Connor is ready for Alamo Bowl

Saturday’s game against Texas A&M will be his final one for Penn State.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Dan Connor got into football at an early age — as in 18 months old, when his football coach-father had him lining up in a three-point stance in the backyard.

He’s been on the field ever since. No wonder he turned into the latest star linebacker at Penn State.

“I’ve been a football player my whole life,” Connor said Thursday at the Alamodome. “I’ve been around it forever. Football is the main thing.”

Before he heads to the NFL, there’s one more collegiate game to play — Saturday against the Aggies at the Alamo Bowl.

Connor has already built an impressive resume, including the Bednarik Award as the nation’s best defensive player and Penn State’s career tackles leader (410).

All at a school dubbed Linebacker U. for producing impressive players like Paul Posluszny, Lavar Arrington and Shane Conlan.

Football for Connor started at the home of his parents, Jim and Carol Connor, in suburban Philadelphia, where Dad got Dan and his two older brothers into three-point stances at early ages.

“I was standing in the kitchen and said, ‘I don’t know if he really has it,”’ Jim Connor joked. “And Carol said, ‘He’s only 18 months old!”’

Jim Connor, a coach at Strath Haven High School, would bring film home to study. His sons would gravitate into the room and used what they saw as a script for mock games around the house.

Those games got fiercely competitive for Connor and the older boys, who didn’t use kid gloves when roughing around their baby brother.

It didn’t take long, though, for Connor to separate himself — and it had nothing to do with football. The boys were playing basketball in the backyard one day when the ball bounced over a four-foot fence. Connor, then about in fifth grade, jumped over with ease, never touching the fence, Carol Connor said.

“That’s when I knew ... Oh my God, he is a freak,” she said.

Connor started as a freshman at free safety on the Strath Haven team that won the 2000 PIAA Class AAA title. In high school, he also played middle linebacker and running back and rushed for 4,500 yards and 77 touchdowns in his prep career.

But linebacker is where is made his mark in college. Again, he impressed early, starting the last three games in his freshman season in 2004 and finishing second on the team with 85 tackles.

Connor’s play on the field speaks for itself. His athleticism grew out of all those leaps over the fence in the backyard of the Connor home. The toughness comes from those scrappy weekend games with his brothers and father.

A couple days of relaxation with his family in San Antonio after the bowl game await Connor before he starts training for the NFL draft in April. Linebacker U., though, appears to be in good hands, with junior Sean Lee set to take the starring role in 2008.

“He’s had such a great career,” Lee said. “I’m hoping we’ll go out on a win to send him out.”