As many have written in the last five days, the 2013 Penn State football season was a bit of a roller coaster with constant ups and downs. For that very reason, it's hard to really interpret what happened in each game without taking a look back as the team's identity seemed to morph from one week to the next. With that in mind, here's the 2013 Penn State football season in review.
Quarterback Tyler Ferguson, who transferred to Penn State from junior college this past offseason, has elected to leave the Nittany Lions football program and was granted a release. Ferguson will transfer at the end of the semester, but his destination is not yet clear.
It was an up and down season that included low points such as the blowout road loss in Columbus and high points like upset victories over ranked opponents in Michigan and Wisconsin. In the end, the Nittany Lions finished 7-5 and posted another winning record under Bill O'Brien's leadership in the sanction era. Let's take a look back at the season and hand out five awards to some of the more outstanding players on the team in 2013.
Few Penn State football players, past and present, have received more media coverage than now-former offensive guard John Urschel. It's for good reason. The letterman also happens to be a math whiz and earned a perfect 4.0 GPA at Penn State while pursuing a mathematics degree and two master's degrees.
Since his first game in blue and white uniform, Christian Hackenberg has continued to improve and convince Penn State fans that the future is very bright for the football program. His record-breaking season came to a close Saturday against Wisconsin, but the accolades for the freshman quarterback are still rolling in. On Tuesday, Hackenberg was named the Thompson-Randel El Big Ten Freshmen of the Year for his stellar performance.
Penn State has confirmed that Charlie Fisher and Ron Vanderlinden have resigned from their coaching position to pursue other opportunities.