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FC: Best DT duo in Penn State history?

Is Mike Read any relation to Mike Reid? ;) (my first emoticon here)

I'll grant you Reid, but how good was Smear? I was too young to see/remember him playing. Was he an AA? Did he play pro ball?
 
Is Mike Read any relation to Mike Reid? ;) (my first emoticon here)

I'll grant you Reid, but how good was Smear? I was too young to see/remember him playing. Was he an AA? Did he play pro ball?
Smear was an All American on a team that went undefeated for 2 years. He was undersized and played pro ball in Canada. Smear and Reid played together as if they could read each others minds.
 
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Is Mike Read any relation to Mike Reid? ;) (my first emoticon here)

I'll grant you Reid, but how good was Smear? I was too young to see/remember him playing. Was he an AA? Did he play pro ball?
Steve played bass fiddle in accompaniment to Mike's piano. He was a pretty good DT also. My vote would have to go to Clark and Millen. I remember after a game against Kentucky in Lexington the post game headline was "The tackles who ate Lexington."
 
Smear was an All American on a team that went undefeated for 2 years. He was undersized and played pro ball in Canada. Smear and Reid played together as if they could read each others minds.
Reid Was an NFL all pro for the Bengals. Obviously Smear was not the 2nd best DT but as a pair, they were the best.
 
http://www.ydr.com/psu/ci_27900034/frank-bodani-zettel-plus-johnson-may-equal-best

There have been other great defensive linemen playing together... who do you have as your two best DT (not DE) playing at the same time?
I will go with Reid and Smear (or Smear and Reid as in the photo below).
pic_SMEAR_REID.jpg
 
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Mary, not to be too personal, but if that is a recent photo of you, and you are 70, you have amazingly wrinkle free skin, especially for someone living in Florida.
 
Either Reid-Smear or Millen-Clark.

I truly believe if you took the best players from each school by position, Penn State's defensive front seven might be the best: Courtney Brown-Reid-Clark-Michael Haynes and at LB, Posluszny, Onkotz, and either Arrington or Conlan. Few, if any could match that.
 
There should be little doubt that Mike Reid is the single greatest DT (he even gets my vote as the greatest overall player) of all time. Heck, as a first-year (sophomore) MLB he set a record that still stands: 3 safeties in a game vs Maryland.

Contrary to one poster's comment, Steve Smear was not selected to any 1st team All America list in 1969. A former End, Smear was an ideal compliment to Reid at DT. However, as a tandem, these 2 would rank, IMO, a notch below the nearly unblockable duo of Bruce Clark and Matt Millen.

"Salt and Pepper," as Clark & Millen were called, moved from LB to DT in 1977 as sophomores and began a reign as dominating forces that SMU's coach called "the best DT duo I've evere seen ... nobody can block them both at the same time." [roughly paraphrased quote ... I can't recall the precise phrasing].

But one pair that many Penn State fans seem to forget is the Randy Crowder-Mike Hartenstine duo in 1973. Crowder did make All America, and Hartenstine was named NBC's Defensive POY in '74. Hartenstine was so quick off the snap, that he often tackled Stanford's QB Mike Boryla before Boryla could even begin his backpeddle.

I don't think it is fair or even relevant to rate a college player's career by looking at his NFL career. Some players like Dennis Onkotz never receive the credit they deserve simply because they never excelled in the NFL. I think Clark and Hartenstine, for example, sometimes lose recognition because they both played DE in the pros, and Millen played MLB. But as college DTs, Clark & MIllen were just fantastic!
 
http://www.ydr.com/psu/ci_27900034/frank-bodani-zettel-plus-johnson-may-equal-best

There have been other great defensive linemen playing together... who do you have as your two best DT (not DE) playing at the same time?
clark and Millen were at psu when I was there. I remember a game against Rutgers where they both arrived at the qb at the same time. they de-cleated and crushed him. I remember it but I am pretty sure the QB doesn't. After the play he got up and started to sort of meander toward the PSU bench and his teammates had to take him by the elbow and lead him off to his own side of the field, the poor bastard.
 
Since I've been following Penn State football (early 90's) I'd say Adams and Kennedy. We've had a lot of years where we had one standout DT (Odrick, Still, Jones, etc.) but not many with two who were at or near the same level. Zettel and Johnson will probably take over Adams and Kennedy after this year to be honest. They're that good.
 
Is Mike Read any relation to Mike Reid? ;) (my first emoticon here)

I'll grant you Reid, but how good was Smear? I was too young to see/remember him playing. Was he an AA? Did he play pro ball?
yes, he was very good, did play some pro ball.
 
Contrary to one poster's comment, Steve Smear was not selected to any 1st team All America list in 1969.

True. Smear was a 2nd team All American in 1969. In those days, pollsters rarely, if ever, named two players at the same position from the same school as 1st team All Americans. That said, the other 1st team All American DT in 1969 was Erie's Mike McCoy of Notre Dame. There's no way Smear would have been named 1st team ahead of McCoy. Reid and McCoy were both unanimous 1st team picks.

Still, Smear was a force to be reckoned with and I still like Reid and Smear as the best tandem of DTs in Penn State history.
 
Either Reid-Smear or Millen-Clark.

I truly believe if you took the best players from each school by position, Penn State's defensive front seven might be the best: Courtney Brown-Reid-Clark-Michael Haynes and at LB, Posluszny, Onkotz, and either Arrington or Conlan. Few, if any could match that.
Jack Ham, linebacker, is in the NFL Hall of Fame and deserves to be on any all-time list.
 
