Penn State football is in a place where no college sports program has ever been before. The school's reputation has rightly been damaged and in some ways it may never recover. There is rebuilding to do in the aftermath of the sex abuse scandal centered around former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. There are court cases that will go on, there will be news coverage, attention and discussion.

And there will be student-athletes playing football -- as there were this past season -- who had nothing to do with the situation that soiled the university but will be under a spotlight just the same.

With those kinds of challenges ahead, Penn State should be exceptionally pleased that St. Francis senior Akeel Lynch will be committing to the Nittany Lions a week from today.

That's not because Lynch has the best combination of speed, moves and ferocity that I've ever seen in a high school running back. It's because he has a maturity that is on that same highest of levels, a maturity that will certainly be helpful -- perhaps even necessary -- considering the challenges ahead for the program of which he will be a part.

It's a maturity certainly borne out of his upbringing, but it's also been forged by the Toronto native leaving home and living with teammates' families as he's attended St. Francis the last two years. He's also already learned hard-luck life lessons in having his junior and senior seasons cut short by injury (he missed his last five games of his junior year with a finger injury; he missed 1.5 games as a senior as a precaution for a banged-up ankle).

His demeanor on and off the field (even on Twitter as @ALynch_5) make him a good fit for what will be an evolving program that new coach Bill O'Brien will lead in the shadow of the Sandusky scandal and Joe Paterno's recent passing.

Lynch says the right things -- not because they sound good -- but because he's thinking the right things.

That was again evident in talking to him Monday about his decision to attend Penn State.

He had verbally committed to Boston College last July, but his outstanding senior season had better programs wooing him soon after. Reentering the recruiting race meant breaking his pledge to attend BC. He would have to tell them no.

I'd have to think that in today's big business of college football recruiting, that if a player changes his mind about a school, an email is sent, maybe a text, maybe a call from a parent or a coach -- or perhaps not at all. Next Wednesday there will be theatrical announcements made by highly-ranked players on live television. One program wins, one program loses.

When Lynch knew he would be pursuing other offers, he made a tough phone call to the Boston College coaching staff.

"It was tough. I would just pick up the phone, then you're not sure what you're going to say and you put it back down," he said. "It was nothing against Boston College and the coaches. They were a great coaching staff. That was probably one of the hardest decisions I had to do -- telling the coaches that I won't be attending the school after the recruiting buildup.

"But it is something you have to do in life -- you have to share bad news with people, and unfortunately I had to do it earlier than most. I just kind of put that on my shoulders, because I said I wanted to be in this position, I wanted to be recruited by these big-time programs. I asked for this, so that's why I took the initiative in calling. It was just another life lesson. It was hard, it was very hard."

Lynch also used the phrase "academic integrity" about a dozen times in talking about the schools he was choosing from. He likes that he's been told he'll be able to compete for playing time right away. He also likes O'Brien's background in the NFL, along with that of running backs coach Charles London, a former Tennessee Titans assistant, and thinks that will help him achieve the dream of playing on Sundays.

But that wasn't why he said he made his decision.

"When football is all said and done, it's a great academic school, it has great alumni and I believe through Penn State I can get a job," said Lynch. "The school itself is what I fell in love with."

The Power 10

The top 10 teams regardless of enrollment. Last week's rank in parentheses.

1. Canisius (1): Friday night. 7 p.m. At St. Joe's. Get there early.

2. Niagara Falls (2): Wolverines stayed at No. 2 in large school poll .‚.‚.

3. St. Joe's (7): This despite Marauders' tremendous win over Aquinas on Saturday. I could see why St. Joe's would think it should have moved up further; a win Friday would certainly take care of that.

4. Jamestown (3): Red Raiders at Clarence on a loaded Friday schedule.

5. Olean (4): Second matchup with Dunkirk a week away.

6. St. Mary's (8): Played outstanding basketball in Tuesday night's win at Timon.

7. Bishop Timon-St. Jude (5): Schedule lull over: Next nine games include two vs. St. Joe's, two vs. Canisius, plus Section V (Rochester) powers Kearney (Friday) and Aquinas.

8. McKinley (6): Macks remain atop competitive Yale Cup crowd.

9. Riverside (9): Off until Feb. 2 vs. East, which it lost to in Yale Cup I opener.

10. OTC Middle College (NR): Still several suitors here. The Kats take a turn after Hutch-Tech held the spot last week.

Around the halls

- Tonight is the weekly live chat. Lauren Mariacher and I will start it with a video segment at 9 p.m.

- Friday night's boys basketball schedule is loaded, with Canisius at St. Joe's the headliner. We will have a live blog and a PrepTalkTV report from that game, but we hope Twitter users at other top games will keep us updated via the hashtag #preptalkscores.

You might earn the #preptalkscores Tweet of the Week: Our first winner came from @chris_campagna at a wrestling meet won by Lake Shore. "Final. LS 56, West Seneca East 12. match almost interrupted by a mom going on the mat trying 2 stop a match."

- Talk about a good problem to have: Next Wednesday, Feb. 1, is the first day football recruits can sign letters of intent to attend college programs. Western New York has two major recruits in Lynch and Chad Kelly (Clemson) of St. Joe's. With both schools obviously wanting the media to attend both, the two athletic programs will be talking to each other to schedule them at different times and maximize the attention their players will receive.

kmcshea@buffnews.comnull