Demanding that every Nittany Lion had to pass a once-optional physical fitness test to even get into preseason practice this August. So we've had more conditioning to focus on. This has been the hardest summer I've been apart of since I've been here. It was the same message across the board for the Lions, yielding better results. Cerimele said he passed the 20-minute test for the first time ever this summer, thanks to the extra distance work he put in.
Conditioning is always important.
But there is preseason conditioning and offseason conditioning. They're both different than football shape. That's the best example that Paterno's message doesn't end with passing two conditioning tests in August. No, that wasn't the mistake from last year. Paterno doesn't plan for his team to be less conditioned one year, and more conditioned the next.