14 The Daily Collegian Wednesday, Aug. 27, 1997 Familiar targets for McQueary Editor's Note: This is the second story in an eight-part series previewing Penn State's football team. This story pre views the wide receivers. By ANDREW KREBS Collegian Sports Writer The starting point has changed but the targets are expected to remain largely the - same. Gone is Penn State's starting quarterback for the last two sea sons, Wally Richardson, and his 378 career completions. In his place, Mike McQueary a fifth-year senior who spent most of the last two seasons on the side line with a clipboard in his hands. While McQueary, the starting point, never started a college foot ball game, he will be passing to a pair of wide receivers, the targets, who do have their share of big game experience. Senior split end Joe Jurevicius was the most prolific Penn State receiver last season with 41 recep tions for 869 yards and four touch downs. His 21.2 yards per catch average was also second-best among the nation's top 50 receivers. In a season filled With impres sive games, Jurevicius' most impressive came against Indiana on Oct. 26. With Penn State trailing by a touchdown, Nittany Lion coach Joe Paterno benched Richardson and replaced him with McQueary. On his first drive, McQueary and Jurevicius connect ed for a 57-yard touchdown pass. Jurevicius caught three more of McQueary's passes on the day for 41, 27 and 31 yards, and Penn State eventually won 48-26. The 6-foot-5, 226-pound Jurevi cius said he is very comfortable with McQueary as his quarterback. "I've been with Mike now for four years," Jurevicius said. "It's going on our fifth. Mike has the tal ent. I feel I have the talent, as well as other guys on the team having talent. If I can't get the job done, I'm sure Mike can go right to one of the other guys and use him as a weapon." One of the other weapons will be redshirt junior Joe Nastasi, anoth er receiver with big-game experi ence. Last season, the 5-foot-11, 189- pound Nastasi started eight games at flanker. He caught 21 passes for Top three returning receivers (in yardage gained) Same: Penn state Sports Infonnidion 115% off any used I or reconditioned I I vacuum in Store! STARTING AT I $24 9 5 I I Baxter's Vacuum & Sew Center I I 814.355-9239 j Dating... Engaged... Just Married? FIT TO BE TIED? This is Serious! How about some mentoring and practical help in developing your relationship into a lasting and loving one? Fit To Be Tied! is a relationship mentoring class being offered Sunday mornings at 9:30 am from Sept. 7-Nov. 30 First Baptist Church 539 Jacksonville Rd Bellefonte For more info., Call 355-5678 Joe Jurevicius outruns Northwestern defenders in last year's victory over the Wildcats. Seniors Jurevicius and Joe Nastasi lead an experienced corps of receivers to catch quarterback Mike McQueary's passes. 234 yards and two touchdowns. Nastasi's first touchdown recep tion of the season, and his career, came on Nov. 2 against No. 11 Northwestern. The stunning foot dragging catch in the corner of the end zone in the third quarter helped propel Penn State to a con vincing 34-9 win. A i dej IS. , (GF7LW&BAR, Mar garita mac/ I $4 , e\ Ma he IS. 01n.\vj s . 0:11313L - JFITED /5. °- t.ii , i c \(\ej C,f.../ 119' Frozen Margaritas serve, all day for one low price a "hilt (ORIEL I O - PB. BAR, Play NTN Tri)/1 With redshirt sophomore Corey Jones academically ineligible, Nas tasi will likely shoulder even more of the burden this season. One target that will change is the tight end. Keith Olsommer, who caught 16 passes for 163 yards in 1996 is gone, but his replacement may Joe Nastasi 234 yards Cuncho Brown 73 yards Jurevicius 869 yards Collegian Graphic/A. J. Sedlak 16' Molson Canadians featured all day c i IS y Wednesday (GRILLh rta AR) prove to be even more productive. Cuncho Brown, a 6-foot-4, 270- pound junior ended the 1996 season with a commanding three-catch, 32 yard performance in Penn State's Fiesta Bowl win against Texas. Brown will be supported at tight end by 6-foot -3, 265-pound redshirt junior Brad Scioli. As a defensive tackle, Scioli tore the anterior cru- ciate ligament in his left knee dur ing spring practice and missed the entire 1996 season. His football reincarnation in 1997 will likely be on the offensive side of the ball. "Coach (Joe) Paterno and I talked about my options, and we felt tight end was the best for me and the team," Scioli said. "It was either defensive end, tight end or defensive tackle and I really didn't want to play defensive tackle." Paterno, though, said Scioli