UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., July 27, 2006 - Coach Joe Paterno and the 2006 Nittany Lion co-captains will represent Penn State at the 35th Annual Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon festivities in Chicago, August 1-2.

Senior tackle Levi Brown (Norfolk Va.), senior outside linebacker Paul Posluszny (Aliquippa) will join Paterno at the prestigious event. Activities will be held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago as the Big Ten prepares for its 111th season of football competition.

The Kickoff festivities will include news conferences with every Big Ten head coach and players from each squad. Interviews with print and electronic media will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Kickoff Luncheon is Wednesday with ABC's Mark Jones serving as emcee. A sellout crowd of 1,800 will attend the Luncheon.

The Nittany Lions are entering their 14th season of Big Ten competition. Last year, Penn State was the Big Ten co-champion, earning the conference's automatic berth into the Bowl Championship Series. The Nittany Lions defeated ACC champion Florida State, 26-23, in triple overtime in the FedEx Orange Bowl to cap an 11-1 campaign.

Entering his 41st season as head coach of the Nittany Lions, Paterno owns a 354-117-3 (75.0) career record. In his 57th year in Happy Valley, Paterno is second in all-time victories among major college coaches and fourth in wins across all four NCAA divisions. He has led Penn State to two national championships (1982, '86), five unbeaten and untied seasons (1968, '69, '73, '86, '94) and is the all-time leader in bowl appearances (32) and wins (21-10-1). He has guided the Nittany Lions to 16 appearances in one of the four bowls that comprise the Bowl Championship Series, earning a 12-4 record.

Paterno has produced more than 300 NFL players, 71 first team All-Americans, 32 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 14 National Football Foundation Hall of Fame Scholar Athletes and 18 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners during his illustrious career. He has been selected the AFCA Coach of the Year an unprecedented five times, including last year.

Paterno will reach two significant milestones during the 2006 season. He will join another college football legend, Amos Alonzo Stagg, as the only major college coaches to serve more than 40 years at one institution. Stagg was a head coach for 57 years, including 41 at the University of Chicago (1892-1932).

In December, Paterno will be joined by Bobby Bowden and John Gagliardi as the first active inductees into the National Football Foundation College Hall of Fame. Paterno and Bowden will receive the Foundation's highest and most prestigious honor - the Gold Medal - at the 49th Annual Hall of Fame Dinner.

Brown is a pre-season All-American after earning second team All-America and first team All-Big Ten accolades in 2005. The former Granby High School standout is among the top candidates for the Outland Trophy, which is presented to the nation's top offensive or defensive lineman by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA). He has started 34 of the last 35 games and was instrumental in Penn State leading the Big Ten in scoring (35.2 ppg) and ranking second in rushing (233.1 ypg) in conference games last season. Brown graduated last December in 3 1/2 years and working on a second degree, in psychology.

Posluszny also is a consensus All-American and a top candidate for several individual honors entering his senior season. The 2005 Butkus and Bednarik Award winner, he is No. 5 on the Lindy's Heisman Trophy Top 10 Watch List and the only defensive player on the list. A consensus All-American and first team Academic All-American in 2005, Posluszny led Penn State with 116 tackles last season and has 256 career stops, needing 88 to pass Greg Buttle and become the school's career leader. Posluszny is Penn State's first two-time team captain since Mike Reid and Steve Smear in 1969.

A former Pennsylvania Player of the Year from Hopewell High School, Posluszny owned a 3.57 grade point average through the spring semester in finance and is on schedule to graduate in December in 3 1/2 years.

The Nittany Lions open the season September 2, hosting Akron at 3:30 p.m. in Beaver Stadium. "Penn State Football Eve presented by Sheetz" will be held the evening of Sept. 1, with festivities starting at 6:00 p.m. outside Beaver Stadium.

A limited number of tickets for the Akron and Temple (Nov. 11) games are on sale at www.GoPSUsports.com, the official website of Penn State Athletics or by calling 814-865-5555 or 800-863-3336 weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. The remaining five home games are sold out.