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)
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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