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Off the Assembly Line
Sean Lee, another vaunted product out of Penn State, offers potential at inside linebacker.
Ken Sins
DallasCowboysStar.com
This story originally appeared in Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine, which is now available on iPad. For subscription information, please click here.
Linebackers roll out of Penn State like luxury sedans roll off the assembly line in Bavaria.
The lineage is impressive, a group that includes Dave Robinson, Jack Ham, Greg Buttle, Shane Conlan, Andre Collins, Brandon Short, LaVar Arrington, Paul Posluszny and Dan Connor. The 1999 team was so loaded at the position that the Nittany Lions had three starters who were finalists for the Butkus Award, presented to the nation's best linebacker.
Sean Lee is the latest entry, selected by the Cowboys with the 55th overall pick in April's draft. Since Joe Paterno took over the program at Happy Valley in 1966, Penn State has been a factory for linebackers, a legacy fostered by Paterno of which Lee is proud.
Lee senses the same pride among the Cowboys' linebacker group, led by veterans Bradie James, DeMarcus Ware and Keith Brooking.
"When you go to Penn State, you're forced to work a certain way," Lee says. "You become a man, a guy who's going to work every day to become a better player and a better person. That's something I can use at this level.
"Linebackers at Penn State compete against either other every day to become better players, and it's the same thing here, where guys push each other to get better."
Lee is a student of the game, one of the traits that made him attractive to the Cowboys. Coach Wade Phillips says Lee is a perfectionist at a position that is challenging to master.
"The ability to play inside linebacker is not easy to find these days," Phillips says. "To be able to play the run and the pass and to be agile enough and active enough, he has all those qualities. Plus, he's real smart."
It didn't take long for the Cowboys to conclude that Lee would be able to contribute as a rookie. After he impressed during their three-day rookie minicamp, the Cowboys traded incumbent nickel linebacker and former first-round pick Bobby Carpenter to the St. Louis Rams for offensive tackle Alex Barron.
Lee's pass coverage projects as a strength, and that's where he's likely to make the greatest impact. He'll compete for the nickel job with Brandon Williams, who missed his rookie year with injuries.
Lee got additional reps in the spring at inside linebacker while Brooking recovered from offseason knee surgery, and the Cowboys hope that Lee will eventually grow into an every-down linebacker, perhaps replacing Brooking when the latter moves on or retires.
He plays with a passion similar to Brooking, which is a good start. Brooking's gung-ho attitude is contagious, as the Cowboys discovered during the ex-Falcon Pro Bowler's first season in Dallas.
So far, linebacker coach Reggie Herring likes what he sees from Lee. The kid is athletic, smart and coachable.
"He has enough talent to help us out on special teams and to provide some depth," Herring says. "He's in a learning mode right now. He's a very sharp individual, but no matter what people think, this is a very complex game. There's a lot to learn. But if anybody can learn it's him. He has excellent retention."
Among the qualities that have caught Herring's attention are Lee's "quickness, his explosiveness, his ability to pick things up quickly and absorb things. He's like a magnet. Not only does he have a great work ethic, but he gets upset when he doesn't do things well. He wants to be perfect and nobody can be perfect. But it bothers him when he does things wrong, and it's very obvious. That's where it all starts. Do you care, are you committed, are you consistent?"
Herring says the Cowboys want Lee to be versatile, and he's getting "a little taste at each position and seems to be absorbing it well. He picks things up quick."
During rookie camp, Lee was the only linebacker on the field, so he had four coaches working with him, an advantage he didn't mind one bit.
"To be with great coaches one-on-one, you pick up more on technique, on everything," Lee says. "It's only going to make me a better player. You try to learn the defense and try to make an impact on special teams. You're not only learning how to play, but how to act off the field, how to work. It's important to be on edge, to be ready to go all the time, so as a rookie trying to learn it's the best situation for me."
During the spring he spent two hours of study on the playbook each night, then 12 hours at Valley Ranch on the field and in the classroom.
"You come out of a meeting and you don't immediately retain it," he says. "It's like studying. You want to get on the field and have it down. The process for me is you learn it from and X's and O's standpoint on the board, and then learn it from reps on the field. That's the process."
Lee was an outstanding scholar-athlete at Upper St. Clair Township 10 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. He played safety and tailback in high school before switching to linebacker at Penn State, his position for five years at Happy Valley.
