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Kost, Kofira honored for federal service at Army Depot

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Normandy church attackers inspired by Islamic State, says French president

CHICAGO &#8212; Most of Penn State&#8217;s contingent spoke Monday at Big Ten media days, but athletic director Sandy Barbour will be speaking at 11 a.m.Follow along for updates, as this page will be updated throughout the day.<hr/>Mark Dantonio, Michigan StateThe issue of negative recruiting has been discussed plenty around Penn State these days. Last month, James Franklin mentioned in an interview with the Reading Eagle that Michigan State was one of the schools making things difficult for the Nittany Lions to move on.Asked about that Tuesday, Dantonio chose his words carefully.&#8220;From my standpoint, I have not said anything negative about Penn State,&#8221; Dantonio said. &#8220;Hopefully our coaches haven&#8217;t as well.&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what happens out there on the road. But that&#8217;s not our M.O. And that&#8217;s not how we do business.&#8221;It&#8217;s been very difficult week for the Spartans, who lost former punter Mike Sadler, a four-time All-American about to head to graduate school at Stanford. Sadler died in a car accident along with current Nebraska punter Sam Foltz.&#8220;Very tragic,&#8221; Dantonio said at the start of his time on the podium. &#8220;He was a giver. He lived life. There was no take in Mike Sadler. He made everyone&#8217;s life around him better. And we will miss him terribly.&#8221;<hr/>Urban Meyer, Ohio StateMeyer was also asked about negative recruiting against Penn State and gave a firm answer.&#8220;Absolutely not,&#8221; Meyer said. &#8220;That&#8217;s the first time I&#8217;ve heard that. I&#8217;ll address that with Coach Franklin if that is an issue.&#8220;That&#8217;s a pretty strong allegation I&#8217;ve not heard yet.&#8221;The target on the backs of the Buckeyes would seem to be as large as ever. Though Ohio State would have to be considered the favorite to win the Big Ten, the Bucks lost a large number of underclassmen to the NFL.Michigan is looming. Michigan State is looking to defend last year&#8217;s crown.&#8220;We have to replace arguably one of the best groups ever to come through college football,&#8221; Meyer said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been answering a lot of questions about a young team. The issue would be if we had a non-talented young team. But that&#8217;s not the case at all.&#8221;&#8220;This will be a new challenge, but one we can&#8217;t wait to get our hands on.&#8221;Meyer&#8217;s biggest concern with the youth is just getting them into some game action and get any nerves out of the way as quickly as possible.&#8220;Just see their reaction to a game,&#8221; Meyer said. &#8220;Running into the Shoe in front of 110,000 people. Just the experience factor. That&#8217;s what&#8217;s keeping me awake a little bit. How do you let them experience third-down-and-6 (in practice) and keep them healthy for the season.&#8220;Going into it, this is as talented a group top-to-bottom as we&#8217;ve ever had. Now how do you get them ready?&#8221;<hr/>Kirk Ferentz, IowaIt&#8217;s been a rebirth of sorts for Ferentz, who is now entering his 18th &#8212; yes, 18th &#8212; season with the Hawkeyes.That longevity had been a source of frustration for some in Iowa City, but Ferentz&#8217;s squad had a banner 2015, sweeping through the regular season and coming one epic Michigan State drive short of reaching the College Football Playoff.As it is, most have the Hawkeyes as the favorites in the Big Ten West once again, ahead of Nebraska, Wisconsin and Northwestern.&#8220;It&#8217;s the first time I&#8217;ve been involved with an undefeated season,&#8221; Ferentz said. &#8220;You look around the country and it&#8217;s tough to go undefeated. A lot of things have to go your way.&#8221;One glaring number is that Iowa graduated 21 seniors from a year ago. Not that all of them played major roles in 2015, but it has an effect across the board&#8220;This is a very new team,&#8221; Ferentz said.But the quarterback, C.J. Beathard, is still there. As is All-America cornerback Desmond King, who surprised many by not heading to the NFL.&#8220;I don&#8217;t think it was a tough decision,&#8221; Ferentz said. &#8220;From my vantage point, you don&#8217;t get a lot of chances where you get to do what you want and not what you feel like you have to do.&#8221;<hr/>D.J. Durkin, MarylandThe former Michigan and Florida defensive coordinator has had a quick rise up the coaching ranks and got a big boost from his work with Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor last fall and previously with Urban Meyer.