Cornley taking look at football option

Jeff Rice

UNIVERSITY PARK — Jamelle Cornley has played his final game as a college basketball player.

But he might not have caught his final pass as a college athlete.

Penn State’s muscular power forward is pondering several options for his next move. They include professional basketball, professional football or college football.

“I’m going to make my final decision on what sport, what agency, all that stuff, in the next month or so,” Cornley said Thursday. “I’ve got to sit down and put everything in perspective.”

Cornley capped an outstanding four-year career on the hardwood with 1,579 points and 755 rebounds, both good for fourth place on Penn State’s all-time lists. He has received offers to play abroad and to join developmental league summer camps in the United States.

Football, however, has always been Cornley’s first love, and an elusive one at that. His father, Hank, didn’t let him play as a youth because of his own negative experiences with the sport.

The 6-foot-4, 248-pound Cornley sometimes looked out of place on the low block. But it’s easy to envision him running down the seam as a tight end, the position he said he would most likely play.

“When you look at my frame compared to some other guys’ frames, and then you look at the athleticism and the hunger, there’s something to consider,” Cornley said.

“Maybe I need to get popped one good time to realize that maybe that’s not my sport, but right now it’s something I’m thinking about doing.”

Cornley would be eligible to play one season of college football. He said he had planned to talk to Penn State quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno about the prospect of doing so here but would likely wait until the football team concluded spring drills.

Adding more uncertainty to Cornley’s decision is his partially dislocated left shoulder, which caused him to miss one game during Penn State’s NIT run and limited him in several others. Cornley, who is looking to find a shoulder specialist, said that Penn State team physician Wayne Sebastianelli looked at his MRI Wednesday and recommended surgery, which would require a 5-6 month recovery process.

His decision in the coming weeks will be closely followed by fans of both sports. Cornley’s point guard, Talor Battle, believes his teammate will stay with basketball.

“I think he just loves it way too much,” Battle said. “He’s really good. Hopefully he gets a shot to play professionally in the NBA and if not, hopefully he has a great career overseas somewhere.”

Marathon man

Been wondering how Battle’s body felt after averaging nearly 38 minutes in 38 games this season?

“I came in to shoot like three or four days ago and I still had no lift in my legs,” Battle said.

The slender point guard played 1,422 minutes this season, more than anyone else in Division I and 485 more minutes (nearly 12 games’ worth) more than he played during his freshman season.

“It was a lot of minutes,” he said, “but I’d rather play a lot of minutes than none at all.”

Penn State coach Ed DeChellis hopes the arrival of incoming point guard Tim Frazier and the continued development of off guards Chris Babb and Cammeron Woodyard will lead to some more breathers for Battle next season.

“We need to get the ball out of his hands a little more,” DeChellis said. “But he’s a strong kid, a tough kid and wants to play. Hopefully we don’t have to do that, but if we will I think he’s proven he can play those minutes and do very well.”

Next up

The Nittany Lions’ 2009-10 non-conference schedule remains under construction.

“It changes daily,” DeChellis said. “It’s been a frustrating experience again. I think the better you get, the less opportunities sometimes you have. People don’t want to come here and play.

“We’ve worked hard at it. Contracts are out there, we’re hoping to get them signed. It hasn’t been easy.”

Penn State’s non-conference strength of schedule was 311 this season, one of the factors that kept a 22-11 team out of the NCAA tournament field. DeChellis said Penn State director of basketball operations Jon Perry has been working the phones since November trying to fill dates.

“There’s opportunities to go on the road and play some people,” DeChellis said. “But the opportunities to try to get some teams here has been a real challenge.”