Last season, Penn State had a season for the ages. With an 11-1 record, the Nittany Lions showed they were among the Big Ten’s elite, earning a co-title with Ohio State. Because of its 13-6 win over the Buckeyes, Penn State received the conference’s automatic BCS bid and got the chance to play USC in the Rose Bowl.
As with anyone associated with the Penn State program, linebacker Sean Lee was ecstatic about what his team had accomplished. Unfortunately for him, all he could do was watch it unfold from the sidelines.
During a noncontact drill in April 2008, the Pittsburgh native tore his right ACL. The injury kept him out the entire season and prevented him from ending his Nittany Lion career on the highest of notes.
“Last year was tough for me because I always dreamed of playing in the Rose Bowl,” Lee said in Chicago on July 28. “But at the same time, I had an opportunity that the coaches gave me to come along, travel with the team, help with some of the younger linebackers, and that helped me really cope with my injury.”
Three games into the 2009 season, it’s quite clear the fifth-year senior, who got a medical redshirt after suffering his knee injury, is on a mission.
Lee leads the Nittany Lions in tackles with 32. Last week, he collected 12 tackles in a 31-6 victory over Temple. As a result, he was named the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 20.
“He’s our enforcer,” Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark said in Chicago on July 28. “He’ll go through a brick wall for you.
“We know what type of piece he is to our puzzle to be a successful defense.”
In 2005, Lee decided to play for the legendary Joe Paterno. He was awfully close, however, from signing a national letter of intent to play for another Big Ten coach, one who had attended Upper St. Clair High School, as did Lee.
“We got on him early and only because I still know a lot of people at the school,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said on Tuesday about his failed attempt at landing Lee. “Everybody just said this is a great kid. It sounded like the [Chad] Greenway story to me.
“We were doing great until Penn State threw its line in the water.”
On the gridiron, Lee has the attention of opposing offenses. He also has gained admiration from his linebacking counterparts across the Big Ten. Among those with the utmost respect for Lee is Iowa senior linebacker Pat Angerer. As the Bettendorf native was emerging in the heart and soul of the Hawkeye defense, he watched Lee on film. Angerer studied the way Lee played the game before getting hurt last year.
“He’s just an unbelievable player,” Angerer said on Sept. 19. “He doesn’t make mistakes. He’s a guy you want to be friends with, because he’s such a great person and a great athlete.”
As the Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions prepare to face one another on Saturday night, there are concerns around Pennsylvania that a knee sprain suffered against Temple last week could sideline Lee for this game. As of Monday, Penn State had him listed as “day-to-day.”
His head coach knows that if Lee has any shot of being on the field Saturday evening, he will be.
“He’s a tough kid, and he wants to play badly,” Paterno said on Tuesday during the Big Ten football teleconference. “He’s not only a heck of a football player, he’s a heck of a leader.”
