Sean Lee

At Penn State, there's an order of things. It usually goes: senior, junior, sophomore and freshman. At linebacker, more than at any other position, the sequence is followed like the ranks in the military. But there are exceptions at Linebacker U., and Sean Lee is making a strong case that he can be one of them. A 6-foot-2, 232-pound junior outside linebacker, Lee is to senior middle linebacker Dan Connor what Connor was to Paul Posluszny. For three seasons, Connor was Posluszny's understudy.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno said last night that senior linebacker Sean Lee was "very doubtful" for tomorrow night's game against Iowa at Beaver Stadium because of a sprained left knee. Speaking on his weekly radio show, Paterno did not elaborate about Lee. At the outside linebacker position opposite Lee, the coach said Navorro Bowman would be back in the starting lineup. Bowman, a junior, has been nursing a groin injury since preseason and participated only in a handful of plays in the season opener.

Memo to Penn State opponents: Sean Lee is looking like an all-American again. That is not good for Temple, which faces the Nittany Lions on Saturday at Beaver Stadium. The fifth-year senior outside linebacker missed last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The presence of the 6-foot-2, 236-pounder gives the Nittany Lions (2-0) a decided advantage. The play of the 2007 Pro Football Weekly all-American has helped them climb in the rankings: The Nittany Lions are fifth in the Associated Press (tied with Mississippi)

Joe Paterno likely faces a bigger challenge this week than getting Penn State prepared to resume Big Ten competition, against Minnesota. The challenge: trying to rein in Sean Lee as the star linebacker of the 14th-ranked Nittany Lions tries to prove to the coach and team doctors that he can play Saturday. Lee, the Lions' senior and defensive captain, tested his sprained left knee Monday during practice and said he "felt great. " He would be allowed to do a little more at yesterday's practice, Paterno said, and might be allowed light hitting today.

Penn State had spent the previous five years pretty much in the college football doldrums when an incoming class of 19 scholarship freshmen including Sean Lee, a promising linebacker from the Pittsburgh area, made the trek to Happy Valley for preseason camp in the summer of 2005. The Nittany Lions compiled a 26-33 record from 2000 through 2004, posting only one winning season and playing in one bowl. The job security of legendary coach Joe Paterno was growing more and more unsteady.

If Sean Lee needs extra motivation in his return from a knee injury, all the Penn State linebacker has to do is head back to his hometown of Pittsburgh and emulate his little sister. Allie Lee suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee last fall while playing soccer. Sean Lee suffered the same injury to his right knee on Friday during a spring practice, ending his senior season before it even started. The good news is that Lee plans to redshirt and return for the 2009 season.

Come Sept. 5, Penn State fans at Beaver Stadium may have to excuse Sean Lee. The Nittany Lions' fifth-year senior linebacker may get emotional before the season opener with Akron. "Whenever I look at the [college football] magazines or anything college football, I start thinking about the season," Lee said yesterday at the Penn State Football Fantasy Camp. "I get hyped up, worked up, pumped up. My adrenaline starts pumping. " Lee gets so jazzed that the 6-foot-2, 236-pound Pittsburgh native shies away from watching ESPN's College Football Live.

Daryll Clark says it is his responsibility to put the bitter memories of Penn State's last-second 2008 loss to Iowa behind him. But those images, especially the interception he threw that led to the Hawkeyes' game-winning field goal - which knocked the Nittany Lions from the roster of unbeaten teams - still cling to his psyche like moss to a rock. Maybe the senior quarterback for the fifth-ranked Lions is using them as motivation for Saturday night's game at Beaver Stadium.

Kirk Ferentz shook the hands of the two eager football players and made them feel special. He chatted with the brothers for several minutes, asking them about their team, their school, their family. But this was no shallow recruiting enticement. Ferentz was the offensive line coach of the Cleveland Browns, taking a break from training camp. Conor and Sean Lee were in sixth and fourth grade. He was from suburban Pittsburgh, Upper St. Clair; they were, too. A bond developed.

As far as unsightly trophies go, the Land Grant Trophy may be the most insignificant. Given annually to the winner of the Penn State-Michigan State game, the Land Grant is so low on the register that even Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno didn't try to pump it up. In fact, he didn't even mention the 15-year-old award during his weekly teleconference. That doesn't mean the game is held in the same regard. Though it may not have lived up to one purpose of the Land Grant - to create a Big Ten Conference rival for the Lions - the yearly end to the regular season has had its moments.