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Steve played bass fiddle in accompaniment to Mike's piano. He was a pretty good DT also. My vote would have to go to Clark and Millen. I remember after a game against Kentucky in Lexington the post game headline was "The tackles who ate Lexington."

Clark dominated everyone he played against.
 
True. Smear was a 2nd team All American in 1969. In those days, pollsters rarely, if ever, named two players at the same position from the same school as 1st team All Americans. That said, the other 1st team All American DT in 1969 was Erie's Mike McCoy of Notre Dame. There's no way Smear would have been named 1st team ahead of McCoy.

Your kidding right? McCoy was seriously over rated. Purely a product of ND publicity.
 
Jack Ham, linebacker, is in the NFL Hall of Fame and deserves to be on any all-time list.
Ron, this is based on how they performed at Penn State, not in the NFL. Ham was only an All-American one year. IMO, he was one of the two greatest OLB's in NFL history.
 
Ron, this is based on how they performed at Penn State, not in the NFL. Ham was only an All-American one year. IMO, he was one of the two greatest OLB's in NFL history.
Point well taken, but he is also in the College Football Hall of Fame, unlike some of the others mentioned.
 
Point well taken, but he is also in the College Football Hall of Fame, unlike some of the others mentioned.
Onkotz and Conlan are also in the CFB HOF. Posluszny and Arrington most certainly will be as well.
 
Absolutely head and shoulders above all others. Mike was unstoppable. Saw him win a heavy weight wrestling match against Lehigh.
I was at that wrestling match also. Reid had a shaved head if I recall, which was very unusual back then. I think he pinned the Lehigh heavyweight in something like 35 seconds in a tie match, but my old memory may be embellishing the story. Anyway I'm not sure there is any PSU player whom I've admired more. He was unstoppable.
 
I was at that wrestling match also. Reid had a shaved head if I recall, which was very unusual back then. I think he pinned the Lehigh heavyweight in something like 35 seconds in a tie match, but my old memory may be embellishing the story. Anyway I'm not sure there is any PSU player whom I've admired more. He was unstoppable.
this^^^^^^^
 

I agree with your comments about McCoy but there's still no way Smear would have been picked alongside Reid and ahead of McCoy because of the ND publicity machine and media hype.
 
I remember getting ready to watch a PSU game (think it was Pitt, but not sure) and they did this up close and personal on Mike Reid and his musical ability. And right then my mom walks into room while he was playing some classical music on piano "Hey thats lovely I thought you guys were watching football". Was pretty amazing
 
I was at that wrestling match also. Reid had a shaved head if I recall, which was very unusual back then. I think he pinned the Lehigh heavyweight in something like 35 seconds in a tie match, but my old memory may be embellishing the story. Anyway I'm not sure there is any PSU player whom I've admired more. He was unstoppable.

Not quite accurate. PSU was leading 15-12 in the match when Reid took the mat. Lehigh needed a pin by their heavyweight to win. Mike won 5-3, preserving an 18-12 win for PSU.
 
I only watched Reid and Smear on TV because they were before I arrived at PSU, but Millen and Clark, whew!. Those two were magnificent. And certainly made their own marks in the NFL, too.
 
Not quite accurate. PSU was leading 15-12 in the match when Reid took the mat. Lehigh needed a pin by their heavyweight to win. Mike won 5-3, preserving an 18-12 win for PSU.
You're correct. Sorry that my report was so inaccurate. Here is a report from an interview I located:
The best is when we beat Lehigh in 1967. It came down to my match and I beat my guy-unfortunately the heavyweight gets all the credit. Lehigh had a couple of national champions but our guys up and down the lineup were all wrestling a couple levels higher than usual.
reidlehigh6.jpg
It was a tough match, a long evening but, overall, an extraordinary night. Rec Hall was packed and people went crazy after my match was over-it was very, very exciting.

People had been talking about the PSU/Lehigh showdown all year. Lehigh was number one in the east and Penn State was number two. The crowd for the match was estimated at approximately 8,800-it was absolutely packed. The noise was deafening throughout the match and the lead went back and forth. It came down to Mike's match at heavyweight and he was really excited to be in that position with everything on the line-he loved competition. He won his match and the place just went nuts-people swarmed out of the stands, picked Mike up and paraded him around the floor. -RL
 
Since the discussion is about DT Tandems, I feel that Bruce Clark and Matt Millen would be the best. Unstoppable until injuries slowed them their senior season. I remember the play when they decleated the Rutgers quarterback ... poor kid just got crushed like a mouse.

Now I was in school when Mike Reid and Steve Smear played and they were everything and then some. Reid went around 240 pounds and Smear was only about 230 ... this was the era when a 250 pound offensive lineman was big. Their team really was the prototype for Penn State defenses for decades and their quickness up front simply enabled the linebackers and safeties to clean up.

My favorite memory of Mike Reid was late in the Orange Bowl against Kansas, PSU was going for 2 to win it and the camera caught him looking up to the heavens in prayer ... the perfect warrior who knew when to ask for help from above.
 
Mary, not to be too personal, but if that is a recent photo of you, and you are 70, you have amazingly wrinkle free skin, especially for someone living in Florida.
That photo is two years old and I do look much younger than my age. I am thinner today. God has blessed me with youth so I plan to invest it as a nurse helping older patients. Thank you for the wonder unintended compliment.
PS I was caring for my new grandson daily so my daughter bought me a session at Glamour Shots and this was one of the pics.
 
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M
Mc Coy wrestled for Erie Academy and wrestled. My cousin was wrestling for Warren an McCoy was a very blubbery, obese kid as a freshman. Obviously the weight room did wonders.
 
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