The shocking allegations that have arisen at Penn State regarding former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky's alleged sexual acts with minors he mentored, as well as the supposed cover up that Penn State administrators enacted afterwards, have taken the entire sports world off-guard. Plenty have weighed in, but few testimonies have been as personal as that provided by one of Sandusky's prized pupils -- former Penn State linebacker LaVar Arrington.
Arrington spoke on The Fan 106.7 FM in Washington DC on Monday afternoon to articulate his thoughts on the matter. HuffPost Sports compiled an excerpt of some of his comments below:
When I got to Penn State, I guess the reason why I gravitated to Jerry Sandusky, outside of the obvious of him being the professor of 'Linebacker U,' -- and that is why you go to that school, I wanted to be a part of that tradition, the one thing that really stood out and stuck with me was that I always saw him giving back. I always saw him as being a part of the community. I always saw him working with kids and caring about them. So when I heard this information, when all these things started being reported, it totally took me off-guard. I was moved to tears. I looked at my children because immediately I started thinking back to all the moments that I had at Penn State and all the moments I had with him. And just thinking to myself how hard I worked to please him. And how hard I work to please Joe [Paterno]. And how hard we all worked to please these guys, and then to have this happen...
I look at what has taken place, not knowing everything, not knowing how it's all going to pan out, not knowing what this has to do with Joe or with [Tim] Curley or with the other fella that's the Treasurer of the school. I'm upset, I'm shocked and I'm disappointed. Disappointed that, no matter what the outcome is, there were so many lives that were affected and impacted the wrong way. And so for me -- and I know I'm speaking not only on behalf of myself but I'm speaking on behalf of every person who has ever went into a classroom at Penn State and has tried to do things the right way and what we call 'The Penn State way' -- the reason I'm speaking out is because that's how I feel.
The irresponsible acts and the nature of what these allegations are right now, I just hate for it to be a lasting legacy of [Penn State] because that institution has done so much. So many countless things in the community with kids, with adults and with education. Penn State has been at the forefront of doing things the right way. The irresponsible nature of how this was handled, and the magnitude of what this represents, it's very disturbing. I'm ashamed of it. With that being said, for as much love as I had in my heart for that coaching staff -- because I followed Jerry [Sandusky], Jerry was our leader -- and now I sit here and I feel so empty. I feel a certain type of way that a person shouldn't have to feel.
The former NFL linebacker spoke for roughly 10 minutes uninterrupted about the incident before taking calls from listeners.
Arrington also wrote a blog post for The Washington Post Monday morning that outlined some of his experiences with Sandusky:
He was always very active in trying to help troubled youths and often asked me to take time out of my schedule to spend time with the kids that he would bring around the facility. I remember distinctly playing soccer games in the locker room with a taped-up towel. It meant a lot to me to help brighten the day of a child who had issues at home. I never saw or felt anything that would've made me uncomfortable or even felt that inappropriate things were taking place. For what it's worth, I too was just a kid back then, why would I think that Jerry of all people could possibly be capable of doing such things?
Although Arrington claims to have the report outlining Sandusky's explicit actions with the minors, he confessed that he could not bring himself to read it.
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