Paul Posluszny

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Paul Posluszny
Date of birth	October 10, 1984 (age 22)
Place of birth	Butler, Pennsylvania
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	238 lb (108 kg)
Position(s)	LB
College	Penn State
NFL Draft	2007 / Round TBD
Career Highlights
Awards	2006 Chuck Bednarik Award 2005 Dick Butkus Award 2005 Chuck Bednarik Award

Paul Posluszny (born October 10, 1984 in Butler, Pennsylvania), commonly known as "Poz", is an American football player currently attending Pennsylvania State University. In 2005, he was named the year's best defensive college football player and the best linebacker.

Contents 1 High School Career 2 Penn State Career 3 NFL Career 4 Personal Life 5 References 6 External link

[edit] High School Career

Posluszny was a star halfback and linebacker at Hopewell High School in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and went to play for coach Joe Paterno as part of a college football program with a proud history of producing star linebackers, as shown by the school's nickname as "Linebacker U".

[edit] Penn State Career

He debuted at Penn State in the fifth game of his 2003 freshman season, and in the last game of the season made his first career start. During the season he recorded 36 tackles, an interception (which he returned for a touchdown), and a recovered fumble, and he was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team by The Sporting News.

In 2004 he was named as a Second Team All-Big Ten player as well as earning academic All-Big Ten honors. Prior to that season he changed to jersey #31, in honor of former Penn State players who had worn the number including All-Americans Shane Conlan and Andre Collins. He started in all 11 games and led his team with 104 tackles, and his 9.5 tackles per game average put him in a tie for fifth in the Big Ten. He also recorded 12 tackles for loss and three sacks, helping Penn State reach the national top 10 in scoring and total defense. He also caught an interception, broke up three passes and forced a fumble on the season. He won the Big Ten Defensive Player-of-the-Week for his performance against Indiana, making 13 tackles and playing a key role in Penn State's goal-line stand to ensure the win.

In 2005 Posluszny became the first junior captain for Penn State since Mike Reid and Steve Smear in 1968. Posting 116 tackles on the season, including 14 for loss and 4 sacks, including a 21 tackle game against Northwestern [1]. He was named Big Ten Defensive Player-of-the-Week a record-breaking three consecutive times. He then joined LaVar Arrington as the second Penn State player to win both the Chuck Bednarik and Dick Butkus Awards as the College Defensive Player and Linebacker of the Year respectively, and was named as a member of the 2005 All-American Team. He helped lead the Penn State Nittany Lions to a win in the 2006 Orange Bowl against Florida State University but left the game in the 4th quarter after partially tearing two ligaments in his knee; the injury did not require surgery[2]. He subsequently announced that he planned to return to Penn State for his senior year of college, rather than declare himself eligible for the 2006 NFL Draft, a decision which, a year later, was considered "a boon," with Posluszny completing the 2006 season with 116 tackles and a school-high career total 372 tackles.^[1]

In 2006, he continued captaincy, along with Levi Brown. Jack Ham, former All-American Linebacker at Penn State, said that Posluszny is the greatest linebacker to ever play at Penn State [3]. On November 4, 2006, he broke Greg Buttle's school record for tackles. Posluszny now has 372 career tackles, with 116 of them coming this season. 9.5 of those tackles were for a loss. He also has 3 sacks and 2 forced fumbles[4]. Posluszny won the 2006 Chuck Bednarik Award to become only the second person (after Pat Fitzgerald) to win the award two times. Posluszny was also named a member of the 2006 All-American Team, the first Penn State linebacker to be a two-time AP All-American.

Posluszny graduated a semester early in December of 2006 with a major in finance and a 3.57 GPA. He is a two-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American and is this years Academic All-American of the year. He is also a finalist for the Draddy Trophy, which is presented to the nations' top student-athlete.[5]

[edit] NFL Career

A future in the NFL awaits him, although he still has aspirations of joining the Navy[6].

[edit] Personal Life

He has a younger brother David, who is currently a Junior in high school. His girlfriend is Ms. Elizabeth Johnson, also a Penn State graduate, who teaches French at Bishop Carroll High School in Ebensburg, PA. He plans to play football in college at either the University of Pittsburgh or at Penn State[7].

Preceded by Derrick Johnson	Butkus Award Winner 2005	Succeeded by Patrick Willis
Preceded by David Pollack	Bednarik Award Winner 2005 & 2006	Succeeded by Incumbent

[edit] References

[edit] External link

• Penn State football profile
• "Paul Posluszny: PSU's best ever?", York Daily Record, December 27, 2006