Joe Paterno, on the recruiting trail:

In 2007, Penn State coach Joe Paterno watched on TV as Drew Astorino hit the game-winner for Edinboro (Pa.) General McLane High in the Class AAA state hoop final. A few months before, Astorino scored the winning touchdown in the AAA football final. Astorino, who doesn’t run a 4.3, had one offer (Kent State) before Paterno called. Astorino “made plays in the clutch, so we took him,” Paterno told the Philadelphia Daily News. The 5-foot-10, 193-pound redshirt sophomore is starting at free safety. That’s recruiting, old-school.

The fact that this was the grizzled Paterno makes this story even better. (Hat tip: Blutarsky.)

- Residual Prolixity reviews Clay Travis’s Dixieland Delight: A Football Season on the Road in the Southeastern Conference. The review ends:

The enjoyable romp both hurts and helps Travis here — helping, because an enjoyable romp is never really out of style, and hurts because there’s really nothing to learn from reading Dixieland. I suppose the best thing I can say is I enjoyed reading Dixieland Delight, never thought about not finishing it, and don’t regret the money I spent acquiring it.

- The Pro-Football Reference Blog Revisits Aaron Rodgers and the Curse of Jeff Tedford. Bit here:

As for the whole Tedford hysteria, it was overblown, even at the time. (And since I’m pointing out old articles discussing a Tedford curse and other such voodoo, I should also point out that Jeffrey Chadiha wrote a more reasoned piece at the time.) I mean, Tedford got credit/blame for BOTH Carr and Harrington in 2002? What, was he dating one while seeing the other on the side? It seems to me like there was a lot of “Norv Turner produces great running backs” hype going on here, where there are some truths, some half-truths, and some circumstantial stuff. So I cross-referenced Tedford’s actual coaching career with the “Tedford Five”.

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The quadruple-option, now with video. I have updated my recent post on spread-option stuff to include video of the “quadruple option” I explained there — where the quarterback can hand it the runner inside, take it himself, or throw it to a receiver in the flat or downfield on a fade. People noted some understandable skepticism regarding whether linemen might get downfield. Remember, there is a two-yard cushion or safe harbor for them. Anyway, I found video of this concept from the Calgary from the CFL.

Canadian football is pretty wide open. But this is a good look at the concept, even if the QB does inexplicably pass up an inciredibly wide-open guy in the flat.

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Robert Marve showcases the talent that made him, uh, highly sought after. He might not be as “traditionally” accurate as former Boilermaker Drew Brees, but Marve is making good use of his year-in-wait at Purdue. Ht Goldandblack.com (Rivals).

- Trojan Football Analysis shows, not tells, you how to run the Airraid. I’ve discussed the Airraid offense quite a bit, but TFA delivers the goods with video clips of all of Mike Leach’s favorite concepts. An example is below:

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