Paul Posluszny -

I decided that after speaking with my family and coaches it would be best for me to come back to Penn State and play my senior year here. I just want to say that I am really looking forward to this coming season. I think we can have another great year.

Levi Brown -

It has been a long, hard decision, but after looking at all of the situations and everything, I have decided to declare myself eligible for another year of coaching under Joe Paterno.

What were you told about your draft position by the NFL's advisory board?

Levi: Most of the things that I got back from teams was as late 1st Round, 2nd Round or 3rd Round.

Paul: Mine was pretty much the same. I was hearing late 1st Round or early 2nd Round.

Describe whether your injury played a role in your decision?

Paul: It definitely changed things a little bit. After that occurred, it helped me make my decision and make things a lot easier, really, because after that leading scorer was no longer that much of an option. After that happened, I just realized that the most important thing would be to come back to school.

What went through your mind when you blitzed on that play and you ended up on the ground?

Paul: I was really nervous at first because I could tell something wasn't right as soon as I hit the ground. I was just worried that I wasn't going to be able to finish out the game. Once I got back in the locker room and heard what was wrong, I was nervous that I was going to miss a lot of serious time. Thank God that is not the case.

Were you thinking your career was over?

Paul: No, I didn't really feel like it was going to be a career ending injury. I didn't really think it was that serious. I was just really nervous that I wasn't going to be able to play and finish out the game and then play next year.

How close were you to declaring yourself? What factors influenced you?

Levi: The only way I was going to leave was if they told me I was going to be drafted in the first 10 picks. So I was going to come back anyway. I wasn't really worried about the money and things like that, just whether or not I should be drafted high. I think I have an opportunity to improve myself next year.

Were you debating whether to go before the injury?

Paul: It definitely made me realize the situation that any certain time that something can happen and that can be the end of your career and how quickly things change all in one play. It definitely made me realize that. Before the injury happened, I was just really trying to figure out my options. I wasn't really leaning one way or the other with the NFL or coming back to school. I just really wanted to see what my options were and take everything into account and talk it over with my family and see what the best outcome would be.

Had you not gotten injured, would you have come out in the draft?

Paul: It would have been a tough decision to make, but after talking to several people, my coaches and my family, it really seemed like, at this point in time, if I stay another year and learn from our coaches and get more experience, I would have better opportunities the following year. Before the injury, I was just weighing my options and seeing how things turned out. After this happened, it definitely made things easier for me.

What things do you feel you have to do to get better?

Levi: Just being more aggressive all the time and not slowing down. Be more aggressive and play through the whistle and just not give up on plays ever.

What coaches did you talk to that influenced your decision?

Levi: I talked to Kermit Buggs, Bill Kenney and Coach Paterno. They all pretty much told me how they felt about the year I had and how far I came along and things like that. Also how they felt about me if I wanted to enter the draft this year. They just pretty much gave me their opinion on what to do and what not to do.

Paul: I spent a lot of my time talking with Coach Tom Bradley about things. Following the Orange Bowl he came over to my house when he was in town in Pittsburgh and sat down with my parents and talked to them for a long time. He was really helpful with everything he did there. That really helped my decision a lot. Also, talking with my linebacker coach, Ron Vanderlinden, and speaking with him. He told me about all the things I could work on and how things could improve. Both of those guys were very instrumental.

Outside of your parents and the coaches, is there anyone else outside the program that you talked to for advice? What specific things do you think you can do better next year?

Paul: I was able to talk to Jack Ham and Shane Conlan. I talked to both of them several times and they really helped out and gave me a lot of information and told me what they think. That was very helpful with everything they did for me. Things that I can work on, there are always little things with technique that you can always improve on to get better. Another big thing I would really like to improve on is my size and speed. Finishing out this year, I wasn't really at the weight I wanted to be at or even at a weight that I could play at the next level. That is one thing I really want to concentrate on in getting bigger, faster, stronger and then just deal with all of the little technique things I will be able to work on with my coaches.

