‘Captain Comeback’: Lee back at Penn St.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — The polished demeanor and boy-next-door haircut make Sean Lee seem like a typical, mild-mannered college senior.

But once Lee puts on his helmet and blue-and-white uniform, he transforms into a fiery Penn State linebacker who loves to hit.

After sitting out 2008 with a right knee injury, it’s easy to understand why the Nittany Lions captain is eager to get his comeback started at spring practice.

“I was really excited, flush a little bit, a little nervous,” Lee said in describing how he felt butterflies for the spring’s first practice last week. “But I was excited to just be doing football.”

Expectations were high last season for Lee to be the next star at Linebacker U. Playing alongside headliners Paul Posluszny and Dan Connor, Lee averaged 114 tackles in 2006 and 2007, his first two seasons as a starter.

Lee seemed destined last spring to take over middle linebacker from Connor, but his season came to a premature end when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Lee’s knee was not hit, it just buckled as he pivoted on the practice turf.

The initial fear was that Penn State’s defense took a devastating blow. While the team did miss him, coach Joe Paterno’s squad ended up faring relatively well en route to a Big Ten championship.

Named a captain despite the injury, Lee spent the year relegated to the sideline serving as an unofficial assistant coach.

Finally, the wait to suit up again is over.

“I think they want to keep me out of contact,” Lee said about his plans for this spring. “I’ll do whatever. If they want to take me out, they’ll take me out.”

Paterno plans to proceed cautiously. After all, Lee and Navorro Bowman — who emerged in Lee’s absence as a playmaker himself — will likely form the Big Ten’s best linebacking duo this fall.

“He doesn’t have to prove anything to us,” said Paterno about Lee.

“He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever coached, and I don’t mean just out on the field,” Paterno said.

Lee insists he could “play tomorrow” if the season started. He no longer wears a brace on the knee, which he said he finally felt normal again about six weeks ago.

He looked fairly agile on the practice turf, stretching and jogging with teammates at Penn State’s indoor practice facility. Lee said he’s not really worried, either, about getting hit when the games do start because the injury occurred in a non-contact drill.

“I know to myself that the knee right now is not an issue,” he said.

He considers his time chained to the sideline a valuable learning tool in getting a different vantage point on reading opposing offenses and knowing his teammates’ tendencies.

That could be very helpful if Lee winds up at middle linebacker. Paterno has said that’s probably where Lee will play, though he will use the spring to check out other possibilities.

Regardless of where, just having Lee on the field will be a boon for a defense that suffered key losses from last season. Lee will be looked upon to lead a unit that will need two new starting defensive ends and a new secondary.