Poachers are going after Penn State football players

In declaring their allegiance to Penn State, the players said harsh NCAA sanctions – four-year bowl ban, $60 million fine, massive scholarship reductions -- would not cause them to flee.

“We're proud of who we are,” said fullback Michael Zordich. “We're the true Penn Staters.

“We don't see this as a punishment. This is an opportunity. This is the greatest opportunity a Penn Stater could ever be given.”

Said linebacker Michael Mauti, “This program was not built by one man and this program sure as hell is not going to get torn down by one man.”

Whether that one man was Joe Paterno or Jerry Sandusky doesn't seem to matter much anymore. Wednesday was a day of moving forward for Penn State, and here's how forward the Nittanys went.

On this day at least, Penn State didn't bare all the shame in college football. That dubious distinction was shared by the poachers who descended on State College, Pa., to recruit the free-agent Nittanys.

Part of the NCAA sanctions was not only the freedom, but the encouragement, for Penn State players to transfer without having to sit out a season. Any Nittany Lion transferring will not count against his new program's scholarship limit.

Which brought out the vultures.

Penn State coach Bill O'Brien told ESPN that his players were holed up in the football building, reluctant to even exit because rival coaches were waiting in the parking lot.

Penn State cornerback Stephon Morris tweeted: “We have chosen to stay at PSU & other opposing coaches are outside our apartment. Was that the intentions of the NCAA”?

ESPN also reported that when O'Brien and his colleagues were at the airport Wednesday morning to fly to Connecticut for ESPN interviews, they walked past six University of Illinois coaches who had just arrived.