Sports

PENN STATE FOOTBALL

By Derek Levarse dlevarse@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter
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Scrutiny of the Penn State football program intensified on Wednesday as suspended defensive tackles Chris Baker and Phil Taylor were dismissed from the team.

Baker, a junior, and Taylor, a sophomore, were two of five players still under suspension from the spring for academic and disciplinary reasons.

Last week during Big Ten media days in Chicago, coach Joe Paterno had said he was waiting to see grades from summer classes before deciding to reinstate any of the suspended players.

“Depends on when I get grades,” Paterno said. “We’re in summer school. Some of those kids aren’t done until the 15th, 16th of August, so I really can’t tell you that. Some I may let just come out and run around a little bit until I get the status of their grades.”

It’s unclear, however, if academics were the deciding factor in removing either player, as Taylor is still serving a temporary expulsion until mid-August.

Neither player could be reached for comment.

Both were charged with felonies in 2007 following two separate fights – one at an off-campus apartment in April and another at the student union in October on a night after a home game.

Baker faced charges from both incidents, while Taylor was cited in the latter. Both ended up pleading guilty to lesser misdemeanor charges, which resulted in fines and community service. Baker received no punishment from Penn State’s Office of Judicial Affairs, while Taylor was banned from classes and extra-curricular activities on campus for the summer.

The dismissals come in the wake of an episode of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” on Sunday that examined Penn State football’s off-the-field problems – particularly its arrest record in recent years – and Paterno’s culpability in it all.

News of Baker and Taylor’s dismissals on Wednesday quickly spread throughout the entire ESPN network – on its TV scrolls, near the top of the Web site’s headlines section and then on “College Football Live,” which led off with the story and criticism of Paterno by panelists.

“You’re always gonna have problems,” Paterno said in Chicago. “And it’s not just Penn State. We’re out there talking about (recruits) – a kid’s 16, 17 years old and everybody’s chasing him, making him feel like he’s the greatest thing that’s happened since peanut butter.

“And then he gets into college and things don’t go exactly right, and he wants and needs a little notoriety and he does some … I don’t know. You’re always going to have those kinds of problems. I hope I can always think him through it and do what I think is best for the kid.”

Three of the six players suspended early this offseason have now been removed from the program. Baker, Taylor and wide receiver Chris Bell are gone, with Bell having recently pleaded guilty to making terroristic threats against a teammate.

Navorro Bowman, Andrew Quarless and Knowledge Timmons are the remaining three who could return for preseason practice, which starts Monday.

The removal of Baker (7 starts, 4.5 sacks, 8.0 TFL) and Taylor (5 starts, 3.0 sacks, 6.5 TFL) takes a significant bite out of Penn State’s defensive line depth.

Junior Jared Odrick looks to be fully recovered from a broken ankle suffered midway through 2007 and should reclaim a starting spot in the middle. The other starting position will likely be decided by a camp battle between sophomores Ollie Ogbu (four starts) and Abe Koroma (one start).

Redshirt freshmen Devon Still and Chima Okoli will likely work into the rotation at tackle, as could sophomore Tom McEowen.

Paterno will speak again at Penn State’s media day on Aug. 8.

“We’ve had problems,” Paterno said. “How they portray the problems, I don’t know. Are we trying to handle them in the best way that I think? I don’t particularly want anybody else to handle them. … I want to be able to handle each kid the best way I think I should. The program is obviously very important. But not bigger than the people that are in it.”