Giger: Duck, Shaka and the reshaping of Beaver Stadium

ALTOONA, Pa. -- There's a well-known concept in media/public relations called the Friday news dump, where an entity or organization releases bad news on a Friday -- usually late in the afternoon -- kinda sorta hoping that not as many people will notice since they're preparing for the weekend.

Well, this particular Friday saw not one, but two bits of huge news involving the Penn State football program.

That's where we'll start this week's edition of the Friday top (and bottom) five.

1. Storm Duck has entered the transfer portal and will leave Penn State before ever playing a game.

Noooooooooo!

Listen, I don't care as much about this guy leaving the program as much as I do that I won't get to have numerous cheesy and ridiculous Storm Duck mentions all season.

That's a real bummer.

You know what else is a real bummer? The damn transfer portal itself! We will never, ever, ever be able to view college athletics or root for individual players the same way we always have because we all have to know that, at any point, ANY player could decide to up and leave your favorite program.

OK, so back to Storm Duck.

The cornerback transferred to Penn State in late January from North Carolina, where he was a second-team all-ACC player. The fun headline we had on that day was "You quack me up: Lions add one of all-time great names from transfer portal."

But things weren't as fun as everyone thought in Happy Valley for Duck, and news broke Friday from On3 that he will enter the transfer portal.

The reason? It almost certainly comes down to competition, and Duck being unable to win a starting job with the Nittany Lions during spring ball.

Penn State already had Kalen King at cornerback, a potential All-American and first-round NFL draft pick next year.

The other corner spot was up for grabs between Duck and Johnny Dixon, who transferred to Penn State two years ago from South Carolina. Dixon played in all 13 games and started six last season, and while he didn't emerge as a standout player, he was always solid as part of an outstanding secondary.

Many people felt Duck would come in and become the starter over Dixon, but that apparently didn't happen. Dixon played well this spring, and while we had heard Duck did, as well, it apparently wasn't good enough to beat out the guy who's already been there.

There was, of course, this bad play by Duck in the Blue-White Game that led to Omari Evans scoring the lone touchdown of the scrimmage. That's Duck at the bottom of the screen falling down, allowing Evans to run wide open.

Penn State is losing a good player in Duck, no doubt about it.

But the bottom line here is that the Lions still are in very good hands at cornerback with King and Dixon. And if Duck didn't want to stay and continue to compete for the job, well, that's on him.

The portal allows for players to just up and leave whenever they want, and many just cannot handle the competition and seek an easier path. In all fairness, though, to Duck, he only has one season of college football left and needs to be on the field as much as possible to showcase himself for the NFL.

If he wasn't going to get that opportunity at Penn State, then sure, he's got to do what's best for his career and find somewhere that he will play right away. But at this stage of the game -- in April, after spring ball -- he may not be assured of a starting job anywhere, because wherever he goes he will have to step in and compete with players who are already there.

Good luck, Storm Duck. We barely got to know ya at all.

2. Former Penn Stater Shaka Toney suspended for the 2023 season for betting on NFL games

This one is just sad. And stupid beyond belief.

Toney, a defensive end, was selected in the seventh round of the 2021 draft tby the Commanders. He appeared in 26 games ove the past two seasons, making one start, and had 16 tackles with 1 1/2 sacks and two tackles for loss.

He may have just thrown away his NFL career by betting on football games. He was on a four-year contract worth $3.6 million.

Such a shame.

3. $700 million to renovate Beaver Stadium? Yikes!

A report this week detailed how Penn State plans to handle renovations for the stadium, and the numbers are staggering, as I've always expected.

This if from the excellent reporting done by Nate Bauer of On3:

"According to multiple sources familiar with the expansive project, the initial phase of the proposal will be presented to Penn State’s Board of Trustees at its May 4-5 meetings for a renovation with total costs estimated to run as high as $700 million. 

"The project will primarily focus on the west side of the stadium, including a complete demolition of the current stands and the press box. In its place, the proposal is for a rebuild with new stands, including expanded chair back seating on its lower level, as well as luxury amenities, suites, and loge boxes. Additionally, space for press seating and media amenities will be included."

There will be other major parts of the stadium to undergo renovations, as well, and as of now there's no timetable for when all of this could begin or end. For all we know, it still may take years for everything to get planned out. And it's highly unlikely that a project of that magnitude could be completed during one offseason, so there could be a season where Penn State plays in front of half capacity at the stadium.

Here's the part where things get very interesting, again from Bauer's story:

"Other estimates through the course of the planning process landed at more than $1.2 billion for a whole stadium renovation and $1.5 billion to build new on a site adjacent to Beaver Stadium’s current location. Both options were rejected as financially unviable."

OK, so let me get this straight: Penn State perhaps could have a brand new stadium entirely for $1.5 billion, and yet decided to renovate the current stadium for close to half of that?

Does that seem strange to anybody else?

Don't get me wrong, Beaver Stadium is a treasured landmark for Penn State fans, and the university loves bragging about 107,000 seats and having the fourth-largest stadium in the world.

But for a price tag of $700 million, it certainly begs the question once again of whether a total rebuild would have been the better decision.

If you have a car worth $20,000 and you have to spend $10,000 to fix it, wouldn't most people just buy a new car?

If you have a house worth $400,000 and you have to spend $200,000 to fix it, wouldn't most people just buy a new house?

I guess I could understand it better if the cost of a new stadium was more than $2 billion, which would make sense given the extreme increase in new construction costs in recent years. But at a rate of $700 million compared to $1.5 billion for something new, that just seems ... odd.

I'm certain the finished product will look great when all is said and done. And hey, we in the media are going to get a new press box, which we will LOVE.

But if all of this is done for $700 million and then the university has to come back within 20-25 years or so to repair other outdated parts of the stadium for another gigantic sum of money, then you'll really have to wonder if the best decision was made.

4. Love me some Allen Robinson!

The former Penn State wide receiver could turn out to be a great addition for the Steelers, who traded for him this week and didn't have to give up much in return.

I'll save all the current Robinson analysis for our Steelers reporters.

But I can tell you no Penn State fan will ever forget Robinson, or this catch:

Goodness, what a phenomenal catch, as Robinson high-pointed the ball, timed his jump perfectly and came down with a grab at the 1-yard line in the 2013 win over Michigan at Beaver Stadium.

That was a great throw by Christian Hackenberg, too. No doubt about it. But it has long been felt by me and many others who follow Penn State football that Robinson made Hackenberg look better than he ever truly was because the receiver was just so awesome, could always get open and would catch everything.

A-Rob caught only three passes in 2011, and nobody had ANY idea going into 2012 that he would emerge as such a fantastic receiver. He came out of nowhere to catch 77 passes for 1,018 yards and 11 TDs for the 2012 team, with Matt McGloin throwing the ball and Bill O'Brien calling the shots.

Robinson then had a monster year in 2013, catching a school-record 97 passes for 1,432 yards and six touchdowns, before declaring for the draft.

He'll be 30 years old by the time the NFL season starts, and he's had only 71 catches total the past two seasons. But here's hoping A-Rob lands in a good role with the Steelers and becomes a good target for Kenny Pickett.

5. Odds and ends

Some other key developments involving Penn State the past few days.

• If you're planning ahead for the season opener against West Virginia, we may have gotten some leaked info this week about the kickoff time. This is a photo linebacker Abdul Carter posted on Instagram, a countdown clock inside the football building that would indicate that kickoff will be 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 2.

• Offensive lineman Jimmy Christ entered the transfer portal but was not in there very long, as he announced Thursday that he'll be headed to Virginia. That's his home state.

• The basketball team picked up a good transfer from Temple in Zach Hicks, a 6-foot-7 forward who averaged 9.6 points and 5.1 rebounds last season for the Owls. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

• The wrestling team landed a huge transfer in three-time All-American Bernie Truax from Cal Poly. He finished fourth at 197 pounds in this year's NCAA championships.