ten only games he paced the conference averaging 1.05 points per game in 22 games ranking tied for second in league only games with 23 points on nine goals and 14 assists.
Limoges became the eighth Nittany Lion in program history to reach the 100-point mark for his career in 2019-20 and enters his senior season leading all returning Big Ten players with his 103 career points, good for fifth nationally.
Limoges’ 41 career goals are the second-most among active players in the Big Ten entering the season ranking fifth nationally and tied for eighth all-time at Penn State.
Update: 11:07 a.m.
Iowa’s Luka Garza has been named the Big Ten’s preseason player of the year, as part of the league’s 10-player all-preseason team released Monday morning.
Penn State does not have any players on the list of preseason honors. Garza was the Big Ten player of the year last season and a first-team All-American, losing out to Dayton’s Obi Toppin for national player of the year honors.
Garza and Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu were unanimous picks by the Big Ten media.
The Big Ten preseason team:
Kofi Cockburn, Illinois, So. C
Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois, Jr. G
Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana, So. F
Luka Garza, Iowa, Sr. C
Joe Wieskamp, Iowa, Jr. G/F
Aaron Henry, Michigan State, Jr. F
Marcus Carr, Minnesota, Jr. G
Trevion Williams, Purdue, Jr. F
Geo Baker, Rutgers, Sr. G
Nate Reuvers, Wisconsin, Sr. F
Update: 9:50 a.m.
**There are a ton of excellent journalists who cover Penn State football. These are smart, informed folks who are all over the beat, giving the fan base a great deal of insight day in and day out. Here’s a sampling of some of the good reads from these journalists following PSU’s troubling loss to Maryland.
My @sportsTT column on the debacle against Maryland: Losses are the least of the issues for #PennState. https://t.co/FKuZv1ZRFh
— Donnie Collins (@PennStateTT) November 8, 2020
The Nittany Lions' players and head coach are unsure of answers after worst start in 19 years. https://t.co/8Bm1rJYTSp
— YDR online (@ydrcom) November 8, 2020
Penn State isn't very good, and that's a problem for the now and the later: https://t.co/EgbRozF0VG
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) November 8, 2020
Penn State players say ‘we are not a good football team,’ and that distractions are a problem; how will they fix it? https://t.co/xZvL2uAyJd
— Greg Pickel (@GregPickel) November 8, 2020
According to @collegefb_ref, Penn State has allowed 30+ points in four consecutive games (including the 2019 Cotton Bowl) for the first time in school history.
That's just one confounding point of a most confounding 2020 Penn State season.@si_ncaafbhttps://t.co/VO9vJPI3ba
— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) November 9, 2020
We’ve seen James Franklin keep struggling QBs in games for the entirety many times at PSU. Down 35-7 he did it again. Who does this benefit? Let’s start there.
James Franklin’s loyalty and Penn State’s 0-3 start: Maryland final thoughts https://t.co/Gtq36N1mAE
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) November 9, 2020
My column on #PennState
From today's @ReadingEaglehttps://t.co/9APRJUnFcS— Richard Scarcella (@nittanyrich) November 9, 2020
Jahan Dotson, who James Franklin recently joked "has said about 23 words since he's been here", made some strong statements tonight. So did his teammates.
"We're not as one right now."
Penn State has fallen into a pit and now faces a defining moment: https://t.co/bDf4GdEeXF
— Tyler Donohue (@TDsTake) November 8, 2020
