The Lions' Pride

On QB position:

"Steven Bench will be back for us and just a great kid, a bright kid, competitive guy, a lot of energy. A neat kid to be around. He'll be the first to tell you he's got a lot of work to do but looking forward to working with him. We brought in Tyler Ferguson ... really excited about working with him. We felt he was smart and productive and we had some great conversations with him. We have two run-on guys -- Austin Whipple, whose dad is a great friend of mine, and a young man named DJ Crook from Massachusetts."

redshirts:

"We can't wait to see what Akeel Lynch does. Brent Wilkerson really impressed us on the practice field. You're going from reading a card to having to learn the system. WE're looking forward to seeing how those guys adapt. Geno Lewis, Malik Golden at the receiver position. Offensive line, Wendy Laurent, defensively, Austin Johnson, think he's got a great future for us. Nyeem Wartman. DaQuan Davis, looking forward to how he improves. Jake Kiley, I could go right down the list. There's a lot of young talent in this program we think bodes well for the future."

On Belton:

"I'm going to try to figure out different ways to use these guys, Billy being one of them. Billy's ready to go I think as far as working at it this offseason."

On keeping staff intact and making their salaries more competitive:

"I think it's important for these guys to move up the ladder, and we've got some fantastic coaches on our staff that will have some chances to be coordinators or head coaches. You never wnat to hold those guys back. I think these guys are paid well. I think they can always be paid better. There's things we've talked about ways we can do that. WE'll do the best we can to try to make it attractive to coach here"

On whehter players had heard about his interviews from him.

"I trust my players and I believe that they trust me."

"It wasn't a decision to stay. No job was ever offered to me. I had a couple conversations and I decided I wanted to be the head coach at Penn State."

It was a leverage play. But he isn't going to publicly admit that. Just like nobody is going to admit its not about the money. If it wasn't about the money at all he would be working for free.

It was a lot more than just internet rumors if you were paying attention.

It's not about flipping out when the rumors fly. It's about expecting him to commit to any significant length of time. That could instantly turn him into a liar. If an amazing job opportunity opens up, is he going to turn it down because he said he was staying at PSU?

Why would he box himself in like that? He won't.

O'Brien just simply is not going to say anything definitive. People are just going to have to live with that.

Remember, it's actions that count more than words anyway. IMO, nearly every action BOB has taken shows he's committed to PSU for the long haul.

Would love for London and Butler to get a shot somewhere as a coordinator. Really want someone from the "Bill O'Brien" coaching tree to get a shot at the job when he goes and be the long term solution to the coaching situation. I think the world of BOB and the organization he has put in place.

Isn't it funny that we all want to hear him feed us a BS line like, I 100% will be here for XX amount of years. Because he is a stand up guy and won't make 100% statement that could be the truth but could be BS, we are upset.

Let's face it, if the Pats job opens he'd leave in a heartbeat. Part of me wonders if that is his thing. He can't say never as if Bill Billicheck (sp?) hangs it up the day after the SuperBowl, he is gone.

He could be speaking under the guise of it wasn't more leverage for him (but he used leverage to get more qualified people in other positions).

And I don't think it was about money for OB - it was for his assistants.

ESPN: 4 STAR RUNNING BACK LEAVES PSU AMIDST SANCTIONS

My fondest wish is that your scenario is it, and not the latter one of mine!