It’s not only known around Happy Valley, but around the country that Penn State is Linebacker U. 2009 will be no different with two stud linebackers in Sean Lee and Navarro Bowman ready to carry on the tradition.

Both linebackers have been named to the preseason watch list for three national postseason awards. They are on the Bednarik Award watch list, for the nation’s top defensive player, along with the Rotary Lombardi Award watch list, which goes to the nation’s top player on defense that lines up within five yards of the line of scrimmage.

The other award they are up for is the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which is presented by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and the Charlotte Touchdown Club, honoring the nation's best defensive player.

With these preseason accolades it’s easy to say that Penn State is solid at the linebacker position.

Let’s first take a look at Sean Lee, a fifth year senior, who is coming off a 2008 season which he missed due to a knee injury. He still played a huge roll on last year’s team, acting like an assistant coach from the sidelines, and will be asked to take a big leadership role on this year’s team, as he is one of the co-captains.

As a junior in 2007, Lee was second in the Big Ten, behind only teammate Dan Connor, with 138 tackles. Those 138 tackles put him fifth on the Penn State all-time list for a single season. Lee sits with 239 career tackles, which means he needs 134 tackles to move into second place on Penn State’s all-time tackle list for a player’s career. If he can’t reach that, 105 would move him into third.

All accounts point to Lee being fully recovered and determined to pick up this year where he left off in 2007.

With Lee filling holes in the middle, and defenses having to key on him, expect Bowman to be able to make even more plays than he did last season.

Bowman, a junior, was named first team All-Big Ten in 2008 and led the Nittany Lions in tackles with 106. He was also second on the team with 16.5 tackles for loss and third on the team with four sacks.

If he can skirt some off-the-field issues and put them behind him, he should be ready for a big year in 2009. He reminds a lot of people of Penn State great LaVar Arrington and will look even more like him this year with his switch to the number 11 jersey.

Not everything is great for the line backing group at Penn State however. On Sunday, August 16, Michael Mauti suffered a season ending knee injury at practice. It is an injury that is similar to what took Lee out last season.

Mauti, a sophomore, was expected to be the other starter at outside linebacker for the Nittany Lions and looked to be the next in line at becoming a great linebacker for the team.

As a true freshman last year, he played in all 13 games and collected 26 tackles and forced one fumble. The good news for Mauti and Penn State is that he has a redshirt season to use.

With Mauti’s injury that means linebackers coach, Ron Vanderlinden needs someone else to step up and start.

The leading candidates have to be former walk-on and fifth-year senior Josh Hull, who started in Lee’s place last year. Also, Nate Stupar, a sophomore, who has been a standout on special teams, should see a lot of reps.

Junior, Bani Gbadyu will also see the field more. I would expect a rotation of some sort between these three players, depending on down and yardage, at least until one separates themselves as the best of the group.

Redshirt freshmen Michael Zordich, Michael Yancich, and sophomore Jon Ditto could also see some action, especially if more injuries occur.

Over all, the Penn State line backing core should be strong with the playmaking abilities of Lee and Bowman. There is no question that the injury to Mauti hurts this unit some, but they have adequate talent to try to fill the void and still present opposing offenses with headaches.