BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - News and notes from the hardwood

April 16, 2009

Nate Bauer

Penn State basketball head coach Ed DeChellis, senior forward Jamelle Cornley and sophomore point guard Talor Battle all sat down at the Bryce Jordan Center to meet with about 10 media members to talk about the season that was.

While there was plenty of talk about the program moving forward and all the accomplishments made and looking ahead to next season, the real news of the day came from Cornley.

When asked what his plans are, Cornley talked about the offers he's gotten to play basketball overseas, to play in the NBA D-league, and yes, football, either collegiate or professional.

"I am very seriously considering football," Cornley said. "Mainly professionally, but there is a chance that I could come back and play football collegiately. But, for what team, for what university, I do not know yet. But, yes, I am seriously considering it."

He said he was supposed to talk to quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno immediately following the NIT run but with everything he has going on, as well as everything the football team has going on with spring ball, that meeting has been pushed back. It is something that will happen though, he said.

That said, Cornley is also seriously considering other options to play football at the tight end position on the professional level and/or at another university. He left all of those options open.

"I think I've tried to explain it to everybody that I've always loved football. I've loved it. I love the players, I love the energy, the intensity, the contact, everything about it. I watch a lot of football... and it was always something that I wanted to do. However, my father wouldn't let me do that at a young age. I think when you look at my frame compared to some other guys' frames and then you look at the athleticism and the hunger, I think it's something to consider. Maybe I need to get popped one good time to really get to realize that maybe it's not my sport but for right now, it's something I'm thinking about doing."

One of the factors that could be huge in the final decision he comes to (which he expects to make by the middle of May) is what to do about his partially dislocated shoulder that has been hampering him since early March.

"Right now that's my biggest concern is my shoulder and trying to figure out if I need to see a shoulder specialist somewhere around the Pennsylvania area and seeing what their opinion is on whether or not I need surgery or a scope or whatever the case may be," he said. "So, I'm waiting to find some type of specialist to see what exactly I need done and then I'll go about it in the manner that I need to take care of. But, if I have surgery then I'm assuming I would probably rehab that and play ball somewhere and go from there."

As of yesterday, the news was not what he wanted to hear.

According to the results of diagnosing his MRI, Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli has recommended that he have surgery on his injured shoulder. The surgery would seriously complicate his immediate future plans because he'd likely need 5-6 months of rehab he said.

"We looked over my MRI on Wednesday and felt that I would need surgery which would put me out for five to six months," Cornley said. "Of course that wasn't the news that I really wanted to hear. I respect everything that Dr. Sebastianelli has done for me and the other student athletes around here so I take his advice and his opinion very seriously because he's very credible.

"But at the same time, you just want to take precaution and maybe somebody else may look at it differently and he and that person can sit down and discuss what's best for me. But, it's just something to look out for."

When Battle was asked about what Cornley is likely to do, the first-team All-Big Ten point guard seemed to think his compadre would end up on the hardwood.

"I don't know. I think a basketball player. I just think he loves it way too much to just try to go and do the football thing because that would just be, honestly in my eyes, just more for a money standpoint," Battle said. "But, I think he's really good and hopefully he gets a shot to play professionally in the NBA and if not I'm sure he'll have a great career overseas somewhere."

Right now, it looks like the most immediate opportunities for Cornley are going to be playing overseas but again, his options are wide open.

In any case, he's getting strong interest from agencies all offering different options.

"I've received a bunch of emails and a bunch of phone calls. I've heard a lot about getting to summer league here in the states and that was something that of course I really want to be a part of," he said. "So, I have to take that into consideration. I've received a few European offers from some places in Germany and Italy. So, it's been a lot."

Notes:

- For the first time since class of 2010 commitment Taran Buie made a verbal commitment to play for Penn State the night of the Nittany Lions' NIT Championship Game win against Baylor, Battle talked about what it means to him.

"It's exciting. I was really exciting. We talk everyday," Battle said. "That's my best friend so I'm sure when I'm a senior and he's a freshman, we'll have a couple of fights here and there but we're brothers so that won't last long."

- One of the big points of contention with the Nittany Lions' NCAA Tournament snub this March was based around their non-conference schedule.

When asked how the process is coming along for the season ahead, DeChellis was far from seeming overly optimistic.

"It changes daily. It's been... I'm going to be quite honest with you, it's been a frustrating experience again," he said. "I think the better you get, the less opportunities sometimes you have.

"People don't want to come here and play. They look at our record the last two years, we're pretty good at home but we've worked hard at it, the contracts are out there, we're hoping to get them signed. It hasn't been easy.

"I know I took a huge hit this year... it has not been easy. People do not want to... poor Jon Perry, my kid up there has called everybody since last November and continues to do that and call backs. There's opportunities to go on the road and play some people but the opportunities to try to get a couple teams here has been a real challenge for us.

"We're trying to look in a crystal ball. We're trying to play some teams who have been good this year who we think are going to be good again. Try to play them to improve our strength of schedule, to improve our RPI... whether that works out the way we hoped, we're hoping it does. But, we'll never know."

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