STATE COLLEGE, Pa.; December 31, 1999 -- Junior outside linebacker LaVar Arrington, one of only 12 Penn Staters ever to be named a two-time first-team All-American, today announced he will make himself available for the 2000 National Football League Draft.

The 6-3, 242-pound Arrington made the announcement at North Hills Junior High School in Pittsburgh, adjacent to North Hills HS, where his gridiron exploits earned him the Parade National Player of the Year as a senior in 1996.

A consensus first team All-American this season, Arrington was the Butkus Award winner as the nation''s top linebacker and won the Chuck Bednarik Award, presented to the nation''s top defensive player. The 1998 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, he also was a finalist for the Lombardi Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy and finished ninth in balloting for the Heisman Trophy, the only defensive player in the top 10.

"There''s nothing left for me to prove at the college level," said Arrington, "although I would love to have won a national championship. I think at this point I''d best be serving myself by making the leap (to the NFL). I will finish my degree, though."

Having seen only one snap in the regular season finale against Michigan State due to a shoulder injury, Arrington capped his brilliant collegiate career Tuesday with another superlative performance in leading the Nittany Lions to a 24-0 blanking of Texas A&M in the Sylvania Alamo Bowl. He made 14 tackles (eight solo), the second-highest total of his career, including a freight train sack of Aggie quarterback Randy McCown to earn Defensive MVP honors. Arrington hounded McCown throughout the game, hitting him as he released the ball to force three of the Lions'' four interceptions. The shutout was Penn State''s first in a bowl game since a 7-0 win over Alabama in the 1959 Liberty Bowl and only the school''s second-ever blanking in its illustrious 36 post-season game history. "We wish LaVar well. After the game, I told him I wanted him to do what was best for him and his family," stated Coach Joe Paterno. "If you don''t like LaVar you just don''t like people," Paterno said Wednesday. "He''s a marvelous person and obviously a great football player. We''ll certainly miss him."

A two-year starter, Arrington made 72 tackles (42 solo) this season, with 20 tackles for loss (minus-98), 9.0 sacks (minus-74), one interception, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, two blocked kicks and six pass break-ups. He was second on the team in tackles, minus-yardage hits, sacks and pass break-ups and led in fumble recoveries and blocks. He also ranks fourth in PSU season TFL with 20 and his 39 career minus-yardage plays are sixth-best in school history. Arrington recorded 163 career tackles (111 solo), with 19 sacks, four fumbles caused, three fumble recoveries and a trio of interceptions, returning one for a touchdown against Bowling Green in 1998. This season, he stripped Purdue quarterback Drew Brees of the pigskin and returned it for a score in the Lions'' important 31-25 win.

Arrington was named a first team All-American this season by each of the six nationally-recognized organizations which select teams: Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, Walter Camp Football Foundation, American Football Coaches Association, The Sporting News and Football News.

Arrington was the USA Today and Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year, as well as the Bobby Dodd National Offensive Player of the Year, for Coach Jack McCurry at North Hills. He was the first player in Pennsylvania Class AAAA history to rush for more than 4,000 career yards, accumulating 4,375 yards on 711 carries (6.1 avg.) and 72 touchdowns. He also made 342 career tackles and 10 interceptions.