Kirk Ferentz shook the hands of the two eager football players and made them feel special. He chatted with the brothers for several minutes, asking them about their team, their school, their family. But this was no shallow recruiting enticement. Ferentz was the offensive line coach of the Cleveland Browns, taking a break from training camp. Conor and Sean Lee were in sixth and fourth grade. He was from suburban Pittsburgh, Upper St. Clair; they were, too. A bond developed.

Penn State had spent the previous five years pretty much in the college football doldrums when an incoming class of 19 scholarship freshmen including Sean Lee, a promising linebacker from the Pittsburgh area, made the trek to Happy Valley for preseason camp in the summer of 2005. The Nittany Lions compiled a 26-33 record from 2000 through 2004, posting only one winning season and playing in one bowl. The job security of legendary coach Joe Paterno was growing more and more unsteady.

On the rare October day when Mount Nittany looked like one of those snow-capped peaks in the Rockies, the Penn State defense made it tough sledding for Minnesota's potent offense. Led by linebacker Sean Lee in his return and the inspired play of cornerback A.J. Wallace, the 14th-ranked Nittany Lions allowed yardage with extreme reluctance yesterday and pitched a 20-0 shutout over the Golden Gophers at chilly, misty Beaver Stadium. Snow dotted the stands, the game-time temperature was 37 degrees, and intermittent light rain fell during the game.

Joe Paterno likely faces a bigger challenge this week than getting Penn State prepared to resume Big Ten competition, against Minnesota. The challenge: trying to rein in Sean Lee as the star linebacker of the 14th-ranked Nittany Lions tries to prove to the coach and team doctors that he can play Saturday. Lee, the Lions' senior and defensive captain, tested his sprained left knee Monday during practice and said he "felt great. " He would be allowed to do a little more at yesterday's practice, Paterno said, and might be allowed light hitting today.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno said last night that senior linebacker Sean Lee was "very doubtful" for tomorrow night's game against Iowa at Beaver Stadium because of a sprained left knee. Speaking on his weekly radio show, Paterno did not elaborate about Lee. At the outside linebacker position opposite Lee, the coach said Navorro Bowman would be back in the starting lineup. Bowman, a junior, has been nursing a groin injury since preseason and participated only in a handful of plays in the season opener.

Daryll Clark says it is his responsibility to put the bitter memories of Penn State's last-second 2008 loss to Iowa behind him. But those images, especially the interception he threw that led to the Hawkeyes' game-winning field goal - which knocked the Nittany Lions from the roster of unbeaten teams - still cling to his psyche like moss to a rock. Maybe the senior quarterback for the fifth-ranked Lions is using them as motivation for Saturday night's game at Beaver Stadium.

Memo to Penn State opponents: Sean Lee is looking like an all-American again. That is not good for Temple, which faces the Nittany Lions on Saturday at Beaver Stadium. The fifth-year senior outside linebacker missed last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The presence of the 6-foot-2, 236-pounder gives the Nittany Lions (2-0) a decided advantage. The play of the 2007 Pro Football Weekly all-American has helped them climb in the rankings: The Nittany Lions are fifth in the Associated Press (tied with Mississippi)

It might have been the worst-ever afternoon of college football at Beaver Stadium, a 6-4 loss to Iowa on Penn State's 2004 homecoming weekend, a game that redefined offensive ineptitude. But to Sean Lee, then a senior at Upper St. Clair High near Pittsburgh and a defensive guy, the game was like a picturesque autumn scene or a beautiful painting. He wanted to be a part of a defense that could play that way. His dilemma: Which defense? "I was between the two," Lee said Tuesday at the final session of Big Ten football media days.

Come Sept. 5, Penn State fans at Beaver Stadium may have to excuse Sean Lee. The Nittany Lions' fifth-year senior linebacker may get emotional before the season opener with Akron. "Whenever I look at the [college football] magazines or anything college football, I start thinking about the season," Lee said yesterday at the Penn State Football Fantasy Camp. "I get hyped up, worked up, pumped up. My adrenaline starts pumping. " Lee gets so jazzed that the 6-foot-2, 236-pound Pittsburgh native shies away from watching ESPN's College Football Live.

At Penn State, comparing linebackers is as popular a pastime as the game that gave the university its gridiron nickname - "Linebacker U. " Asked to name a forerunner to senior Sean Lee, defensive coordinator Tom Bradley recently singled out former all-American Shane Conlan. Many great linebackers have blazed through Happy Valley, so finding a suitable comparison is never a challenge. But Bradley chose one of the greatest. He did, after all, recruit both Lee and Conlan - decades apart.