Freshman quarterback Rob Bolden is returning to Penn State and will be in classes when the spring 2011 semester starts on Monday, according to a report by the Penn State student newspaper, The Daily Collegian.
Bolden “will be back at Penn State Sunday and in school Monday,” Don Buchanan told the Collegian. Buchanan was Bolden’s quarterback coach at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Prep in Orchard Lake, Mich.
“He expects to compete for the starting quarterback job and will go through spring practices and everything.”
Bolden and his father, Robert Bolden Sr., met with Penn State coach Joe Paterno and Lions quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno on the Penn State campus on Tuesday.
The meeting was to discuss the Boldens’ dissatisfaction with the way the season played out for Rob, who began the year as Penn State’s first true freshman to start at quarterback in 100 years.
However, after being sidelined with a head injury in the seventh game of the season against Minnesota, Bolden ultimately lost the No. 1 job to redshirt sophomore Matt McGloin, who started five of the team’s final six games.
So, on Tuesday, the Boldens asked the longtime Penn State coach to release Bolden from his scholarship.
Paterno, surely without equivocation, denied that request.
WHY PATERNO SAID NO
Why? Here’s what I think:
- Bolden’s father spoke way too long, too loudly and too publicly for any negotiation to occur.
- Paterno thinks Bolden needs to learn about commitment, loyalty, competition and perseverance. And if Rob’s dad won’t teach him those concepts, Joe — with 61 years doing just that — will. At Penn State, that’s always been part of the pitch…and the deal.
- Paterno needs a quarterback in 2011, and Bolden has shown that he has the physical skills and consistency that Matt McGloin does not. Joe has only so many more shots at it and he knows that right now Bolden is his best QB. When he let Pat Devlin go, he had Darryl Clark. McGloin is not DC.
- The Paternos have invested a great deal in Bolden and Joe is pissed. Joe entrusted in Bolden in a way he never ever has in the thousands of teenagers who have played for him. Joe made Bolden a starter from Day One, and he’s not going to throw away the hard-won positives a season like that can do for a young player.
- Paterno knows if Bolden returns and fights and wins the starting job, the quarterback will have grown the stones and the confidence (in himself and placed in him by his teammates, coaches and fans) that Paterno needs in his starter.
- Because he’s Joe Paterno.
BOLDEN’S OPTIONS
Paterno’s decision left Bolden with a couple of options, explained in detail by Mark Brennan of FightOnState.com.
The Bolden family had been split on what was best for Rob. His mother, Tonia Williams, told the Associated Press earlier this week that she hoped her son would stay at Penn State: “I’m hoping he’ll have a change of heart.”
Apparently, he did.
Bolden and his father first met with both Paternos together on Tuesday, which was followed by a session with just Jay before they returned to their home near Detroit.
In his interview with the Collegian, Buchanan said: “…The only thing for certain is he’s coming back to Penn State, going to spring ball and will compete for the job.”
Buchanan added: “One thing I do know about Rob is that he’s a very passionate young man. He’s not going to go and have distractions get in his way. If he’s out there to compete, he’s out there to give Coach Paterno and the rest of the team his best effort, and I know he will do that.”
FOUR QUARTERBACKS
If Bolden does return, the Lions are expected to have the same quartet of quarterbacks they had when the regular season ended with a 29-22 loss to Michigan State on Nov. 27 – remarkable, in a sense.
Sophomore Kevin Newsome, used sparingly in 2010 after being the No. 1 backup to Daryll Clark in 2009, indicated in early December that he was thinking of transferring. A week later, in a news conference, Paterno said he was going to tell Newsome “to suck it up” and return and compete in spring drills.
Newsome did not make the trip to Tampa, Fla., for the Outback Bowl but is still expected to stay with the team through spring practice, at least.
If both Newsome and Bolden both decide to stay at Penn State, it would not be surprising at all to see Newsome at a different position down the road.
Quarterback Paul Jones enrolled in Penn State in January 2010, but sat out last season and played on the scout team after encountering early problems in the classroom. He is eligible to play in 2011.
Some folks are talking about Jones as the next starter. Really?
It is very hard for me to believe that Paterno will go with Jones as his starter in September. That would make Jones the third first-time starter at quarterback in 14 games – very unlikely, especially after going through the growing pains of both Bolden and McGloin in 2010. Joe is 84 and I doubt he wants to keep on wet-nursing his starting quarterback.
And then, of course, there’s McGloin.
McGloin is a cocky gunslinger of a quarterbac who in 2010 threw 14 touchdown passes and nine interceptions – three of them pick-sixes. He may play with Farve-like confidence, but he has not produced the same results. The Nittany Lions finished 7-6 overall in 2010, and 4-3 in games he played more than a few snaps.
McGloin, who last week called Bolden “a good backup,” may have spoken too soon.
WHAT ‘STARTED’ THIS
The Paternos first learned of Bolden’s decision to leave Penn State in the minutes after the Outback Bowl.
The father then took his case public, talking with numerous media outlets about his dissatisfaction with the son’s playing in the latter stages of the 2010 season, punctuated by the play of McGloin in the Outback Bowl.
In that game, quarterback McGloin threw five interceptions and Bolden did not play. Two of the picks came in the final 90 seconds, when the Lions were driving for a tying touchdown. Florida won, 37-24, after returning McGloin’s fourth interception 80 yards for a score.
McGloin started five of the Nittany Lions’ six games after Bolden left the Minnesota game, with Penn State ahead, with a head injury. McGloin came on in relief to guide Penn State to a 33-21 victory.
McGloin was 2-3 as a starter, with victories against Michigan and Indiana, and losses to Ohio State, Michigan State and Florida in the Outback Bowl. A redshirt sophomore, he was the first walk-on quarterback to start in Paterno’s 45 years as head coach at Penn State.
Penn State was 5-3 in games Bolden started, but it was McGloin’s play against Northwestern that sparked Penn State to a victory after a 21-0 first-half deficit.
Lost in all of this is that Bolden had been riding a hot hand when he lost his starting job.
Before leaving in the second quarter against Minnesota, he completed 11 of 13 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. He started against Northwestern and was 3 of 4 for 43 yards before giving way to McGloin after failing to get the Lions in the end zone.
That’s 14 of 17 for 173 yards, with one TD pass and no interceptions, in two quarters of football. Wow.
At that point, McGloin went on a wild hot streak, beating Michigan and then throwing for four touchdowns against Northwestern, his first score with just three seconds remaining in the first half against the Wildcats. The Lions won that game, 35-21, for Paterno’s 400th win.
The next week in Columbus, McGloin threw two touchdown passes for a first-half 14-3 lead. The Buckeyes bounced back in the second half to win 38-14 as McGloin threw two interceptions – both returned for touchdowns.
McGloin kept the starting job the next week against Indiana, throwing for 315 yards and two touchdowns, and then against Michigan State, throwing for 312 yards and two TDs with an interception. However, against MSU, half his completions, 183 of his yards and both of his scores came in the final quarter after the Lions were down by 18 points.
Bolden played very sparingly against Indiana, completing two passes for 10 yards, and not at all in losses against Ohio State and Michigan State.
NOW WHAT?
It couldn’t have been easy for Bolden to stand on the sidelines of the Ohio State and Michigan State games, as well as the Outback Bowl, and watch McGloin throw eight interceptions – an astounding three for touchdowns – and not play.
We will see if that fire fuels him in Penn State’s spring practices or creates a heartburn that can only be quelled by transferring.
My simple assessment:
If Rob stays, he will play. And if he has heart, he will start.
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