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Distraction of the Day: Poor Rob Bolden

It seems like just yesterday Rob Bolden was making his first career start for Penn State in the 2010 season opener against Youngstown State. Now, he’s the reason for one of the most-played Vines of the college football season.

Bolden, a highly-touted recruit out of Orchard Lake, Michigan became the first true freshman quarterback to open the season as the starter under Joe Paterno. His career as a Nittany Lion was shaky at best, marred by poor accuracy and a propensity to throw costly interceptions. After suffering a concussion during his seventh career start against Minnesota, Bolden was replaced by Matt McGloin, who had the upper hand in the battle between the two for the rest of his college career (unless you count the 2012 TicketCity Bowl, which we’d all prefer to have scrubbed clean from our memories).

The Scranton Slinger went on to set four passing records, including the high water mark for passing touchdowns in a career at Penn State, before moving on to the NFL. Bolden, meanwhile, slipped to third on the depth chart and transferred to LSU following the NCAA sanctions that allowed players to leave without penalty. He never saw the playing field during his two years with the team, and he even switched positions to wide receiver in the spring of 2014.

That brings us to today. Bolden is currently the starter at Eastern Michigan, a school to which he transferred this past year in order to finish out his college career closer to home.

The former Nittany Lion took his first reps as the Eagles’ starting signal caller this past weekend in a 73-14 trouncing at the hands of Michigan State. He completed 10 of 29 passes for 115 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and one really, really big bruise after being slammed to the ground by Spartans’ defensive end Shilique Calhoun.

Ouch.

Here’s hoping Bolden enjoys a satisfying end to what has been an interesting and certainly unconventional college career. We wish him all the best, and we hope he returns to Happy Valley to enjoy Wings Over one last time.

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About the Author

CJ Doon

CJ is a senior journalism major from Long Island and Onward State's Sports Editor. He is a third-generation Penn Stater, and his grandfather wrestled for the university back in the 1930s under coach Charlie “Doc” Speidel. Besides writing, one of his favorite activities is making sea puns. You can follow him on Twitter @CJDoon, and send your best puns to [email protected], just for the halibut.

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