His high school was 31-4 in his three seasons as a starter, 11-1 as a senior when he was a two-way star, rushing for 1,240 yards and 21 touchdowns and making 95 tackles and four interceptions as a safety. He also averaged 21.2 points and 9.1 rebounds for a basketball team that won the Western Pennsylvania District AAAA title.
Not only that, but he carried a 3.7 GPA.
At Penn State, he was considered the team's hardest hitter, and showed his versatility by playing all three linebacker spots. He began his college career at left outside linebacker, moved to the middle as a sophomore, and then shifted back to the outside as a junior, staying there for his final season.
Lee's already had success in Texas as well. At the 2007 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, he was the game's MVP as he led Penn State to a 24-0 whipping of Texas A&M. That season he was second-team All-Big 10 with 138 tackles, including 17 against Illinois.
But his 2008 campaign ended before it ever got started when he tore ligaments in his right knee in spring practice. He got a medical redshirt and despite the fact that he couldn't play, was elected team captain.
Lee returned for his fifth year, earning second-team All-Big Ten while starting eight of 10 games. He finished his career with 324 tackles, fourth in school history, with 11 sacks, 28.8 stops for losses, 16 pass breakups, three interceptions and six fumble recoveries.
Lee had to play with a knee brace last season, but he made a major recovery, impressing NFL scouts on Penn State's Pro Day by running a 4.6 40-yard dash. Still, the Cowboys are being careful. Early in the spring, he practiced with his brace from Penn State, although offseason workouts made his legs bigger and the brace no longer fit. He used a custom brace as a precautionary measure during Organized Team Activities and minicamp workouts.
The son of a criminal attorney-dad and a nurse-mom, Lee's parents encouraged academic excellence from their kids. Lee has a degree in finance, earning a 3.09 GPA at Penn State.
"My parents held me accountable from when I was a young guy. If there was something I wasn't doing as well as they thought I could, they rode me and rode me," he says.
Engrained traits that are now helping him focus on football.
"I'm learning on the fly," he says. "I make a lot of mistakes. I've learned a lot, but there's a lot of work ahead, especially mentally. You can know it on paper, but getting out there in situations, it's different. You should always cherish the opportunities to learn."
Sean Lee, another vaunted product out of Penn State, offers potential at inside linebacker.
Ken Sins
DallasCowboysStar.com
This story originally appeared in Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine, which is now available on iPad. For subscription information, please click here.
Linebackers roll out of Penn State like luxury sedans roll off the assembly line in Bavaria.
The lineage is impressive, a group that includes Dave Robinson, Jack Ham, Greg Buttle, Shane Conlan, Andre Collins, Brandon Short, LaVar Arrington, Paul Posluszny and Dan Connor. The 1999 team was so loaded at the position that the Nittany Lions had three starters who were finalists for the Butkus Award, presented to the nation's best linebacker.
Sean Lee is the latest entry, selected by the Cowboys with the 55th overall pick in April's draft. Since Joe Paterno took over the program at Happy Valley in 1966, Penn State has been a factory for linebackers, a legacy fostered by Paterno of which Lee is proud.
Lee senses the same pride among the Cowboys' linebacker group, led by veterans Bradie James, DeMarcus Ware and Keith Brooking.
"When you go to Penn State, you're forced to work a certain way," Lee says. "You become a man, a guy who's going to work every day to become a better player and a better person. That's something I can use at this level.
"Linebackers at Penn State compete against either other every day to become better players, and it's the same thing here, where guys push each other to get better."
Lee is a student of the game, one of the traits that made him attractive to the Cowboys. Coach Wade Phillips says Lee is a perfectionist at a position that is challenging to master.
"The ability to play inside linebacker is not easy to find these days," Phillips says. "To be able to play the run and the pass and to be agile enough and active enough, he has all those qualities. Plus, he's real smart."
It didn't take long for the Cowboys to conclude that Lee would be able to contribute as a rookie. After he impressed during their three-day rookie minicamp, the Cowboys traded incumbent nickel linebacker and former first-round pick Bobby Carpenter to the St. Louis Rams for offensive tackle Alex Barron.
Lee's pass coverage projects as a strength, and that's where he's likely to make the greatest impact. He'll compete for the nickel job with Brandon Williams, who missed his rookie year with injuries.
