10 Questions is a recurring Onward State feature in which we ask people about their Penn State experience. Onward State was thrilled to have the opportunity to talk to renaissance man and Penn State football star, Gerald Cadogan.  The epitome of the Student-Athlete, Gerald is not only a quick study with great athleticism, but is also a talented singer and musician. Gerald is currently preparing for the NFL Draft, where scouts speculate he could be taken as early as the third round.

You have been nicknamed “The Mountain,” and we read that in high school your teammates on the swim team called you “Shamu.” Any other nicknames we should know about?
(Laughs) At my high school, they never referred to me as “Shamu.” [Ed. Note: Thanks a lot, York Daily Record] My friends just call me “G.”

What was your favorite class at Penn State?
My favorite class would have to be African American Religion with Prof. Coleman.

What one thing should every Penn State student do before they graduate?
If I would have to pick one thing, it would be going to the Creamery.

This past season was awesome, with the team winning the Big Ten. If you had to pick one game as your favorite, which would it be?
The Ohio State game, and coming in a close second would be the Michigan State game.

Speaking of Ohio State and Michigan State, there’s a lot of bad blood in the Big Ten – at least between the fans. Was there ever an opposing player that you couldn’t help but like? Who?
There’s an offensive lineman for Ohio State named Ben Person and coming out of high school we went to a lot of the same camps together. But other than that, I really didn’t like anybody playing for the other teams.

Your brother Nate is a member of this year’s recruiting class for Penn State – did you push him to come here?
Actually I wanted to be as neutral as possible and let him make his own decision. I mean, Penn State is a great university, both in academics and athletics, and there’s no other place like that. He spent a couple weeks of the summer up here staying with me and getting a feel for things, and it became his number one choice. I’m glad he chose Penn State. Ideally, I wanted him to come here – but I wanted to remain neutral because he’d be here by himself and go through everything by himself, so I wanted him to make the choice.

Is it true that when you were asked to sing the National Anthem for Barack Obama’s rally last March, they called at 2 AM the night before?
Yeah, it was 2 o’clock. Coach Jay Paterno was the one that mentioned my name as someone who could possibly sing [the National Anthem], and I guess the committee at the time thought that someone else called me already. So it wasn’t until around two in the morning that they called and officially asked.

Let’s talk about NFL prospects. It’s been speculated that you could be moved inside to Guard, where you played for 11 games in 2006. Assuming you would get equal playing time, would you want to play at Tackle or Guard?
I personally like Tackle, but I’m versatile. If they move me to Guard, I can play Guard – I’m just looking to make a team and get in where I fit in basically. If I need to play Guard, I’ll definitely step up and play Guard. But I’m more comfortable at Tackle because I have more experience there.

What’s the most bizarre question you were asked during NFL Combine interviews?
I remember – it wasn’t actually at the Combine itself, but it was getting ready for the interview process with mock interviews – they mentioned something about the color of my undergarments. It wasn’t a coach or anything, it was just at the facility where I was training when we were doing mock interviews. They said it had been asked before. I was prepared for it, even though that question never came up.

Penn State’s Pro Day is this Wednesday – do you plan to do anything else while in town?
I’m planning to do the broad jump and vertical jump at Pro Day as well as the Offensive Line individual work.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Gerald!
Thank you.

[Photo Courtesy The Football Expert]