Adam Taliaferro became the third Penn State Trustee to speak out in support of the Paterno rebuttal to the Freeh report released last weekend, joining his colleagues Alvin Clemens and Ryan McCombie in their optimism towards the report.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review yesterday, Taliaferro says that the Paterno report should be “strongly considered” when looking at Penn State’s situation.

“I think the Paterno Report showed that this isn’t a clear-cut case as to what happened,” Taliaferro said to Scott Brown. “I think there are a lot of unanswered questions from the NCAA’s point of view. I think with this level of sanctions you really want there to be open-shut evidence, and I think it would be fair for [the NCAA] to read the report and then come to reasonable conclusions.”

Taliaferro thinks it’s only fair that Paterno’s side be heard since he never got a chance to tell his side publicly.

“I think it should be known that the board never accepted the conclusions of the Freeh Report, but those conclusions were put out there for the entire world to see,” Taliaferro said in the interview. “I think it’s only fair and appropriate, for me personally and everyone on the board, to see Paterno’s side of the story because he never got an opportunity to come in front of the board and tell his side of the story. That’s why this whole thing has been so hard for me, because the way Joe has been portrayed, that’s not the person I know.”

Taliaferro and Paterno had always remained close since his playing days in 2000, and this video is a testament to that relationship: