There are other walk-ons on Penn State's football team.Monday, Sept. 23, 2002
By Dustin Dopirak
Collegian Staff WriterFor Penn State safety Paul Cronin and cornerback Rich Gardner, boatloads of scholarship offers did not come with high school graduation. However, both decided that being awarded with a scholarship at Div. I-AA or II wouldn't be as satisfying as taking a chance at proving themselves at a major program as walk-ons.
Both of them did so, and in the Penn State football team's past two games, each experienced virtually the same type of shining moment.
Gardner, a redshirt junior, had his last week against Nebraska when he picked off a pass from Cornhusker quarterback Jammal Lord and took it back 42 yards for a third-quarter touchdown and gave the Lions a 26-7 lead and put the Huskers on the ropes.
It was his first ever interception, and he did it in style.
This week, Cronin, a redshirt freshman, had the same opportunity.
In his first start as a Nittany Lion, he had to play a crucial part in defending the air-it-out Lousiana Tech offense, and he and the rest of the Lions secondary struggled early.
However, Cronin started to redeem himself in the second quarter when he pounced on Bulldogs wide receiver Ahmad Harris, stopping him for a loss of seven yards on a reverse. In the third came his moment of glory.
Cronin stepped in front of one of the slew of screen passes Louisiana Tech quarterback Luke McCown threw on the day and picked it off.
He had nothing but green in front of him for 34 yards, and ran the ball to pay dirt for his first career touchdown.
The score gave the Lions a 35-17 lead and swung whatever momentum the Lions didn't already have over to their side. The Bulldogs would never recover, getting just two first downs the rest of the game.
"It was one of those things," Cronin said. "The quarterback, I saw him look it right at it. I just broke when I thought he was going to pass it, he threw it right there, and I was in the right place at the right time."
Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was thrilled to see his young defensive back emerge.
"We liked Cronin in high school we just didn't have a grant for him," he said. "We had him in camp and liked Cronin. He is going to be a good player. If we had a grant we would have given it to him."
The rest of the Lions were also happy to see Cronin's moment in the sun, but none more so than Gardner, who unlike Cronin has since earned a scholarship.
"I congratulated Cronin a lot," Gardner said. "I told him to continue to work hard. It's going to be a hard road. He's still got a few more years left. I've been here along with him, so I know. I keep getting at him and let him know to stick with it. Things might not work out for him, but he's got to stick with it."
Gardner followed up his performance against Nebraska, which also included two pass deflections and five tackles, by coming up with a few more big plays against the Bulldogs.
Though he was playing with a cast on his hand to protect a dislocated thumb, he twice kept the Bulldogs out of the end zone on short passes near the goalline.
In the first quarter he tipped a third-down and goal pass meant for Bulldog wide receiver D.J. Curry who was standing in the end zone. Curry had to come out of the end zone to catch the tipped pass and was forced out of bounds at the one for no gain. This forced the Bulldogs to kick a field goal.
On the next drive, Gardner deflected a pass on third and goal from the two intended for wideout Tramissian Davis, forcing the Bulldogs to try another field goal, which kicker Josh Scobee missed.
"I think they picked on me a little bit," Gardner said. "But hey, I'm up to the challenge, if you come at me, I'm going to make sure you've got to work for it."