&#8220;You learn things, bits and pieces,&#8221; Durkin said. &#8220;You&#8217;re always stealing things from guys you work with and I gained a lot from those guys. It&#8217;s great to be in the same division as them.&#8221;His pedigree was what quickly put him on the Terrapins&#8217; radar when they ousted Randy Edsall midway through last season. The program was in major need of a jolt and Durkin has already made an impact on the recruiting tail.Certainly the Terps have done better over the last few months in their home territory, an area where Penn State has had major success for years.&#8220;Our backyard is one of the most talent-rich areas in the country,&#8221; Durkin said. &#8220;I think you can put together a great program with that.&#8221;<hr/>Paul Chryst, WisconsinThe buzz in Madison all offseason is on the Badgers marquee season opener against LSU on Sept. 3, a game that will be played at the Packers&#8217; Lambeau Field.&#8220;This game happens because of the players that came before,&#8221; said Chryst, who credited the strong recent history for Wisconsin that made the program an attractive opponent for the Tigers, who should be one of the top-ranked teams in the preseason.It&#8217;s the second year for Chryst leading his alma mater after a brief stint at Pitt. It&#8217;s a role he&#8217;s still growing into, but one that he&#8217;s becoming more and more comfortable with.<hr/>Kevin Wilson, IndianaUnder Wilson, the focus with the Hoosiers has been big numbers in the passing game. But after the last two seasons with Tevin Coleman in 2014 and then Jordan Howard and Devine Redding last season, Wilson has had one of the better run games in the country.Howard left for the NFL, but Redding also topped 1,000 yards a year ago and will return to lead the offense as the Hoosiers search for a new quarterback to replace Nate Sudfeld.&#8220;This is by far the deepest our team has been,&#8221; Wilson said.More important for Wilson&#8217;s staff is some added stability. With the program still having trouble staying competitive, there were questions about Wilson&#8217;s contract status.That was helped with a lengthy extension and a commitment from the school.&#8220;With the six-year extension, you have a lot of (recruits) saying, &#8216;Hey we have a chance to be successful.&#8217; &#8220;But offense has rarely been the issue for Wilson and the Hoosiers at large, going back even to the days of Antwaan Randle El under center.&#8220;We&#8217;ve not played strong defense since we&#8217;ve been here,&#8221; Wilson said.That&#8217;s probably why the Hoosiers are now on their third defensive coordinator in six years with the hiring of Tom Allen from South Florida.&#8220;We&#8217;ve created a standard on one side of the ball that we never created on the other side,&#8221; Wilson said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a standard of playing hard, holding each other accountable. One side has hit it out of the park pretty good.&#8220;It&#8217;s about creating a culture. We&#8217;ve had great coaches, but it hasn&#8217;t connected yet.&#8221;<hr/>Lovie Smith, IllinoisThe veteran NFL coach gives the Illini a certain gravitas that the program hasn&#8217;t had in years, especially compared to recent predecessors like Tim Beckman and Ron Zook.But it&#8217;s going to take some time to rebuild.&#8220;I knew coming in we had to sell our brand,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve covered quite a bit of ground speaking with our fans, our alumni, letting them know about the new day. There&#8217;s a rebirth of our program.&#8220;Eventually it will come down to what we do on the football field. We realize that. We realize we have to put a better product on the football field. It&#8217;s as simple as that.&#8221;Smith brings a mix of college and pro coaches to his staff, with Garrick McGee from the college ranks to run the offense and then Hardy Nickerson (defense) and Bob Ligashesky (special teams), who have predominately NFL backgrounds.As for Smith himself, this is his first college job in 22 years.&#8220;I haven&#8217;t seen many differences,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;You have a different degree of athlete. But even in the NFL, I considered myself a college coach. Stressing fundamentals, having a personal relationship with the players in the NFL, just like we will in college.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Coach James Franklin took the spotlight for Penn State on Monday with athletic director Sandy Barbour scheduled to speak on Tuesday in Chicago. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_AP220362388691201672685533115-6.jpg</photo0><caption0>Coach James Franklin took the spotlight for Penn State on Monday with athletic director Sandy Barbour scheduled to speak on Tuesday in Chicago. </caption0><photoCredit0>Joe Hermitt | AP photo, PennLive.com </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div>

Live: Updates from second morning of Big Ten media days