Older basketball roster ... FB recruit decommits ... Hockey's good start

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Micah Shrewsberry put his first Penn State roster together with two things in mind.

He wants to try and win now, taking advantage of the experience he has on the team, while also balancing things out to have a roster he can build with for the future.

"You have a group that has had success in the Big Ten," Shrewsberry said. "Let’s fill it with guys around them who can help them win."

Shrewsberry went out and got several older players from the transfer portal, to team up with returning veterans such as John Harrar, Seth Lundy, Myles Dread and Sam Sessoms.

"The transfer portal can help you in a lot of ways," Shrewsberry said. "It allows you to almost have a chance to put a GM hat on. Let's build for the future, but let's build for now, as well. Let's try to do both. Let's try to win."

Part of what the first-year coach also wanted to accomplish was to add balance throughout the roster, so that each class can contribute toward the future of the program.

Here are some of the key items from Shrewsberry's press conference:

* Transfer forward Jevonnie Scott is not practicing with the team right now as he's working through NCAA transfer issues. Scott is taking classes at Penn State, but Shrewsberry said there's still no timetable for when the 6-foot-7 junior forward will be able to play.

* Dread has been dealing with an injury, but the coach expects the senior guard to be ready to go for the season opener Nov. 10 against Youngstown State.

* Because of the Dread injury and Scott not being around, Penn State has had some issues with cohesiveness so far in practice.

"We haven’t been able to play with kind of putting five main guys together," Shrewsberry said.

"We’re getting there and there’s plenty of time to do it. I’m not panicked, I’m not rushed.

* "Our defense is way ahead of our offense," Shrewsberry said. "We're not quite where we need to be offensively."

* The Lions still have 12 practices remaining over the next 16 days before their opener.

"Nov. 10 is coming," Shrewsberry said. "We’re as excited as can be to have fans back. i can’t wait to see what the environment looks like here."

My take: Shrewsberry has an experienced team, with several returning veterans and some transfers who have a lot of experience. The Lions will be one of the oldest teams in the country because of all that experience. That was a good way for Shrewsberry to go about building this year's team to try and compete as much as possible. A lot of these guys have played a bunch of basketball, but some of the key guys haven't played in the Big Ten, so this will be a major step up in competition for them. I expect Penn State to compete most nights in the conference, but as always, finding ways to win games in the Big Ten will be very difficult.

3-STAR DEFENSIVE BACK
DECOMMITS FROM LIONS

Jordan Allen, a 3-star recruit from Lafayette Christian Academy in Louisiana, decommitted from Penn State this morning. He had committed to the Lions on July 17 and made an official visit Sept. 18 for the whiteout game against Auburn. He visited Ole Miss over the weekend. Here's a look at the schools interested in him.

My take: There will be some decommits between now and signing day, just as there always are as players start to get more interest from schools and make visits. Penn State now has the No. 3 recruiting class in the nation for 2022, with 25 commits. Georgia and Alabama are 1 and 2. When all is said and done and other schools catch up in total commits, Penn State probably will finish in the 5-7 range.

WALL HAT TRICK HELPS
HOCKEY MOVE TO 5-1

Kevin Wall became the 10th Penn State player to record a hat trick as the men's hockey team beat Niagara, 6-2, on Friday to improve to 5-1 in the early going. Tyler Paquette scored the first two goals of his career in the win. The Lions swept the two-game series against Niagara and next will play North Dakota on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn.

"As far as Wall goes, it's really nice to see him do a lot of really, really good, smart team things, especially in the third period," coach Guy Gadowsky said. "Winning battles and playing hard and it's nice to see guys who do team things get rewarded, which he did, and I thought Tyler Paquette did in more of a long term way as well. He’s been working extremely hard all offseason, and it was nice to see him get rewarded."

From Penn State's game notes: Wall’s first-career hat-trick marks the 10th in program history and the ninth all-time on home ice with the last eight of those nine coming at Pegula Ice Arena. It was the first hat-trick for Penn State since Liam Folkes’ lit the lamp three times at Merrimack on Nov. 29, 2019.

Check out some of the game highlights here:

WR CHRIS HOGAN
RETIRES FROM NFL

Chris Hogan has always held an interesting place in Penn State lore, because he played lacrosse for the Nittany Lions before going to a lengthy NFL career as a wide receiver. There's even been a long-running joke that goes: Did you know Chris Hogan played lacrosse at Penn State? The joke exists because that was mentioned seemingly on every broadcast after he made a catch for the New England Patriots, with whom he won two Super Bowls.

Hogan, who was with the Saints, has decided to call it a career as he retired from the NFL on Sunday. He played 10 seasons and caught 220 passes for 2,836 yards and 19 TDs in the regular season. He was always clutch in the postseason for the Patriots, catching 34 passes for 542 yards and four TDs.

My take: Did you know Chris Hogan played lacrosse at Penn State? Sorry, couldn't resist it one last time. Congratulations to Hogan for an impressive career that saw him make a nice impact with one of the greatest dynasties in sports history.