UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State defensive end Maurice Evans has been named to the Watch List for the 2008 Bronko Nagurski Trophy, presented to the nation’s top defensive player.

Kerry McCoy, a two-time NCAA champion at Penn State, has been named the new head wrestling coach at the University of Maryland, athletic director Deborah A. Yow announced Monday.

Ed DeChellis still has his right-hand man.

Penn State took a big step this weekend toward filling its needs in the secondary, receiving commitments from defensive back prospects Stephen Obeng-Agyapong and Darrell Givens. The Nittany Lions still have a need at wide receiver, though it might have found a prospect late Sunday that could fill both needs.

This is the first in a series of eight columns on what amounts to a farewell tour that will cross the retirement finish line on June 30. In the coming weeks, I'll share with you what I consider my favorite players, coaches, athletes, events and people from these past 41 years. There are far too many to include in one last column and probably too many even for eight.

Ron Bracken walked into our newsroom in 1967 and immediately started covering high school football games.

Penn State tapped some familiar territory to add two defensive backs to its 2009 recruiting class during the weekend.

BELLEFONTE — Penn State special teams player and backup defensive back Knowledge Timmons was placed into Centre County’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Dispostion program Thursday morning that will enable Timmons to eventually have criminal charges against him dismissed and his record expunged.

Penn State’s hyped 2006-07 wrestling recruiting class has lost two more prominent members.

UNIVERSITY PARK — For the second year in a row, the NCAA Women’s Volleyball tournament will run through Rec Hall.

Defensive end Maurice Evans has been named to the watch list for the 2008 Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which is presented to the country's best defensive player.

Three Penn State wrestlers were dismissed from the team Friday after violating "team rules and the standards of the program," according to a news release.

Senior setter Travis Foltz took a slow walk down the steps of the bus.

Max Holt slammed down a kill and turned to meet teammate Dennis Del Valle in the middle of the court.

The No. 1 Penn State men's volleyball team defeated No. 2 Pepperdine 3-1 (27-30, 33-31, 30-25, 30-23) Saturday night in Irvine, Calif., to become the first school east of the Mississippi to win an NCAA volleyball championship.

After Doris Willette was woken up at 2 a.m. in China, all that she could muster in a groggy voice was that she was "really happy" to have made the U.S. women's foil Olympic team.

Sitting in front of his locker, Drew Adams' thought process is the same before every game. As he throws his shirts and pads over his head, he prepares like any other athlete -- until he slides into his cleats.

As soon as the Penn State women's lacrosse team stepped off the plane yesterday, it loaded all the luggage onto a bus -- and immediately headed to a practice field on Northwestern's campus.

A.J. Wallace knew something was up when the apartment he shared with Justin King on Pollock Road began to look a little more spacious after last football season. While other teammates were shuffling belongings around, moving to different apartments, King was packing up his things.

Drew Adams said, while he was walking to class yesterday, that he came to Penn State to play against top competition.

In Wednesday's game against Akron, the Penn State softball team was deadlocked in a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth inning. In order to push a run across, Penn State head coach Robin Petrini sent in her secret weapon.

The loud cheers and competitive banter between juniors Clarence Smith and Ryan Taylor echoed through the gym Wednesday when practice finally came to an end.

Collegian-ites call me "Blaubot."

April 1, 2003. The first time I stepped foot in State College.

Once junior Frank Duca finishes a final, he goes to track practice and focuses on lifting and throwing.

Scott Kretchmar walks into his office in Rec Hall every day and logs onto his computer, always knowing what to expect -- an e-mail explaining how many extra hours a team will be on the road away from campus.

When Brendan Lynch arrived to State College in 2005, he was committing to a Penn State men's tennis team that had not made the NCAA tournament in its previous seven seasons.

Gayle Hunter's day at the Big Ten championships was drawing to a close last year when, 30 minutes before the final event, she found out she had to compete once more.

Senior gymnast Santiago Lopez spent four years building an impressive career at Penn State, but this summer he'll be helping his family build a vineyard in his hometown of Ensenada, Mexico.

When catcher Joe Blackburn was brought home from a Pittsburgh hospital after being born, he was outfitted in a Penn State T-shirt.

Troubled ex-LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux won't have to wait long to play again.

Southern California has signed a new 25-year lease that will keep the Trojans' football team in the Los Angeles Coliseum and include improvements in the stadium.

The Big Ten is championing a proposal that schools take two weeks off from recruiting.

Former WVU football coach Rich Rodriguez says Gov. Joe Manchin and three members of the university's board of governors pressured him into signing a new contract before the start of the 2007 season with a buyout clause he didn't want.

Beginning in 2009, the ACC will no longer partner with the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, league commissioner John Swofford said.

Athletic directors of the Atlantic Coast Conference have decided to nix the possibility of adding a ninth conference game to the schedule, according to several people who attended a closed-door meeting involving the league's football coaches and ADs.

A judge reduced a felony charge to a misdemeanor against Murray State quarterback Jeff Ehrhardt, who pushed a campus police officer and took his ticket book.

University of Florida defensive lineman Matt Patchan is recovering after being shot in the shoulder while at a Tampa area-park.

Central Florida cornerback Johnell Neal was injured during a shooting in his hometown of Baton Rouge, La.

Florida safety Jamar Hornsby has been released on his own recognizance after turning himself in Friday for using the credit card of a woman killed six months ago in an accident that also killed one of his teammates.

Nick Saban is among a handful of college head coaches using video conferences to chat with recruits because they can't meet in person.

Count Jackson State in on the Ryan Perrilloux sweepstakes. Coach Rick Comegy said he is attempting to lure the dismissed LSU quarterback to campus for a visit in hopes of signing the troubled player.

Penn State cornerback Knowledge Timmons must serve a year in a probation program for first-time offenders after being charged with two misdemeanors.

Notre Dame and Arizona State will play in the new $1 billion home of the Dallas Cowboys in 2013.

Alabama coach Nick Saban said linebacker Rolando McClain was involved in a motorcycle accident but sustained only minor injuries.

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