Spurned by Penn State, LB has home at Purdue
October 10, 2003
Ron Bracken
rbracken@centredaily.com
Niko Koutouvides isn't sure what the Penn State coaches didn't like about him.
It might have been his speed. It might have been his size. It might have been his last name, which can blow up a spell-checker.
Whatever it was, his affection for Penn State was not reciprocated by the Nittany Lions when it came down to recruiting time.
So the Plainville, Conn., linebacker, by way of Milford Academy, wound up at Purdue, where he played as a true freshman in 2000 and is now one of the leaders of a rugged defense that will tee off on Penn State on Saturday in Ross-Ade Stadium.
"Growing up in Connecticut you're either a Syracuse, Boston College, Penn State or Notre Dame fan," he said. "I grew up being a Nittany Lion fan. After my freshman year in high school I went to their football camp and became a big fan. If one of their games was on television I would watch them. I wouldn't rush out of something to watch them if they were playing but I enjoyed watching them. It was fun."
And it wasn't much of a stretch to envision himself one day playing for Penn State. But the Lions didn't see it that way.
"When I was at Milford they came and checked me out and obviously, they didn't like what they saw," he said. "That's how the recruiting game goes.
"Maybe I was too slow. Maybe I wasn't what they needed. Maybe I wasn't their type of player. And I don't know how many scholarships they had, but now I'm here and things are going well."
So well that the Boilermakers are 4-1, their defense is giving up an average of 51.8 yards per game rushing and their offense is averaging 405.8 yards per game. They're also averaging plus-7 in turnovers while Penn State is averaging minus-9.
Koutouovides, who is one of nine returning starters on defense, is second on the team in tackles with 30, 17 of them solo. He also has two interceptions and has 1 1/2 tackles for loss.
Last year he was named first team All-Big Ten by the media and in the spring he earned the team's Hammer Award as the outstanding hitter.
In other words, he plays as if his hair is on fire, whether it's in the spring game or the regular season.
And while there's that little issue of rejection this Saturday, it really doesn't matter to the 6-foot-3, 237-pound Koutouvides who's on the other side of the neutral zone.
"I'm ready to play every Saturday," he said. "I play my heart out. I'm excited every game. But it will be good to play a team from back home. I have a lot of friends who are Penn State fans and I'm sure I'll get some calls on my cell phone."
The Boilermakers got called out in their season-opener when Bowling Green upset them, 27-26. It put their backs against the wall immediately.
"After that game we could have gone down one road or the other," Koutouvides said. "We could have gone down the pouting road, gone to Wake Forest and taken another loss, or we could have decided to go get a win, on the road. We chose the right road."
On Saturday, Penn State will be the next potential roadblock for the Boilermakers, who are embarking on a three-game stretch that will take them to Wisconsin and Michigan the next two Saturdays. Making Saturday's game a little more significant is that since Penn State has joined the Big Ten, Purdue is one of only two teams which has not beaten Joe Paterno's team.
Koutouvides has never met Paterno. When the recruiting process was going on he dealt with an assistant coach whose name he can't recall.
But he'd like to meet Paterno after the game.
"It would be an honor just to shake his hand," Koutouvides added. "He's a great coach who has had a lot of success there and has had some great teams. I'll wish him good luck the rest of the season."
But until the final whistle blows, Koutouvides won't be spending much time reflecting how things might have gone had Penn State made him an offer he would not have refused.
"I'm more concerned about what we do," he said. "I grew up a Penn State fan but now that I'm at Purdue. I don't like them. That's the way it goes."
