Perry Is Patient at Penn State

Rod Perry Jr. is playing the waiting game--more than he’s playing football--this season at Penn State.

Perry didn’t become eligible to practice with the Nittany Lions until four days before the team’s first game after his transfer from Cal State Fullerton, and that has made it a slow start for him.

For Perry to become eligible, a full two years had to elapse from the time he was sidelined in 1997 preseason practice at USC because of a knee injury.

“I’ve had to reprogram myself all over again for football,” Perry said. “It had to be a crash course this season.”

Perry, who played at Mater Dei High, quit football after the injury two years ago and transferred to Fullerton to play baseball. Perry, however, decided he missed football, dropped off the Titan baseball team and switched to Penn State.

“I feel good about the decision I made, and I think this will be a tremendous opportunity for me down the road,” said Perry, who will have two years of eligibility remaining. “You can’t beat the atmosphere here for football.”

Perry, a wide receiver, has played briefly in seven games this season. He has caught one pass for four yards and returned one punt for 15 yards.

“I wish I could be playing more this year, but I can’t do anything about that,” Perry said. “I was battling a hamstring injury for a while too. But I’m willing to wait it out because I know it takes time.”

Kenny Jackson, the Penn State receivers coach, said Perry’s late start has been a factor in his limited playing time. “He has had quite a bit to learn, and he still needs to get in better football shape,” Jackson said. “He has exceptional hands, and he’s a good punt returner, but he needs to get more physical. He needs to fall in love with the weight room in the off-season. But I think he can be a very productive college football player.”

Perry said he also is considering playing baseball at Penn State. “I’m not eligible to play baseball this spring, but [football] Coach [Joe] Paterno said I could do that later if I want to,” Perry said.

ANOTHER INSLEY RECORD

Nevada wide receiver Trevor Insley closed out his college football career Saturday by setting NCAA records for receptions and receiving yardage in a season, and receptions in a career.

Insley, who played at San Clemente High, caught 14 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns in the Wolf Pack’s 37-35 loss to Utah State. That gave him 134 catches for 2,060 yards for the season, marking the first time in NCAA history a receiver has gone over the 2,000-yard mark. The previous NCAA record was 1,996 by Louisiana Tech’s Troy Edwards in 1998.

He also set an NCAA career record for receptions with 298, breaking the record of 295 set by former teammate Geoff Noisy (of Irvine High) in 1995-98.

Earlier this season, Insley broke the NCAA career receiving yardage record, and he finished with 5,005 yards.

Former San Clemente quarterback Chris Boden also finished his college career Saturday with a big game for Villanova.

Boden completed 30 of 44 passes for 286 yards and six touchdowns in Villanova’s 51-45 overtime victory over Delaware.

Boden finished his career with 10,146 yards and 100 touchdown passes. He passed for 3,058 yards this season, his third consecutive season passing for more than 3,000 yards.

HELP FOR HAWAII

Four former Orange County players are key members of the Hawaii women’s volleyball team that recently won the Western Athletic Conference championship and is ranked No. 3 in the nation.

Heather Bown, a 6-3 senior middle hitter who played at Esperanza High, is having her second consecutive standout season after transferring from UC Santa Barbara.

A first-team selection on the American Volleyball Coaches Assn. All-American team as a junior, Bown leads the nation in blocks with an average of 2.28 per game. She also is averaging 4.07 kills per game.

Other members of the team include junior Jessica Sudduth of Esperanza, senior Jennifer Roberts of Calvary Chapel and freshman Jennifer Carey of Newport Harbor.

Sudduth, a first-team All-WAC selection last season, is averaging 3.10 kills per game. Carey averages 11.75 assists and 1.11 blocks. Roberts has a 1.75 kill average.

Hawaii is 24-1, 13-0 in the WAC. The Rainbows will host the NCAA championships Dec. 16-18.

NOTEWORTHY

Cal State Los Angeles junior middle blocker Caryn Sale (Capistrano Valley High) has been chosen California Collegiate Athletic Assn. player of the year by conference coaches. Sale has a .376 hitting percentage, third-best ever at the school. Junior middle blocker Myeetsha Coffer (Orange High) also was an All-CCAA selection.

Laurie Layton (Mater Dei High) has set a career assist record for the Radford women’s volleyball team. Layton has 5,224 career assists. The previous record of 4,721 was set by Deidre Davis. Layton has 1,140 assists this season, an average of 13.4 per game.

Loyola Marymount goalkeeper Tracy Sharp (Esperanza) was selected to the All-West Coast Conference first team in women’s soccer. She had a 0.83 goals-against average.