Even Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers thinks Paterno is getting too much blame

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER It seemed a little odd. When the media session opened today at Pocono Raceway, Heisman Trophy winners George Rogers and Tim Brown were at the head table along with Jeff Gordon. You generally don't see a lot of football guys, with the exception of former Redskins coach and Sprint Cup team owner Joe Gibbs, hanging around here. They were here to announce that Jeff Gordon is the 2012 recipient of the Heisman Humanitarian Award and one of NASCAR's biggest stars will be saluted at the Heisman Memorial Trophy Dinner in New York on Dec. 10. Couldn't catch up to Brown, the Notre Damer who won the Heisman in 1987, but I did get Rogers in the lunch room. He's the 1980 Heisman winner from South Carolina and looks, frankly, more like a lineman these days than a running back. Rogers was happy to be here, happy to honor Gordon. He still works in the athletic department at South Carolina and was happy to hear about Brendan Nosovitch, the former Central Catholic star who is entering his first training camp with the Gamecocks. "I've heard a lot about him and I know he's won some state championships and that's good enough for us," Rogers said. "We need a good one and he'll have a good time being a Gamecock. We need someone to back up our starter Connor Shaw right now [backup QB Tanner McEvoy was arrested and charged with speeding and driving after consuming while under age 21]. "I am looking forward to seeing how good [Nosovitch] is. He'll learn the game real well from coach [Steve] Spurrier and he's going to win some games, too. He'll help him quite a bit. We need a good athlete and a good kid, too." As for Spurrier, Rogers said: "There's no one else like him. He's a great guy, though. He wants the kids to be good football players, but he wants them to graduate because that's more important than anything else." Being since he was in Pennsylvania, Rogers had to be asked the Penn State situation. "Joe Paterno is a great guy and I just don't see how they can get him mixed up with everything that has happened," Rogers said. "They got the guy who did it, and that's the guy they should have got. "I just feel bad for him and everything he went through to get to this point. After all he built, for them to take everything away from him like they did is crazy. Joe built Penn State and he did it by the book, the right way. I wish my coach was like him. I am sure he didn't have as much to do with it as a lot of people think. Maybe he did know a little bit, but not enough for them to take away everything they've taken from him." Rogers acknowledged that Penn State is in for a tough ride. "You didn't hear a lot about SMU for awhile after the NCAA hit them," he said. "It's not going to be easy."