Among the opening statements and graphic accounts of abuse by a witness on the first day in the trial of ex-Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was a small bit of testimony that hit home for a former Nittany Lions football star.

During his testimony on Monday, the accuser described as "Victim 4" in the initial grand jury report, recounted a visit to the Penn State football locker room when Sandusky took a jersey out of LaVar Arrington's locker and let him wear it. Victim 4 also testified that Sandusky took pictures of him in the jersey of the team's former star. Arrington played at Penn State from 1997-99 before going on to a career in the NFL.

Later that day, Arrington commented on the testimony on Twitter. Ultimately, the testimony had such a profound impact on the former NFL linebacker that he opted to write an article that appeared in the Washington Post on Tuesday. Arrington, who was among Sandusky's most talented pupils, recalled interacting with "Victim 4' during his time at Penn State.

He’s 28 now, but I can recall seeing him around all the time when he was a kid, and I built a relationship with him. I always enjoyed interacting with kids. As time went on, I knew he looked up to me and was a big fan, and I made a point of stopping to talk with him. I’d ask him the usual questions: ‘How are you?’ ‘How’s school?’ He always seemed mad or kind of distant. I remember distinctly asking him: “Why are you always walking around all mad, like a tough guy?”

Expressing shock that the sort of abuse recounted in the court could have been happening during that time, Arrington went as far as to apologize to Victim 4 for not being able to recognize any potential warning signs.

My anguish and disappointment doesn’t compare to that of the victims. All I can do is hope that Victim #4 finds this entry and can see that I’m offering my sincerest apologies. I am so sorry this happened.

Victim 4 is one of the 10 boys Sandusky allegedly sexually assaulted over a 15-year span. According to the grand jury report released in November 2011 after Sandusky's first arrest, Victim 4 met Sandusky at age 12 or 13 through The Second Mile, a charity established in 1977 by the coach. Victim 4 was also said to be listed as a member of Sandusky's family party for the 1998 Outback Bowl and 1999 Alamo Bowl.

Shortly after Sandusky's initial arrest in November 2011, Arrington spoke at length about the situation on the radio and penned another piece for the Washington Post about his conflicted feelings as a proud former PSU player and a parent.

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  • Jerry Sandusky

    Role: Former assistant football coach and founder of The Second Mile charity for children, accused of molesting boys over a 15-year period. Background: Arrested in November after a long investigation by a statewide grand jury. He had been a very successful defensive coach for the Nittany Lions for 30 years, and prosecutors say he used his fame in the community to attract victims. Charges: Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault of a young child, unlawful contact with minors, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children. Status: Awaits trial, with jury selection scheduled for Tuesday.

  • Dottie Sandusky

    Role: Married to Jerry Sandusky. Background: Dottie Sandusky has stood by her husband, posting his bail, accompanying him to court proceedings and issuing a statement in December that proclaimed his innocence and said accusers were making up stories. She is not charged.

  • Tim Curley

    Role: Penn State athletic director, on leave while he fights criminal charges for actions related to the Sandusky scandal. Background: Curley fielded a complaint about Sandusky in a team shower with a boy in early 2001, and told a grand jury he instructed Sandusky not to be inside Penn State athletic facilities with any young people. Charges: Failure to properly report suspected child abuse and perjury for lying to the grand jury. He's not on trial with Sandusky, denies the allegations and is seeking to have the charges dismissed.

  • Gary Schultz

    Role: Penn State vice president for business and finance, now retired. Background: Schultz told the grand jury that head coach Joe Paterno and assistant Mike McQueary reported the 2001 shower incident "in a very general way" but did not provide details. Charges: Failure to properly report suspected child abuse and perjury for lying to the grand jury. He's not on trial with Sandusky, denies the allegations and is seeking to have the charges dismissed.

  • Mike McQueary

    Role: Assistant Penn State football coach. Was a graduate assistant in 2001, when he says he witnessed Jerry Sandusky and a boy naked together in a team shower. McQueary took his complaint to Paterno, who alerted university administrators. Background: McQueary testified at a court hearing in December that he "believed Jerry was sexually molesting" the boy and "having some type of intercourse with him."

  • Joe Amendola

    Role: Defense attorney for Jerry Sandusky. Background: Amendola has been second-guessed for allowing Sandusky to go on network television and speak at length with a reporter for The New York Times after his arrest. Has won several legal battles for Sandusky, including getting him released on bail and fighting the prosecution's effort to have the case heard by a jury from outside the State College area. His office is in State College.

  • Karl Rominger

    Role: Another defense attorney for Jerry Sandusky. Background: Rominger suggested in media interviews that Sandusky might have been teaching "basic hygiene skills" to some of the youths, such as how to put soap on their bodies. His office is in Carlisle.

  • Joseph McGettigan III

    Role: Lead prosecutor. Background: McGettigan, currently senior deputy attorney general, is a veteran prosecutor with stints in the Philadelphia and Delaware County district attorneys' offices and the U.S. attorney's office. McGettigan prosecuted John du Pont, the chemical fortune heir who killed an Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler at his palatial estate in 1996. He's known as an aggressive, feisty lawyer.

  • John Cleland

    Role: Judge presiding over Sandusky's trial. Background: Cleland is a semi-retired senior judge from McKean County in western Pennsylvania. Known as courteous and fair-minded, Cleland previously chaired a state panel that investigated a nationally reported scandal in Luzerne County involving the trading of juvenile-detention suspects for cash.

  • Joe Paterno

    Role: The longtime football coach was told by McQueary in 2001 that he saw Sandusky and Victim No. 2 in a shower on the Penn State campus and, in turn, told Curley and Schultz. Background: The head coach at Penn State from 1966 through 2011, and major college football's winningest, he offered to resign at the end of the 2011 season amid the uproar after Sandusky's arrest Nov. 6. The Penn State Board of Trustees, however, ousted him for what was called his "failure of leadership" surrounding allegations about Sandusky. He died of lung cancer Jan. 22.

  • Sue Paterno

    Role: Married to Paterno for almost 50 years, she raised five children with him and passionately defended her husband during the scandal and after he died. It's unclear whether she might testify.

  • Tom Corbett

    Role: Now the governor of Pennsylvania, he was attorney general when the investigation into Sandusky was launched by state prosecutors. Background: Corbett is an ex-officio member of the Penn State Board of Trustees, although he did not actively participate until after Sandusky was charged in December.

  • Linda Kelly

    Role: Pennsylvania attorney general, whose office is prosecuting Sandusky. Background: A career prosecutor in the Pittsburgh area, Kelly inherited the Sandusky probe from Corbett when she was confirmed as his temporary successor as attorney general. She leaves office in January.

  • Frank Noonan

    Role: Pennsylvania State Police commissioner. Background: Noonan garnered national attention two days after Sandusky's arrest when he criticized Paterno, a Penn State and sports icon, for failing his "moral responsibility" to do more when McQueary told him of the 2001 shower incident.

  • Jack Raykovitz

    Role: Former CEO of The Second Mile, the charity Jerry Sandusky founded. Background: Raykovitz led the charity for almost 30 years and was a longtime friend of Sandusky's. Raykovitz testified before the grand jury that recommended indicting Sandusky on child abuse charges. He resigned from The Second Mile soon after the scandal broke, and board members later complained that Raykovitz hadn't told them enough about earlier allegations against Sandusky.

*captions via AP