Newsome leaves Penn State

NOW THAT third-team quarterback Kevin Newsome has left the Penn State football team, with the apparent intention to transfer, the Nittany Lions' depth chart at the position is looking increasingly shallow - and might become even more so should Rob Bolden, who is vying with Matt McGloin for the starting job, follow Newsome out the door.

Newsome served as the primary backup to All-Big Ten quarterback Daryll Clark in 2009 and was the front-runner to succeed Clark last season, but he fell behind Bolden and McGloin and never closed the distance. The 6-2, 231-pound junior from Portsmouth, Va., completed only six of 13 passes for 78 yards and no touchdowns, mostly in mop-up situations.

At Big Ten Media Days in Chicago on July 28 and 29, Penn State coach Joe Paterno hinted that he did not see sufficient progress on Newsome's part for him to become a viable challenger to sophomore Bolden (seven starts in 2010), and redshirt junior McGloin (six starts) to make it a three-way competition. Paterno also said he did not expect redshirt freshman Paul Jones to play at all this season because of questionable academics.

Perhaps it was the prospect of another season holding a clipboard, or maybe being switched to another position, that convinced Newsome that his best chance of ever making it onto the field at his preferred position might be somewhere other than Happy Valley. The recruit website Lions247 first reported Newsome's decision to leave the team, which was later confirmed by the Altoona Mirror.

"He's just trying to do what's in his best interest," Kevin Newsome Sr., the disgruntled player's father, told the Mirror. "He loves Penn State, but he's just trying to do what's in his best interest right now."

After the Penn State Blue-White spring game in April, Newsome animatedly discounted the notion he would accept being switched to another position.

"I'm a quarterback," he stressed. "I am a quarterback until I die. I have to have the ball in my hands every play. That's the type of player I am. I want to lead my team to a championship."

There is a possibility Jones' grades will be acceptable enough for him to dress and be available this season, but if Paterno holds firm on his decision to sit him out another year, the only quarterbacks behind Bolden and McGloin are walk-ons Shane McGregor, a redshirt junior, and Garrett Venuto, a redshirt sophomore.

The thinning situation at QB could prompt Paterno to lean toward Bolden over McGloin when it comes to designate his No. 1 passer. Bolden, a four-star recruit out of Orchard Lake, Mich., when he cast his lot with the Lions last year, also had threatened to transfer when he didn't reclaim his starting spot from McGloin after recovering from a concussion suffered in the seventh game at Minnesota. He was not granted a release from his grant-in-aid by Paterno, however, and came out of the Blue-White game still locked in a tight battle with McGloin, a former walk-on, for the starting role in 2011.

But what if Paterno gives no consideration to again possibly bruising Bolden's feelings and goes with McGloin? Might Bolden follow Newsome on the way out of State College?

After the Blue-White game, Bolden didn't sound as if he was absolutely certain the remainder of his college football career would be spent at Penn State.

"We're great now, but last year obviously was a little unsettling," he said of his relationship with Paterno. "I don't think [the demotion] was really fair.

"I'm here, I'm having fun. Nothing against anybody else. I wish that I could stay. I possibly could stay, but I don't know."