Centre Daily Times | 02/19/2005 | PSU relying on its freshmen:
“Penn State shooting guard Danny Morrissey is eloquent, candid, thoughtful. He has a clear grasp of the situation he and his Penn State teammates are in, probably has ever since he and the three other freshmen came to University Park this summer.
“‘Some of the kids were going crazy,’ Morrissey recalled. ‘They were away from home for the first time. It was like summer camp for a lot of these kids.’
“It isn’t unusual for a senior or even a junior to refer to freshmen as ‘kids’ — three years of college is a lifetime — but it sounds funny coming from another freshman. At least, it should.
“In many ways, though, Morrissey is a freshman by academic standing only. He has lived away from home for the past four years. He’ll be 21 by the time he starts his sophomore season, and he might have the oldest pair of knees on the team.
“‘He’s a mature, serious person,’ Penn State assistant coach Kurt Kanaskie said. ‘The fact that he was away from home for high school probably has something to do with that. He’s goal-oriented, knows what he has to do to achieve his goals, just goes about it and does it.’
“As they muddle through what can only be considered a rebuilding season, which continues at 2:30 p.m. today at Northwestern, the Nittany Lions are sending Morrissey and their other ‘kids’ against the men of the Big Ten. …”