Lee got additional reps in the spring at inside linebacker while Brooking recovered from offseason knee surgery, and the Cowboys hope that Lee will eventually grow into an every-down linebacker, perhaps replacing Brooking when the latter moves on or retires.
He plays with a passion similar to Brooking, which is a good start. Brooking's gung-ho attitude is contagious, as the Cowboys discovered during the ex-Falcon Pro Bowler's first season in Dallas.
So far, linebacker coach Reggie Herring likes what he sees from Lee. The kid is athletic, smart and coachable.
"He has enough talent to help us out on special teams and to provide some depth," Herring says. "He's in a learning mode right now. He's a very sharp individual, but no matter what people think, this is a very complex game. There's a lot to learn. But if anybody can learn it's him. He has excellent retention."
Among the qualities that have caught Herring's attention are Lee's "quickness, his explosiveness, his ability to pick things up quickly and absorb things. He's like a magnet. Not only does he have a great work ethic, but he gets upset when he doesn't do things well. He wants to be perfect and nobody can be perfect. But it bothers him when he does things wrong, and it's very obvious. That's where it all starts. Do you care, are you committed, are you consistent?"
Herring says the Cowboys want Lee to be versatile, and he's getting "a little taste at each position and seems to be absorbing it well. He picks things up quick."
During rookie camp, Lee was the only linebacker on the field, so he had four coaches working with him, an advantage he didn't mind one bit.
"To be with great coaches one-on-one, you pick up more on technique, on everything," Lee says. "It's only going to make me a better player. You try to learn the defense and try to make an impact on special teams. You're not only learning how to play, but how to act off the field, how to work. It's important to be on edge, to be ready to go all the time, so as a rookie trying to learn it's the best situation for me."
During the spring he spent two hours of study on the playbook each night, then 12 hours at Valley Ranch on the field and in the classroom.
"You come out of a meeting and you don't immediately retain it," he says. "It's like studying. You want to get on the field and have it down. The process for me is you learn it from and X's and O's standpoint on the board, and then learn it from reps on the field. That's the process."
Lee was an outstanding scholar-athlete at Upper St. Clair Township 10 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. He played safety and tailback in high school before switching to linebacker at Penn State, his position for five years at Happy Valley.
His high school was 31-4 in his three seasons as a starter, 11-1 as a senior when he was a two-way star, rushing for 1,240 yards and 21 touchdowns and making 95 tackles and four interceptions as a safety. He also averaged 21.2 points and 9.1 rebounds for a basketball team that won the Western Pennsylvania District AAAA title.
Not only that, but he carried a 3.7 GPA.
At Penn State, he was considered the team's hardest hitter, and showed his versatility by playing all three linebacker spots. He began his college career at left outside linebacker, moved to the middle as a sophomore, and then shifted back to the outside as a junior, staying there for his final season.
Lee's already had success in Texas as well. At the 2007 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, he was the game's MVP as he led Penn State to a 24-0 whipping of Texas A&M. That season he was second-team All-Big 10 with 138 tackles, including 17 against Illinois.
But his 2008 campaign ended before it ever got started when he tore ligaments in his right knee in spring practice. He got a medical redshirt and despite the fact that he couldn't play, was elected team captain.
Lee returned for his fifth year, earning second-team All-Big Ten while starting eight of 10 games. He finished his career with 324 tackles, fourth in school history, with 11 sacks, 28.8 stops for losses, 16 pass breakups, three interceptions and six fumble recoveries.
Lee had to play with a knee brace last season, but he made a major recovery, impressing NFL scouts on Penn State's Pro Day by running a 4.6 40-yard dash. Still, the Cowboys are being careful. Early in the spring, he practiced with his brace from Penn State, although offseason workouts made his legs bigger and the brace no longer fit. He used a custom brace as a precautionary measure during Organized Team Activities and minicamp workouts.
The son of a criminal attorney-dad and a nurse-mom, Lee's parents encouraged academic excellence from their kids. Lee has a degree in finance, earning a 3.09 GPA at Penn State.
"My parents held me accountable from when I was a young guy. If there was something I wasn't doing as well as they thought I could, they rode me and rode me," he says.
Engrained traits that are now helping him focus on football.
"I'm learning on the fly," he says. "I make a lot of mistakes. I've learned a lot, but there's a lot of work ahead, especially mentally. You can know it on paper, but getting out there in situations, it's different. You should always cherish the opportunities to learn."