LaVar Arrington, the Penn State great and former NFL All-Pro linebacker, paid a visit to Lancaster County on Saturday as the guest at the Ephrata Lions Club\u2019s 46th annual Sports Card Show and Auction, and he didn\u2019t disappoint the hundreds of fans who came to the Ephrata recCenter to meet him.<\/p>\n
What did they want to know?<\/p>\n
Even 15 years on, many fans inquired what Arrington thought of the firing of longtime Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno in 2011 in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal involving former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very vocal with the entire situation,\u201d Arrington said. \u201cI don\u2019t think people realize just how people look at all Penn State players and coaches as \u2018guilty\u2019 as a result of what happened and that\u2019s the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arrington continued: \u201cJoe was there when the slogan \u2018We Are\u2019 began, and that has carried over today to everyone associated with Penn State whether good or bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arrington, a two-time All-America selection during his three seasons at Penn State (1997-99), wouldn\u2019t say if he believed Paterno knew what was happening during Sandusky\u2019s tenure, but is hurt by what happened and the fallout that is still happening to this day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is well known that (former) Coach (James) Franklin couldn\u2019t win the \u2018big\u2019 game,\u201d Arrington said. \u201cIt was all part of the death sentence Penn State had. The loss of scholarships, no bowl games, etc. It was difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three-time Pro Bowler, who was the second pick in the 2000 draft pick by Washington, credited Penn State\u2019s leadership for opting to move on from Franklin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a general is losing a war, do you allow him to continue?\u201d Arrington asked. \u201cRight or wrong, the leadership of Penn State had to step in and make a change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arrington \u2014 whose son, LaVar Arrington II, is now a sophomore defensive end with the Nittany Lions \u2014 made his mark in the NFL during a career marred by injuries.<\/p>\n
He finished with 417 tackles, 23.5 sacks and 38 pass deflections while scoring two defensive touchdowns in six seasons with Washington and one with the New York Giants.<\/p>\n
In December 2014, the Big Ten Network included Arrington on \u201cThe Mount Rushmore of Penn State Football,\u201d as chosen by online fan voting. Arrington was joined by John Cappelletti, Jack Ham and Shane Conlan.<\/p>\n
He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2022.<\/p>\n
Arrington\u2019s signature play at Penn State came during a 27-0 win over Illinois at Beaver Stadium in 1998. On a fourth-and-short play, Arrington anticipated the snap count and jumped over the offensive line to tackle the runner in the backfield. The play became known as the \u201cLaVar Leap.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI studied so much film,\u201d Arrington said of his game-preparation process. \u201cI pride myself in learning what a quarterback or running back might do. Sometimes by the way they moved their shoulder or nodded their head. I noticed a certain movement in (the Illinois quarterback\u2019s) head and shoulder, so leaped and stopped the running play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today Arrington is the host of several podcasts and is involved in working with the Penn State Alumni Association.<\/p>\n
And, he said, \u201cmost of all I\u2019m a husband and dad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.\n <\/p>\n
\n Error! There was an error processing your request.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LaVar Arrington, the Penn State great and former NFL All-Pro linebacker, paid a visit to Lancaster County on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,210940,593,85],"class_list":["post-571244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-local_sports","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}