"Somebody pointed out to me that Paul and I will be the first linebackers from Penn State to get drafted since Brandon Short and LaVar Arrington [in 2000]. That's way too long."
But if having the imprimatur of "Penn State linebacker'' is generally seen as a plus on draft day, the same can't be said of former running backs for the Nittany Lions.
Tony Hunt, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards his last two seasons in Happy Valley, including 1,386 in 2006, like Shaw is appearing in a lot of mock drafts as a possible third-rounder. But he is aware that the recent history of Penn State running backs in the NFL has not been as rewarding as it has been for linebackers - not that he believes the past, for better or worse, necessarily portends the future.
"I give a team a complete back, somebody you can put in any situation,'' said the 6-2, 230-pound Hunt, whose slipping NFL stock can be traced to a middling performance at the league's combine in Indianapolis, where he reportedly showed up slightly overweight.
As for suggestions he isn't fast enough or a capable enough receiver to produce at the "next level'' as he did at Penn State, Hunt downplays the significance of drills used to measure a player's NFL potential.
"I think it's a little overrated,'' he said. "I don't know how much you can tell about a guy from watching him run a 40-yard dash. There's no point in a football game where you're going to come out of a start and run 40 yards straight.
"Some guys are just drill specialists. I've seen guys coming out of high school who look like All-Americas in drills, but they can't play football. I think just watching somebody's football film is the best way to evaluate them. You're drafting a football player, not a 40-yard dash runner.''
Galen Hall, who is in charge of the Penn State offense as well as coaching the running back, agrees that too much emphasis sometimes is placed on stopwatches and bench-presses.
