Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

The next step in Connor McGovern’s path to the NFL is less than three weeks away.

Invitations to the NFL Scouting Combine were announced by the league on Thursday, and the former Lake-Lehman and Penn State standout was one of seven Nittany Lions to make the list. McGovern will be joined in Indianapolis by fellow offensive lineman Ryan Bates, defensive tackle Kevin Givens, quarterback Trace McSorley, cornerback Amani Oruwariye, running back Miles Sanders and defensive end Shareef Miller.

All five juniors who declared for the draft received invitations. McSorley and Oruwariye were the lone seniors selected.

In all, 338 players were invited. McGovern is one of just nine in that group who played high school football in Pennsylvania. Four of them were Penn State teammates in Bates, Givens, Sanders and Miller.

The annual event will be held from Feb. 26-March 4 with McGovern and the rest of the offensive linemen scheduled to arrive right at the start and stay for four days.

McGovern will go through measurements and medical tests on Feb. 26 and 27, with the physical work beginning Feb. 28 with the bench press. He will go through on-field drills on March 1 before departing later that day, with interviews with NFL teams sprinkled throughout the stretch.

It’s the first time in four years a Wyoming Valley Conference alum will be at the combine as McGovern follows another offensive lineman, GAR’s Mark Glowinski.

In 2015, Glowinski helped boost his stock by being one of the standouts in both the bench press (31 reps) and broad jump (9 feet, 5 inches). He was fourth among offensive linemen in the former and tied for first in the latter.

Glowinski was ultimately drafted in the fourth round by the Seattle Seahawks and just recently signed a new multi-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts.

The NFL draft will be held from April 25-27 in Nashville.

Thorpe moves back

As for McGovern’s replacement at right guard, a major contender has returned to the mix, as one offseason mystery was solved on Thursday.

C.J. Thorpe, a promising guard who was briefly flipped over to defensive tackle out of necessity, is back on offense for winter workouts according to offensive line coach Matt Limegrover.

Throughout the week, every Penn State assistant has been singling out the best efforts in their respective units, and on Thursday morning, Limegrover chose Thorpe for Wednesday’s session.

Thorpe, who is entering his redshirt sophomore season, immediately becomes one of the top candidates to start in 2019. Most likely the job will come down to him or classmate Mike Miranda, who finished last season as McGovern’s backup when Thorpe was moved to defense.

That move was made after the Lions lost both Fred Hansard and Ellison Jordan to injuries midway through last season, greatly hurting the team’s depth at defensive tackle behind starters Kevin Givens and Robert Windsor.

By the end of the season, Thorpe was a second-teamer at the new position and even split a sack in the Citrus Bowl.

But guard is the spot where he can help Penn State the most, something coach James Franklin acknowledged in the fall after he had to move him.

“I would still make the argument his greatest long-term potential is on the offensive side of the ball,” Franklin said at the time. “He’s got a lot of characteristics where you’d like to recruit 10 C.J.s and plug them into a lot of different places.

“It just came to the point where we had a need — a more urgent, pressing need. We waited on it (last) summer and then obviously got to a point where we felt like we needed to make a move. So we revisited it, brought him in, and C.J.’s first response was, ‘Is this because you guys think I suck on offense?’

“And I was like, ‘No, no one thinks that. Quite the opposite. It’s because we feel like you can go over and help us.’ ”

Penn State has fifth-year senior Steven Gonzalez returning to start at left guard. Michal Menet (center) and Will Fries (tackle) are also returning starters, with the other tackle job up for grabs.

Schedule change

Those winter workouts might just be a bit more bearable for Lions players this year. No longer will they have to wake up before dawn to get them in.

“We’ve always done those in the morning, and we moved those to the afternoon, which is something I’ve never done before,” Franklin said Wednesday. “But with our conversations with sport science, we spend all our time talking to our players about the importance of nutrition, hydration and sleep. But then as coaches we get them up at 5 o’clock in the morning — it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

Cross watch

Signing day came and went without a decision from the top-ranked recruit in Maryland, four-star safety Nick Cross.

As of Thursday evening, there wasn’t a resolution to the situation as Cross and his family continue to debate the merits of his finalists, Florida State, Georgia, Maryland and Penn State.

Multiple recruiting services have reported that Cross himself favors the Seminoles, the team he verbally committed to back in September. But his family reportedly prefers other options, hence the January trips to the other three schools, culminating with an official visit to Penn State last weekend.

Though the coaches involved would prefer to have their classes wrapped up, there isn’t any real urgency for Cross to decide. The signing window lasts until April, and even if taken to the furthest extreme, Cross isn’t obligated to sign a letter of intent at all.

The purpose of the letter of intent is to ensure recruits they have a scholarship locked in for them at a school. But for Cross, ranked as the nation’s No. 55 overall prospect, there’s little fear that teams wouldn’t hold a scholarship open for him, regardless of how long the process takes.

Offensive lineman Connor McGovern is one of seven Penn State alums who will be headed to the NFL Combine later this month in Indianapolis.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_web-crop-1.jpg.optimal.jpgOffensive lineman Connor McGovern is one of seven Penn State alums who will be headed to the NFL Combine later this month in Indianapolis. Paul Sancya | AP file photo

By Derek Levarse

[email protected]

Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse