LaVar Arrington has been perhaps the most visible former Penn State player throughout the Jerry Sandusky crisis -- other than Matt Millen, who should mercifully be granted a little less visibility. He’s spoken with our own Bomani Jones about Joe Paterno’s death, remembered the small role he played in the life of a victim, led part of a candlelight vigil in memory of child abuse, and lashed out at the hire of outsider Bill O’Brien to replace Paterno.
Penn State’s LaVar Arrington On Joe Paterno, Fallen Hero
Now, after the Freeh Report, he’s opening up about having a piece of his world taken out from under his feet (via Dr. Saturday):
“I’ve been a supporter and have held out hope some type of information will surface that would shed light on the fact that Joe was the person that I hoped that he was and thought he was when I committed at Penn State and played at Penn State and left Penn State,” Arrington said [...]
“To confirm that people that I have admired and been around and thought so highly of education-wise - the level of education that Graham Spanier brought to the university and the distinguished way about him, the way coach Paterno was, the way I felt about Jerry and how I took pride in trying to take the mantle and hold down the fort and maintaining the tradition of ‘Linebacker U’... To have something like this come about, there’s no way to really kind of put it in words as to what it... You know, the empty feeling that this has created. There’s no way.”
A Butkus, Bednarik, and Lambert award winner and two-time All-American, Arrington is one of the best players in Penn State history and one of the strongest torch-bearers of the program’s linebacker lineage.
For more on Nittany Lions football, visit Penn State blog Black Shoe Diaries, plus Big Ten blog Off Tackle Empire, SB Nation Pittsburgh and SB Nation Philly.
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