What kind of weight were you at the end of the year and what kind of weight would you like to get to?

Paul: Before the Orange Bowl the last time I weighed in I was 225 pounds. I started out the season a lot heavier. I started out the season around 234 pounds and I would like to get up around 240 pounds.

Was there a specific area in the draft that you had to be in to get you to go?

Paul: Generally, with everyone I talked to, Jack Ham, Shane Conlan and everyone else, they said, "If you have a chance to go in the first 15 picks, then you got to go. That would be a mistake to pass up." If that was the case, it would be a different situation, but from the NFL Advisory Board and everyone I talked to about that, they said that I would be a late 1st rounder at best.

Now that you've said you're coming back, what do you do to lead what should be a somewhat more inexperienced team than just won the Orange Bowl?

Levi: I will just get all of the offensive line guys together and teach them what I know and help them work on their technique and let them know that it is not going to be easy. We are going to struggle a lot this year, but tell them to stick in there and everything will be OK.

Paul: With these next several weeks coming up, this is a big time for us with lifting and running. Guys like Levi and all of the other seniors, I think, will give them an opportunity to lead by example to always be doing things the right way and to always be finishing first in any type of drills or runs that we have and to set a tone for spring football and set an attitude that they will follow through the summer. We had a great year last year and we definitely want that all to carry over and we feel like we can have another great year coming this fall.

Seeing Paul go down with an injury, did that influence your decision?

Levi: Injury is something that you can't predict. It is always in the back of your mind when you try to make a decision like this. I weighed my options and I feel that coming back and going after another Big Ten Championship is the best thing for me.

Have you thought about taking out insurance policies?

Levi: I think that John Bove is the guy that handles that for us and I am sure we will sit down and talk about that pretty soon.

Paul: I just filled out my papers the other day so I am already in the process of doing that.

How has your rehab gone so far?

Paul: Right now it has been really, really basic. This first week I rehab every day, twice a day once in the morning and once in the afternoon. It really just consists of basic leg lifting. I have to keep my leg completely straight for two weeks. I wear this brace and do exercises here and there and a lot of therapy sitting in a cold tub and getting stim and ultrasound put on my knee and things like that.

Is it possible for you to improve individually but not for the team to have another year like this, would coming back still be worth it?

Paul: Definitely. One thing I learned from this year and everything that happened after the season was that for all of those awards and everything to occur, you have to be part of a great team and have great guys around you. The awards are given to individuals, but it is not an individual thing at all. It is playing with your teammates and how well everything goes on the field. You have to be on TV a lot and have great guys like this who get us all the attention in the world. That is not really something that I am concerned about. If all that doesn't work out, that is completely fine. I am just more concerned about winning football games and trying to play the best that I can.

What things were you told you could improve on?

Levi: Pretty much technique things, like staying lower and work on pass blocking a little bit more. Just basic technique.

Did you talk about your decisions together?

Levi: Every now and then I would ask him about it but we didn't really sit down and talk about it together.

Could you talk about being the leader on the offensive line?

Levi: The season that just passed, everybody was a senior on the line except for me. Now I'm going to be the only guy that is a senior on the line. I'm going to have to take all the young guys by the hand and just show them the ropes. I have to teach them everything in a short period of time because all of them have to be ready to go next year because we are going to count on them a lot.

With seven defensive starters graduating, will you have to be a more vocal leader and what other guys are going to have to step up and lead?

Paul: With the leadership, I definitely think that a lot of us are going to have to step it up. I know we are going to have Tim Shaw, Dan Connor, so the linebacking corp is intact. We have Jason Alford who has played a lot of football for us. We have Ed Johnson back on the team now who has also played a lot of football for us. So we do have a small group of veteran guys who are coming back but we do need to replace a lot of guys obviously. I really think in the winter and spring we are going to have to get the guys, defensively, get them together as a group and start doing things just like we have done in years past. The older guys will automatically step up more and talk more and help out the younger guys and I think if we just continue everything that we did last year in the off-season then we will be fine. We are going to be a little inexperienced at some positions. I think we have great players that will step in and make plays for us.

