By: Kevin McGuire (Examiner.com) –

As can be expected from here until the end of the year from many outlets, as the end of the decade creeps closer and closer many outlets will be announcing their all-decade teams. CBSSports.com has unveiled their all-decade college football team and for Penn State fans there is one area of interest that should be addressed.

Of the three linebackers selected to the all-decade team, zero are in blue and white. Instead Oklahoma’s Rocky Calmus and Ohio State’s A.J. Hawk and James Laurinaitis receive the honors. Legendary Penn State linebacker Paul Posluszny receives second team honors and Penn State’s career leader in tackles, Dan Connor, is nowhere to be found.

It is a tired argument that has been made by Penn State fans over the last half of this decade, but to rank Laurinaitis over any Penn State linebacker is just silly. Laurinaitis is the product of a media hype machine orchestrated by Ohio State and national media like ESPN because he is the son of a former professional wrestler. Let’s start picking apart this all-decade list.

Posluszny emerged as an iconic linebacker in the esteemed tradition of Penn State linebackers. Pouring his heart and soul into every play, Posluszny played at a level that was so high that he would not get through a game without cutting himself on his nose. The two time Chuck Bednarik Award winner (2005-2006), Dick Butkus Award winner (2005), the epitome of a classic tackler, Posluszny was so good it may have overshadowed the greatness that was Dan Connor.

A year after Posluszny left Penn State for the NFL, where he has already developed into one of the top players on the Buffalo Bills, and taking over the all-time tackle lead at Penn State, fans were eager to watch Connor continue to build his legacy. All Connor did was take Posluszny’s tackle record and exceed it, firmly establishing himself as another great linebacker in Penn State’s “Linebacker U” lineage. Connor finished his career with 419 tackles.

In 2007 Connor recorded 145 tackles (69 solo). In the same season Ohio State’s Laurinaitis had 121 tackles (51 solo). In 2006 Laurinaitis had 115 tackles (53 solo) while Connor had 113 tackles but 70 of which were solo.

Anybody who has watched an Ohio State game with Laurinaitis taking the spotlight probably realizes that he received credit for tackles in which he piled on and had no dramatic impact on a tackle. That should be expected when the media airs stories on you and your father during Levitra buy pre game shows every couple weeks. It should be obvious that while Laurinaitis has talent, he did not have the same productivity and impact that guys like Posluszny and Connor had. For CBSSports.com to insert Laurinaitis over a pair of linebackers that were better than him during the same time frame is amazing.

As for Oklahoma’s Rocky Calmus? Calmus had a fine college career, including being named Big XII Defensive Player of the Year twice (in a conference not particularly known for defense) but could not match the numbers put up by Posluszny, and of course Connor. CBSSports.com missed the right choice by placing Posluszny on the second team and Connor should be on this list as well.

For those interested, the second team linebackers joining Posluszny are Maryland’s E.J. Henderson and Derrick Johnson of Texas. Connor does not even get a mention in the notes on who did not make the all-decade team.

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