One of Colorado's top football recruits announced that he no longer intends to play for Penn State.
Joey O'Connor, a 6-foot-4, 295-pound offensive lineman who attends
Windsor, decided to reconsider his college options because of the recent scandal at the university.
Joey O'Connor
Photo by Tom Lemming
"We're taking it day by day. I decommitted just to relieve all this pressure off my family, my teammates, my coaches and myself," O'Connor told
Windsor Now.
O'Connor said he notified the Penn State coaching staff of his decision, and that he will wait until after the high school season to renew his college recruitment. His team is seeded fifth in the Class 3A state playoffs, and will open postseason play on Saturday.
MaxPreps recruiting expert Tom Lemming has O'Connor rated as one of the top offensive tackles in the country. According to Windsor Now, he had pared his final college choices to Penn State, Utah, UCLA and Tennessee. He said he already has been receiving calls from schools.
"Now, everything's at the same playing field and it's a zero-zero game right now," O'Connor told the newspaper.
While the scandal affected his college choice, O'Connor was most concerned for the victims of the child sex-abuse scandal. He also expressed concern for former Penn State coach Joe Paterno.
"It's a tragedy. My heart goes out to those families and those victims, and it's a shame that they have to go through this," O'Connor told the newspaper. "My thoughts and my prayers are with them."
As for Paterno: "When I was sitting at Coach Paterno's kitchen table it was genuine, and I knew that he was a genuine person. I still believe that. This doesn't take away from everything else that he has accomplished. It's a tragedy, and it breaks my heart to see all this going down."