Does it get awkward at times having these meeting with people telling you what you don't do well? What's the give and take like in those sessions?

Paul: Personally, I think that's great because then we have an opportunity to learn our mistakes and to figure out the things that we need to do to get better. That's one thing that I'm really trying to take advantage of, especially talking with guys like Shane Conlan and Jack Ham. I ask them "What do I need to do to be a great linebacker?" and then when they tell me that, it's advice that I really respect and honor. It's really things that you can just take and work on and learn from things like that.

Levi: I agree with Paul. You don't always want to be told what you do well; you want to be told what you do wrong so that you have something to work on. It gives you more to work toward in the future

What was Coach Paterno's reaction on your coming back?

Levi: I actually didn't tell him yet that I was coming back. He just told me that when all the information came in that if he felt I was high enough he would just tell me that it was my time to go. He wouldn't tell me to stay if I was high enough in the first round to go in the draft.

Paul: With me, he just really told me about all the different situations he's had to deal with before. He's obviously been through this a lot so he knows the ins and outs of everything. He just talked about how I could leave this year and maybe do well in the NFL or I could stay and get another year of experience and then hopefully have a better position in the draft next fall and then have a great senior year. He gave me the pros and cons of everything but he showed me that it is definitely better to stay.

Does he know you are coming back and what was his reaction?

Paul: He just said something like "oh, that's great." Something along those lines. I talked to him on the phone several days ago and we discussed that. He wasn't sure if I had made my decision. I said, "Coach, I'd really like to stay. I really want to stay." And he said, "That's great. Let's start getting ready for next year."

Do you guys have confidence in the guys coming in to replace the guys that left?

Paul: I definitely think that we can have the same success that we had this year. We do lose a lot of great players, guys that did great things for this program that are really going to be missed. But we have to move on and I feel like we do have guys that we have a lot of confidence with who are going to step in and take their place. The good thing is, our new guys have learned from some of the best. I think they will be able to step up and do everything that we need to do.

Levi: I agree with Paul. We have young guys coming in, inexperienced guys. But they don't lack any talent. They will jump right in there and get in there and make play. Just take it game by game and work on getting them better.

What was one thing that Shane Conlan and Jack Ham told you that stood out when you were talking about this?

Paul: They both had a lot of great things to say. The thing with Shane was that he was in a very similar situation. After his junior year, it was his fourth year in school but he was a junior on the field, he had the opportunity to leave and he was told that he would be an early second round draft pick and he sat down with Coach Paterno to discuss the situation with him and he said that he could have either left and been a second round draft pick or come back and had a great year and I think it ended up that he was drafted in the top ten picks the following year. Hearing that story, just to realize by passing it up this year, as long as everything works out and we work hard, there will be great things to come next year. That just really helped out. It made me feel more comfortable about staying. With Jack Ham, he gave me all of his advice. He told me that if he were in my shoes that the best thing to do would be to stay. When a guy like Jack Ham tells you that, you gotta listen to him. He knows everything about football. He's a great player, a great person. Given the chance to be able to talk to them and hear their advice, that was just really, really helpful.

How much longer will you be in a knee brace? Will it take you right up to spring drills?

Paul: My leg has to be completely straight for two weeks and then I will be able to change braces and have more mobility. My rehab process is supposed to be 6-8 weeks until I can start running again. That will probably lead right up into spring football and I might even miss several weeks of spring football because I think they are going to be really cautious with this. They want it to heal correctly. Since we are in the off-season, there is really no rush. Coach Bradley already assured me that we are going to win the spring game for sure so I don't have to rush back for that (laughter). They just want me ready for the fall.

Is that two weeks from the game or from now?

Paul: I am guessing that on Monday that started week one. So that was the beginning of the week.