Thanks to Mike at Black Shoe Diaries, we present a Big Ten bloggers roundtable!

I love spring. Flowers blooming. Birds chirping. Bones breaking. ACL’s tearing. List the injuries your team sustained and describe their impact on 2008.

With 3 out of the 4 injured players projected to be back by the fall, the most glaring loss on that list is obviously Sean Lee. The fact that he will probably still be named a captain for the 2008 squad despite being sideline by his ACL injury is telling. He was is the leader of the defense and hopefully he will continue to help the young linebacking corp along from the sidelines.

“It’s not just the physical loss to us. He’s everything you want in a football player. He’s got poise. He comes to practice everyday. He works like a dog and the whole bit. When he got hurt it was a big loss, particularly in the drill. It wasn’t even a contact thing. It’s going to hurt us, but as I said to the squad, if you’ve got a good football team, somebody comes to the front.” - Joe Paterno

Luckily for us, we are Penn State. That means we run before we have to pass, we will be in blue home jerseys and black cleats a century for now, and we are never low on linebackers. Joe feels Tyrell Sales have ’stepped up’ and put himself in the position to fill the athletic void that was left by Sean Lee. So Sean Lee’s injury is not a good thing come 2008, but he has already promised to come back in 2009 and our linebacking corp should be one of the best especially with younger players forced to play this year.

Break down the major position battles going on with your offense

There are 2 for Penn State.

The much talked about one is the quarterback position, but I’ve mentioned many a times, this is basically Daryll Clark’s to lose. The signs are already there. He had the most production last year in limited snaps, and he took all his snaps solely with the first team offense while Pat went with the second team offense before moving to the first team when Daryll was pulled in the spring game. If the competition was as even as everyone thinks, wouldn’t Daryll have had snaps with the second team offense as well? But I’d much rather have 2 heralded quarterbacks that are capable of running our offense than none at all.

The second position would be at the running back position. This spot became a position battle since Green turned a pitch into a 57 yard touchdown at the Blue White game. Before that, no one doubted Royster’s place on the depth charts after his efficient production in limited carries last season especially after Scott was removed due to legal problems. But Green has put himself in the position for a second look with his electrifying runs both during the spring scrimmage and during practice.

Break down the major position battles on defense

Where do I start?

First there’s Sean Lee’s injury, which means younger players like Sales, Hull and Gbadyu will have to step up. This can be a two way street though. While we might be a little vulnerable at the linebacking spot for this season, imagine next year when we get all 3 back including Sean Lee. We can rotate them at will. Imagine the fresh legs at that spot.

Then there’s the defensive line. Last year the injuries sort of depleted our defensive line leaving very little room for error on defense. When you don’t have depth on the defensive line, you can’t pressure quarterbacks fast enough leaving your corners and safeties into vulnerable positions. And it is one of multiple reasons why our defense broke down in a few games, Ohio State and Michigan State for starters. But this year we have so many capable defensive linemen we are able to rotate them like a carousel. We already have Odrick, Koroma, Still, McEowen, Ogbu and less heralded Okoli. Imagine if we get Baker and Taylor back from suspension. Offensive coordinators shall tremble before our line.

Lastly we have secondary battles going on. Cornerback is our biggest concern with Justin King bolting prematurely for the NFL. There will be two prime candidates for this one. Tony Davis and Lydell Sargeant will fight for the second cornerback slot since Wallace is a lock for the first one. But both Davis and Sargeant are seniors with experience in our defense so the transition should not be too rough.

Who are the unknown kids on your team that will be household names come December?

I wonder if Green is even an ‘unknown’ kid anymore. With all the talk from spring practices, opposing defenses will be more worried about Green than they are about Royster.

But in all honesty, keep an eye out for Derek Moye. I know we have the super trio of Williams, Butler and Norwood, but the staff realizes we need to get some of our younger guys in the game seeing as all 3 are forced to graduate following this year. Rumors out of spring practices are that Moye could be the next big one for Penn State. Remember when Penn State last recruited Williams and Butler became our most productive receiver? Look for Moye to step up a little bit this year seeing as defensive will be more focused on our seasoned trio leaving the relatively unknown offensive players to slip through.

How would you describe the general mood around your program? Are you gearing up the tailgate party for a conference title run or do you get the impression there are going to be a lot of empty seats in your stadium this year?

Who do you think we are? Pittsburgh? Nittany Lion fans packed Beaver Stadium during the Zack Mills dark ages and there i no doubt we will continue to do so this year even if it turns out horrendously bad, which will not happen.

But Nittany nation is itching for the season to start. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who watched Green turn a simple pitch into a 57 yard sprint to the endzone. Then there’s Daryll Clark who conjures up memories of our last athletic quarterback, Michael Robinson and we all know how that season ended up. So spirits are high. The only hesitation I have with this season is our conference schedule. Not so much the dates we have to play specific teams, but the time we are slated to play them especially on the road in prime time.

Usually teams that are expected to make a national title run are slated for multiple night/prime time games in one season. Think USC, Ohio State, Florida, LSU. These are all teams that were expected to be national title contenders with potential Heisman candidates in their respective seasons and prime time television not only provides them further exposure, but makes for great television if they do indeed stumble along their path to glory.

So why exactly is Penn State playing 3 night 8pm prime time games in 4 consecutive weekends? The player who is even remotely close to a Heisman candidacy might be Derrick Williams and even then, he isn’t our most productive receiver on the squad. And lets not kid ourselves, we aren’t the juggernaut that can march into the Horseshoe and Camp Randell and roll over teams. We would struggle just to beat Northwestern if it was an away game.

So it’s basically clear the television networks smell blood in the form of Joe Paterno’s retirement and the sharks are circling. This might be his last visit to the Shoe and Camp Randell, even if he doesn’t retire following this year, he probably will in 2009. Unfortunately, this Penn State squad with a little glimmer of potential is thrust into the limelight because of Joe Paterno’s inevitable retirement which is a bit unfair, but nothing about college football is fair.

So no, there will not be any empty seats come 2008, but if Joe’s Lions manage to pull off the impossible running through the gauntlet of Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin unscathed, you can be sure there won’t be an empty seat in all of Happy Valley.