NCAA Football

Silas Redd Officially Leaves Penn State For USC, Will Be Eligible To Play In 2012

Things are bleak in Unhappy Valley (get it?) and getting bleaker. Running back Silas Redd, (former) crown jewel of the Nittany Lions’ offense, has announced his transfer to the USC Trojans according to the Daily News. And because the NCAA is not redshirting students for one year who wish to leave Penn State in light of the scandal, which they do for transfers under normal circumstances, Redd will play in 2012 and make an immediate impact on an already high-powered USC offense.

There was a lot of talk of Penn State’s players sticking around in spite of the scandal, players who wanted to be integral in the rebuilding process and resurrect the image of a school and a program in shambles. But Penn State faithful had another thing coming if they thought their star running back was going to stick around to weather this storm, or if his exodus was the last.

It’s easy to vilify Redd for leaving the smoking ruins behind. You can make character accusations and plead him to be a bigger man and weather the storm, but this is the unfortunate reality of the Post-Paterno, Post-Sandusky Penn State, unless of course you’re a USC fan.

The NCAA leveled on Penn State the most lethal sanctions in college football history and fans should count their blessings that Redd has been the only significant domino to fall so far in terms of player personnel, even if he was a pretty big domino.

Redd is simply looking out for number one. He is a marquee running back in the college game and his road to the NFL will be a lot less bumpy in Southern California than it would have been had he stayed in Central Pennsylvania. Why stick around the toxic environment still tainted tangibly and otherwise by the fall of the Paterno Empire, unable to surround yourself with premium talent and exiled from postseason play?

Instead of doing that, Redd is opting to take the backfield behind arguably the best quarterback in the nation in Matt Barkley and play on a Trojans team hungry for a title of any sort after sanctions of their own are set expire.

Now, you would be remiss not to applaud the players who decided to stay in State College, as well as new head coach Bill O’Brien for accepting the seemingly insurmountable task of bringing this program back from the ashes. The fact that Penn State will be able to field a team at all in 2012 is a testament to the will of the guys who envision a Penn State beyond the crippling scandal, absent of the stink of unprecedented moral and ethical wrongdoing.

As for Silas Redd, he’s just being pragmatic. He has his own agenda and is making what he thinks is the most practical decision for him. You can’t blame a guy for going with his gut.

And if there’s any winner in this situation, it’s the USC Trojans. Like their offense wasn’t good enough, I can already feel the rest of the Pac-12 and the SEC powerhouses shaking in their collective boots.

[Daily News, photo: Getty]