Silas Redd Confirms He Will Leave Penn State For USC

By On July 31, 2012 · 18 Comments

Norwalk’s Silas Redd Jr. Confirms he will leave Penn State for USC

Here he is through a text message…

This has obviously been a very busy, emotionally draining week for me and my family. As many of you know, playing football at Penn State has been a dream of mine since I was seven years old, and I will be forever grateful that this dream became a reality.

This is the reason that the decision I have made is so difficult for me: I will transfer to USC to complete my education and my college football career, beginning in the 2012-2013 year.

Penn State gave me a phenomenal opportunity to become part of a legendary football program. My teammates, my coaches – past and present – and the staff have provided me with a tremendous amount of guidance and support since I arrived on campus, and I can’t thank them enough for their time, their advice, and their friendship. They have given me such a strong foundation from which I can continue to grow

The Penn State community – including the Nittany Lions’ unbelievable fan base – has also been a huge part of my incredible experience over the past two years. I have grown tremendously as a person and a player at Penn State, and the support of the community and our fans has been a big part of the reason why.

I also want to extend my thanks to the media, who have embraced me and my family over my entire football career, even before I began at the college level.

I think it is important to say that this situation is not something that I wished for myself, but it has happened, nonetheless. My family and I have spent many hours in recent days trying to decide what will be best for me as I look to the future – both personally and professionally. We have weighed the pros and cons of staying at Penn State and leaving Penn State, attending USC and not attending USC, and I can honestly say that, ultimately, this decision is about so much more than football.

I continue to have aspirations for my life, and as my family and I considered the bigger picture – both on and off the field – it became clearer to me that USC will be the best fit for my academic, athletic, and personal needs over the next two years. I look forward to future successes, and to the continued support of everyone around me.

Silas Redd Jr.

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18 Responses to Silas Redd Confirms He Will Leave Penn State For USC

  1. sotires says:
    August 1, 2012 at 10:00 am

    A rat leaves the sinking ship. What happened to supporting his teammates who are staying in solidarity?

    P.S.

    I thought the name of this column is UConn Football. How does this story fit under that rubric?

    • Ryan says:
      August 1, 2012 at 12:23 pm

      Not sure what makes Silas Redd a “rat”,there were rats involved with the Penn State football program and the university but none of them were football players. Also this is relevant to the blog because Silas is a Connecticut kid and many uconn fans have interest in players from ct.

    • dconner says:
      August 1, 2012 at 12:28 pm

      because he’s a local kid, was the star at Penn State

      because it was a national story

      because he sent me a text message with great details about how he came to his decision, which was clearly difficult. UConn Football isn’t all you see up there related to this blog. You see a name and a face, too (as scary as that is) …That’s how it makes it

      I hope no one calls your child/children a rat…Know what that feels like?

      • husky66 says:
        August 1, 2012 at 9:19 pm

        He may not be a rat, but he created the “clearly difficult” decision. No looking around, stick by your team mates and there’s no decision to make, is there?

        Maybe he just felt O’Brien wouldn’t give him the ball enough? Hard to believe that. His press release, while appearing heartfelt gives no good reason to leave. He would have had plenty of exposure as a NFL prospect; heck the NFL scouts find players in DII for that matter. As for education, pretty much a wash there. But instead, he chose to go play for a coach who is known for being a complete “me first” guy.

        So now we’ve got two CT kids walking out on their team mates to go to the Me First state of CA. Glad neither one of them came to UConn. talented yes, but good team mates? No need for details, just look at the action they took. Things got tough, they walked away.

  2. husky66 says:
    August 1, 2012 at 12:21 am

    I hope the UConn staff decided to not go after another school’s players. Its a low grade, dirtbag thing to do. Is it too much to expect class and dignity from college coaches? Or has coaching been degraded to the point where we accept behavior like kiffin’s and the illinois coaches as the norm? And so what if they played by the NCAA’s “rules.” I think we all know how fair the NCAA can be about their rules.

    I hope PP has the better qualities; most likely he was raised that way, but let’s not forget where and from who he had those values affirmed when he was in college. IF a kind wants to transfer, fine. But regardless of what anyone thinks of Paterno now, you can be certain he would have never recruited another school’s players.

    • Ryan says:
      August 1, 2012 at 12:33 pm

      He allowed an assistant coach to molest children…how can I be certain he would never have recruited another schools players? If he was still alive and this situation was happening at Ohio State or Michigan, you don’t think Paterno and his staff would be there lined up with all the other coaches. I really am sick of hearing people speak of Paterno as a man with morals.

      • Jane says:
        August 1, 2012 at 12:59 pm

        I, too, wonder if Paterno ever had morals. When he got absolute power at Penn State – was that when he could be his true self?

      • husky66 says:
        August 1, 2012 at 9:43 pm

        Well Ryan since you’re absolutely certain that he did know and control all at PSU, including the campus police, local police the DA, the Dept of Public Welfare, etc. we’ll all be glad to hear your opinion of Paterno if the courts (remember, we’re taking crimes here and those require evidence for convictions)don’t find Curley or Schultz guilty or even Spanier. And don’t say a central PA court won’t convict, ask sandsuky how that turned out.

        When a real court renders a real decision, then and only then can any of us say Paterno was wrong. As it stands now, its suggestions in emails. You ever wonder why people misinstrepret those so often? (see Jerk’s comments below and Des’ response) If they are convicted, good throw them all in jail and re write Joe’s legacy.

        If you want to know if he had morals, ask people who knew him; ask Coach Pasqualoni if Paterno had morals. They certainly didn’t see him as a god,or some all controlling being. besi des, how does protecting sandusky help PSU anyway? the assumption that he did to protect the program is pretty thin given that anyone could see how bad it would be if it came out. more likely he chose to believe someone he knew for decades, that had been cleared to adopt children, that ran a respected organization that helped kids. Did Paterno make a horrible mistake, yes he did.

  3. TheJerk says:
    July 31, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    let me be the first one to blast HCPP for not getting Redd to come to his home state for his last season. I just dont get this coaching staff, did they even try? what a bunch of losers and this program is going nowhere fast lately. What does USC have that CT doesnt?

    • dconner says:
      July 31, 2012 at 6:22 pm

      Sounds like you’re having a bad day my friend, I could have told you the staff went hard after Redd, Fortt and Golden. Id also suggest that what the young man wants to do, the one who made the decision, should do and go where he wants.

      • Anonymous says:
        July 31, 2012 at 7:08 pm

        wow dez, surprised you didnt sniff out the sarcasim here. I think this kid had a total no-brainer to go to USC. wouldnt you? I figured if I wrote that first it would prevent the people from writing the same comment but doing it seriously.

    • RST says:
      July 31, 2012 at 9:11 pm

      :) :) You got him good, Jerk.