could also see some time at his original defensive end position. The supporting cast in the receiving corps is deep on talent but shallow on experience. Six foot-one, 197-pound Chafie Fields, once a tailback, now a split end, is listed as No. 2 on the depth chart. He will likely compete with Tit cus Pettigrew for the backup split end position. Both could also see time at flanker. Pettigrew, a 6-foot 2, 208-pound sophomore, played in nine games as a freshman without a reception. In the Blue-White game, though, Pettigrew reeled in seven recep tions for 70 yards and a touchdown. "Both Fields and Pettigrew will make Nastasi and Jurevicius hus tle," Paterno said. "Somebody asked me why people think we're going to be pretty good. We have a lot of quality football players. A lot of them are young. A lot of them are eager, and they're going to make the older guys really hustle." Jurevicius looking to find a lid for his box By ANDREW KREBS Collegian Sports Writer Penn State wide receiver Joe Jurevicius spends his life in a box. Like an ant farm in the cor ner of a little Billy's bedroom, the box is under constant scrutiny. Everyone wants to know what's going on in there. The Jurevicius box stretches to the football field. Every Sat urday in the fall, thousands of people watch the senior from Chardon, Ohio, run and jump and catch the football. When he performs well, everyone applauds at what goes on in the box. Last season, they had a lot to applaud about. Jurevicius played in 11 games with 10 starts at split end. He broke his career-high for game receptions and yardage three times. He logged 869 receiving yards, sixth-best in Penn State history for a season. His 41 catches tied him for ninth-best in a Penn State sea- This year, Jurevicius said he's hoping for more. "I look to improve in every facet of the game, whether it be running, catching the ball, blocking, being a better team leader," Jurevicius said. "Those are the goals I have." If his box only stretched to the football field, life would be infinitely easier. Jurevicius, however, spends his entire life in a box, and the box stretches to the classroom, too. The receiver missed two starts last season. He didn't start against Wisconsin for tac tical reasons the Nittany Lions used two tight ends instead of two wide receivers on the opening offensive series of the game. Nonetheless, Jurevicius even tually made his way into the contest and scorched the Bad gers with five receptions for 135 yards. 1997 Clearance Sale This is the BIG one! 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Gorng on *note:l99B bikes, Oakley products and Labor not included NOW! THE BICYCLE SHOP ONLY ONE BLOCK PAST ATHERTON ST EKINKOS WES 7 COLLEGE AVE t TACO BELL a APPALACHIAN z OUTDOORS Two weeks later, against Pur due, Jurevicius missed his sec ond start of the season. This time, he was benched for acade mic reasons and never made it into the game. "Jurevicius cut classes and I told him after this summer that every time he cut class, the first time he was going to get suspended for one game, the next time it will be two games and the next time he will be out for the season," said Penn State coach Joe Paterno after the game against Purdue. "Joe's got to learn that he's here to get an education first." And that's the burning ques tion on the minds of everyone hovering over the Jurevicius box. Has he learned? "He's OK now," Paterno said at the football Media Day. "Joe can graduate in January and that should be his No. 1 goal. Obviously, we hope he can tie that in with having a great year on the football field. If he starts horsing around in the class room, he won't have the year he's capable of having and it will hurt our team." Few college students face this problem. They can miss classes with regularity and rel ative privacy. No one cares if Student X decides to skip that 8 a.m. Span ish class in exchange for some extra sleep. But this is not Student X. This is football player Joe Jure vicius, and he knows Big Broth er Paterno is watching. He knows the media is watch ing. He knows Penn State fans across the country are watch ing and judging him. Jurevicius knows he can't avoid it. "It's part of the water," he said. "The most important thing is I'm ready to play. Last year was last year. The past is behind me, and I have nothing but the future to worry about." If all goes well, maybe his box of the future will have a lid. SCI-IVVINIPI The Bicycle Shop 441 West College 238-9422 Mon-Sat 9:30 - 8 pm Sun 11-4
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