Replacing Jeremy Boone was never going to be easy. The guy is almost assuredly going to be one of just a small handful of punters drafted next month into the NFL, and, save for a couple hiccups last season when he had two punts blocked for the first time in his career, including a backbreaking punt-and-touchdown-return in the Iowa game against Adrian Clayborn, Boone was as steady as they come.  Get this: Boone punted for three seasons for the Lions. As a sophomore and junior, he averaged the same exact yardage, 43.0 yards per punt. As a senior? 43.3 yards. It doesn’t get more consistent than that.

Moving forward to 2010, it seemed that Ryan Breen was the heir apparent to take over the punting duties not only from Jeremy Boone but to inherit the phenomenal bloodline of a tradition that stretches back to Ray Guy Award finalist Jeremy Kapinos, David Royer, and even Pat Pidgeon.  Unlike his predecessor, Boone, Breen was a highly recruited punter who came to Penn State on scholarship.  At a listed 6’2, 237, Breen offered a big leg, which he used twice on kickoffs in 2008 against Coastal Carolina in 2008 and once on a punt, a 43-yarder a season ago.  With junior eligibility for the 2010 season, it would seem that Breen would have two years to start at punter for Penn State, and hopefully make the NFL, like the two Jeremies before him.

But this wouldn’t be the off-season for Penn State if something wasn’t going wrong. So far, there haven’t been any fights or drug arrests, but for reasons that nobody really knows, and in a move nobody saw coming, Ryan Breen appears to have left the team, of his own volition.  The Times-Tribune cites FightOnState premium material, and Mike at Linebacker-U.com quotes that report:

Program observers say Breen, who is on scholarship, has left the program and the university within the past two weeks. He had been on campus for the start of the spring semester.

It is not clear if he will return.

With a breaking news story so far out of left field as this one, the rumor mill has been in full effect. I’ve heard that Breen left the team because of extenuating circumstances somehow relating to THON, or that he packed his bags and headed south for the winter.  Of course, the above report doesn’t make it clear that Breen won’t be back next year, so who really knows what’s going on, other than Breen? Nobody.

With the punting job now up in the air for Penn State, the Blue/White Game will gain another layer of intrigue.  Collin Wagner will probably retain his placekicking duties, but Anthony Fera might be able to see the field yet, though in a different capacity than expected.  Back in high school, Fera handled double duty, and averaged 44.1 yards on 36 punts, and I’m sure he’d jump at the opportunity to see the field as soon as possible. The other possibility is State High alum, walk-on Russell Tye, who recently joined the program after a short stint at Temple, where he rode the bench.  I don’t know anything about Tye, but the reports that mention how he’s joined the team recently lead me to believe that the coaching staff saw Breen’s departure coming. That, or they should start buying lottery tickets.

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