M-Rob Named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, Hali Best Defensive Linemen, Paterno is Coach of the Year

http://bwi.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=482724

After several Nittany Lions were shafted last season, not making the All-Big Ten team, Penn State made up for it this year in a big way. 13 Nittany Lions were named 1st team, 2nd team and honorable mentions to the All-Big Ten team. Tamba Hali, Paul Posluszny and Alan Zemaitis were consensus 1st team selections. In addition, Michael Robinson was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year by the coaches (Northwestern QB Brett Basaenez was named player of the year by the media), Tamba Hali was the unanimous selection as the Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year and Joe Paterno received the Dave McClain Coach of the Year award.

This is just more proof of how far Penn State has come since last season. In 2004, the Nittany Lions had only three 2nd team selections by the coaches and media (Hali, Posluszny and Zemaitis) and two honorable mentions (Andrew Guman (coaches and media) and Jeremy Kapinos (media) ). Going from 5 to 13 is a sizeable jump. Hopefully Penn State will be able to reel in some national awards in a couple of weeks as well.